How To Write When You Don’t Know What To Write About

Barry Fralick
2 min readAug 9, 2021

It’s easier than you think.

Here we are. Staring at an intimidating white screen without a respectable thought in our mind. It’s getting late. I should have started writing by now. WTF am I going to write about today.

This is a common problem every writer faces including yours truly. In fact, the reason I chose this topic is because I have struggled to come up with ideas as of late.

And when it becomes problematic like now I have to force words onto the screen. It never feels good at the moment.

This is my system for coming up with ideas when I have none. It’s a basic process that I think you will find useful.

The best way to get started with writing is to simply get words on the screen.

It doesn’t even matter what they are. Sometimes I write about my day, or current events, or how I’m having trouble coming up with ideas.

You don’t have to publish but you do have to get ‘junk thoughts’ out of your head. In most cases, you will find that the best ideas for articles will pop into your head after you begin writing.

My advice is to sit down and type your thoughts. Start with one word, then add another, and pretty soon you’ll have a sentence. Repeat this process a few times and you will end up with a paragraph.

The farther you go, the easier it becomes.

A lot of the words you’re putting on the screen will be garbage and that’s okay. The idea is to get into a flow state and remove the rubbish that’s cluttering up your mind.

By removing these junk thoughts, we allow our brain to make room for better ideas. It gives our minds space so they can flourish and thrive.

I’ve trashed far more articles than I’ve ever published but what I have found is my best ideas come after I’ve gotten the bad ones out of my system.

Start with a minimum of 300 words and see if the piece makes sense. If it doesn’t feel like it’s going anywhere table it for later or delete it altogether.

Repeat this process until you find an idea that sticks. One that flows onto the page and makes sense.

Thanks for reading. I hope this was helpful.

For thoughts and comments @ me on Twitter

Exploring Timeless Ideas, Life Design, and Simplicity at BarryFralick.com

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