When You Don’t Have Anything To Say
Hey everyone and welcome to our place! 😀
How are you all doing? My last week of vacancy seems to be turning into a flop. The idea was to go to the beach everyday. But, the weather is not really helping… Bah
This week I got something that I never experienced in these 9 months of blogging… Creative Block. I just don’t really have any ideas in what to write this week lolol I blame my vacation XD The truth is, I’m not thinking in the blog in the slightest, neither I am reading other people stuff, answering comments and so on. However, to be honest, that was the idea! Two weeks of total relaxation and no thinking 😛
This way, today, I though to myself, since I don’t have any idea in what to write about why don’t I just write about that? I mean, that’s a theme, right? 😀 So, that’s what you are going to get! Some nice ideas to get those ideas coming when feeling creative or writing blocked! Hope you like and find it useful! 🙂
– Introduction –
I just didn’t know what kind of title I should write there. However, I wanted to make a small introduction about the theme before giving my advice and at the same time have something that clearly states we are entering in the said theme.
There are two type of bloggers out there. Bloggers who only write when they feel inspired who don’t really follow a schedule and bloggers who have a schedule where some of them, like myself, write everyday (or almost everyday).
When you try to put content every single day, is just normal that you may have some times when you won’t be able to come up with new ideas. Of course, most of the people end up having series to cope with that.
I’m lucky to say that I got some nice ideas which are easy to use for long-runs series. I have nice ways to have reviews always flowing and can always count with my long-run collab with Mel to fill one week day.
However, sometimes I don’t want to do reviews. Sometimes I don’t really know what to write for my random thoughts on Wednesdays. That’s when things get complicated.
To be honest, I’ve just realized that I don’t want to do so many reviews as I’m doing right now. I want to go for more personal posts. However, that’s still a work in progress since I still have to decide how am I going to do it lolol
Posts like “Why as a gay guy I don’t like Shounen-Ai” and “Yuri on Ice from a performer perspective” were some of the ones that I had more fun to write when it comes to Anime. But, as you can see there are not many inside that personal genre in my blog. The reason is… Those are ideas difficult to get and these were just inspiration that struck me.
Nevertheless, I can’t say that I have few ideas or that I don’t have content to give. In fact, I have long-run series which will always be a secure place to come back when my muse don’t visit.
Now, the one I have more difficulty to get themes are random thoughts for Wednesday’s posts (like this one). So here is what I do to help my brain to come up with some ideas when he doesn’t do it by itself.
– Take a long bath –
Many ideas I write in my blog where created on the bathroom. I’m not even kidding. I don’t know why, but give me a hot shower and my brain just starts getting really nice ideas!
An example would be the small story I wrote yesterday. The idea of the overall story came when I was in the beach. But, the story itself took form while I was showering.
– Take a stroll –
Walking helps a lot to make your brain think. However you can’t have any kind of distractions. So, when I do this I let my phone at home or I just turn off the Internet. This way it’s just me and the walking. No notifications from WordPress, Facebook, Twitter, no work emails… And so on. Sometimes, I don’t even have to walk and sitting in a bench at a nice park is enough. I think the main idea is to get outdoors and stop hassling for a bit. The moment I do that, ideas start flowing my brain.
– Read other People’s Work –
Other bloggers are always posting content. And, let me tell you, most of them are posting great articles. So, seeing other people’s stuff helps a lot in feeling inspired to create new ideas and new things. I say people and not bloggers because it can be any kind of content creator.
– Watch/Read/Play things that you normally wouldn’t –
I’ve talked about this. Don’t really know what to write about? Go watch an Anime you would never watch. Don’t ask me why, but probably since it’s so different from what your brain is used to it helps thinking on new ideas.
For Writing
– Music –
Yes, I just have this one. There are times when I do have the ideas but I just don’t feel like writing (or don’t know where to start). I always listen to the same YouTube Music Video:
This music is supposed to have some kind of sounds that make your brain to get more creative. Don’t ask me how it works. It just does! I use it a LOT! In fact, I listen to this almost every single day at my work (my job is being creative almost 8 hours a day).
It works like a charm. Not only when I’m writing, but also when I’m doing design or thinking in new ideas. However, I always stop when the music gets to the pure binaural. I’m just scared that the music can be used to hypnotize me or something like that xD Yeah, I’m pretty neurotic when comes to things like that ahah
– Conclusion –
Everyone have days that just can’t feel creative, like everyone have days that just can’t be productive. However, there are weapons you can use to help your brain to start working. These are mine! 😀 It works a little like Sims 4 moods don’t you think?
