This Is How I Avoid Creative Block and Stop Staring at the Blank Page
The only technique that has worked for me
🏷️ Categories: Writing, Time management, Creativity.
That feeling of facing a blank page and being unable to write…
It's frustrating, and it's almost always due to a lack of direction. If you often sit down to write and don't know where to start, I have good news for you: you don't need to face a blank page ever.
There's an efficient and simple way to get started: make a writing outline.
At first I thought that starting with a blank page every morning was the routine of any writer, but after more than 150 articles on Substack in less than a year, I designed a method that makes me write faster and enjoy the process much more.
Let's get started.
1. How to make a writing outline
Open your computer or grab a notebook. Think of a topic you want to write about. Then, start listing all the ideas that come to mind related to that topic. The order doesn't matter, just write down what you think.
Once you have that list, select the most interesting ideas.
Now, what you're going to do is transform each of those ideas into a central concept for a section of your text. For example, let's say you're writing about "How to improve your productivity." Your initial ideas probably went something like this: Productivity: Distractions, technology, schedules, teamwork, saving time, exhaustion, tasks...
From those ideas, you selected the ones that really add value and then broke them down into clear, actionable actions.
Here are a couple of examples of how to do it:
How to improve productivity
"Distractions are a problem."
What are common distractions?
How to eliminate them?
Steps to eliminate them
Step 1
…
The more specific you are, the more practical and applicable it will be. In the end, the outline will look something like this:
Introduction: Why is productivity important?
Idea 1: Identify your distractions and eliminate them.
Idea 2: Create a schedule and stick to it.
Idea 3: Delegate tasks to work as a team.
Conclusion: Your productivity depends on your discipline.
Once you have your outline, the hardest work is already done.
2. Title: Respond to an issue or problem
Put yourself in the shoes of those who read you: what are they looking for in you? What do they need to solve or know? A good title helps you clarify the rest of the text. Avoid broad and vague titles, try to clearly define what you are going to talk about.
The title defines the subject.
Change “How to Write Better” to “7 Techniques to Overcome Creative Block”.
Change “How to Be Productive” to “3 Morning Habits That Changed My Day”.
Change “Learn to Program” to “Guide to Mastering Python from Scratch”.
Do you notice the difference?
A broad and generic title loses strength because it does not promise anything concrete. On the other hand, a specific title answers a real question or need.
When someone tells me “how to write better”, my first reaction is: Write better what? Books? Scientific articles? Emails? And if it is “better”, what are they referring to? More clarity? Fewer errors? Without clear definition, both writers and readers end up lost.
The title is the compass, use it to indicate the direction your text will follow.
3. Introduction: Adding value to the text
The introduction should make it clear why it's worth reading on.
The reality is that most content on social media is consumed quickly, skipping between lines, and often, it won't take them 5 seconds to decide whether to keep watching or leave. That's why it's crucial to be concise and clear.
Briefly present the issue or problem (creative block, in this case), and propose an applicable solution (as I do here). Make sure you make it clear why your content is worth reading, what value you bring compared to the million others on the web.
I ask myself these questions in my writing outline.
What can I teach you?
Example: “If you've ever faced the blank page without knowing where to start, I'll tell you practical tools to overcome that moment.”
Example: “I'm going to show you how you can write engaging emails even if you're shy and have 0 writing experience.”
Who am I writing to?
Example: “A creative person who writes or communicates and is interested in knowing the best way to make their words have an impact.”
Example: “People who are inexperienced in the world of computer programming don’t know anything yet.”
Why is what I’m telling you valuable?
Example: “What I’m saying isn’t theory, it’s tools that I’ve used to write hundreds of articles and that have helped me in record time.”
Example: “I’m not going to give you generic advice, I know how difficult programming is, so I did the hard work for you and I’ll tell you only the important things.”
Why can you trust me?
Example: “After decades of writing for newspapers and platforms with huge audiences, I’ve made every mistake possible before finding what works.”
Example: “As a self-taught programmer who started out knowing nothing, I know exactly what obstacles you’ll encounter and how to avoid them.”
When you have clear answers to these questions, the introduction writes itself. And don’t worry if you think you have nothing to contribute, the reality is that everyone has something to say, you just haven’t put it into practice yet.
If the introduction is an invitation, you’re giving reasons to accept your invitation.
4. Main Ideas: Giving Value
At this point we've got most of it done, and now it's time for my favorite part.
With your outline "ready," you just need to fill in the blanks. Start writing under each main idea as if you were explaining it to a friend. Keep it simple and don't worry about style. Then, when you've written it all down, you can reread it and adjust the length, level of detail, and tone.
Just make sure you answer in a way that's specific and applicable to what you promised.
5. Conclusion: What you shouldn't forget
One thing I've learned over time is that they're not always necessary.
As I said at the beginning, most people on the internet read at top speed and don't stop for more than a few seconds before moving on to other content. If you've already delivered on what you promised in the main ideas, close the text. There's no need to repeat points already mentioned or make a summary. Opt for brevity.
If you write it down, it can be a fundamental idea that they should remember, a moral of what you said, or an idea to take the initiative and take action.
Everything I've told you can be done in advance in a Substack draft. Then, every time you go to write, make a copy of the draft to use your outline and never see the horrible blank page again.
Here you can see my outline so I never get stuck in front of the blank page.
3 More Tricks I Use to Overcome Creative Block
1. Start with What You Know
If you find yourself stuck, start with what you already know.
I've written articles starting directly with the conclusion because I've already thought about the topic and had the final answer, so what I did was reverse engineer it: I started with the conclusion and then worked backwards, developing the main ideas that led me to that conclusion.
If you don't know where to start, grab what you know well and build from there.
An example of a text where that happened to me: Brainstorming doesn't work, do this instead. It was clear to me that brainstorming was not the optimal way to generate ideas, that was my conclusion based on my experience. The question was, what to do instead?
The rest answers just that.
That's what I mean when I say start with what you already know.
2. Move
Your environment affects your creativity.
If you get attacked, move around. Write in a park, a coffee shop, or a different room in your house. A change of scenery can do wonders. And if you can, do any activity that allows you to disconnect for a moment, like walking. Walking has been proven to increase creativity.
And I can confirm this, ideas flow when I take a walk and let my mind wander.
3. Use time limits
We don't finish things because we don't have a deadline to finish them.
Set a realistic but tight time limit that pushes you to finish the draft. It doesn't matter if it's perfect or not, the first thing is to get something on paper, and then, later, you can polish it. This eliminates perfectionism once and for all.
I've used this trick countless times.
As you can see, overcoming blank page block isn't about having a spark of inspiration, it's about having an effective system. Before, I would pray and wait for inspiration to come. Now, inspiration comes every day at the same time.
Right when I sit down to write.
✍️ It's your turn: What do you do to overcome creative block? Have you ever found yourself lost when you see the blank page?
💭 Quote of the day: “You sit down… Try to sit down at approximately the same time every day. This way you train your unconscious to act for you creatively.” Anne Lamott, Bird By Bird.
See you next time, thanks for reading to the end! 👋
