Creative Ways to Overcome Writer's Block

I have suffered from writers block too many times to count. Writing for the web is a special kind of writing requiring topics that are commonly searched for on the internet. The methods I have come up with are good for any type of writers block, yet they were developed with content writing in mind.

Article Surfing

One of the best ways to overcome my writers block is to simply read other articles. I am especially fond of Wikipedia where I can choose a random article. In fact, they actually have a link named Random that will serve you a random article from their database. I will hit that link until I find one that is interesting and than I will follow the links in that article that lead me to more interesting articles.

I guess I should also mention that Associated Content is also a good place to article surf. They also have links in their articles to other relevant topics. These topics will usually stir up something of interest in me and that always leads to an article idea.

Ask and You Shall Receive

Many of the best articles are article that answer someone's question. With that logic, if you ask yourself some questions, you might just find one worth answering. If that doesn't give you an idea, than you can take a question you think others might need answered. You can even find some of these questions online by visiting message boards and chat rooms.

The Search Engines

The search engines can be a great way to come up with ideas. Yahoo displays a list of popular search terms on their home page. This is a great tool especially for content or key word writing. You can also use a search engine to narrow down your topic by searching for that term and seeing what comes up.

Television

If all else fails, turn on the television. The news is a great source for ideas. However, even normal television sitcoms can stir up ideas because they usually cover at least one serious topic every episode. So, even if you can't stand watching the news, you can still get ideas from the tube.

The Product of Conversation

There is a reason why people need social interaction. Although, one might not need interactions to bring them ideas, they certainly help. Once I stop trying to think of ideas and start a conversation, the ideas will come to me in simple conversations. Sometimes it takes an outside influence to jog your brain.

Myspace

I had to mention Myspace. It is the cure-all of the twentieth century. Although Myspace is getting kind of old to me now, especially since my mother is even a member, I still think it is useful as a source of ideas. Hopping from one friend's page to another can give you ideas. There is so much content from pictures, to blogs, to billboard postings, even ads can give you ideas.