And you? What do you when you have days like this? Comment down below! 🙂
Love the post, as someone who gets writers block a lot this was helpful.
Thank you so much! <3 I'm glad you found it helpful eheh
Great post arty finally got to read one of yours. I’m the same as you, most of my ideas have come from the bathroom LOL such a strange thing. I’m normally not stumped by writers block all too often as there is much wish to write about. Listening to the write music def helps. I listen to a trance radio station while i write myself, really puts me in the mindset to write
Thank you so much Lita eheh
We need to understand why does the good ideas come from the bathroom? Maybe it’s the steam that has any kind of power in our brains that we don’t know about? xD
Oh trance is also a great music to hear to! I should use it more often eheh
Sometimes I like to go back to my old favorites. Maybe I’ll catch something new about it or it will remind me of something else I should check out/look into. Since it’s something I already know/am familiar with, I don’t feel like I have to be analyzing every single detail or making a lot of mental notes.
That’s an awesome tip! I think I never did that! I definetely will try that eheh Thank you~!
Good advice, as usual! 🙂
Thank you so much! <3
Of course 😀
Great post, and of course I think everyone who has a blog has gone through this once in a while. It happens, and I would not really worry about it. Before long you will be back to writing more of you usual phenomenol posts (Oh wait, you already did by writing this one ?). Enjoy the rest of your week off! You deserve it?
Thank you so much Raist! <3
Ahahah yeah, this time that was the way I was able to cope with the block! In fact, I'm pretty amazed that in 9 months (+-) this was the first time I've got writer block. I thought it would be way sooner ahah
Well, I haven’t experienced it (yet) but that’s probably because I mostly write reviews and so in that way it’s hard to run out of ideas. Admittedly though….some reviews are hard to write than others. That’s for sure ?
Good advice! And coming up with great ideas in the bathroom isn’t an unusual thing by any means… the phrase “shower thoughts” exists for a reason 🙂 There’s even a subreddit dedicated to it!
Thank you~! <3 ahahah nice to know that I'm not as weird as I thought I was xD
Thanks for this post. I’m brand new to blogging and I’m experiencing bloggers block. Good advise.
Thank you~! Eheh Don’t let the block discourage you though! Take your time and ideas will start flowing eheh
I also write when inspired – with 7 days of available time I have a lot more ‘freedom to think’ since I go with a weekly schedule (And its great to work with a weekly schedule, because sometimes I can write a handful of posts in a week, and that can already cover a month).
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That creative music sounds familiar… … Oh yes! It’s the ambient music in Portal! Those robots must have been up to some research to tune to that ambiance!
My method’s a little different – talking to my family members (especially my brother, or getting annoyed by him) is surprisingly effective in helping me churn out ideas. 😉
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Great to see that you’ve managed to turn the blockade into an opportunity! Nice post ^^
That’s great! I wished that I was able to do that, but I think the best I have done until today was a week of scheduled posts xD
It is? I didn’t notice that at all! Thank you so much for the info ahah Now I will never see that video with the same way 😀
Ahahah well, I can’t really talk about Anime or gaming with my family members xD They do not really have any kind interest in that! For my mom I’ve been watching Naruto for more than a decade, even though the characters clearly changed ahah Oh and it’s not “Naruto” she calls it “Naruco” or something like that ahah However, I did got some ideas while talking with my boyfriend while discussing some Animes I was watching with him!
Thank you so much <3
I am a daily blogger. Sometimes when I just can’t think of anything; I just do a list post. I eventually come up with an idea. I blog daily because I do love to blog and write. I comment on posts everyday and keep up with my followers
Oh that’s a great idea! I love lists, so I really should start doing that ahah
Taking a stroll is super helpful! I take one every day. Okay…maybe more than one when I’m stressed.
Can relate with the doing more that one stroll when feling stressed. The time I walked the most was in the phase I had anxiety xD
I think writing anything and posting it is a good solution, I recovered very quickly as soon as I wrote a post like this so I hope you can do that too! I would say the first step is to read and respond to comments, because I’ve always felt worse about coming back when there are a million conversation threads I’ve not finished yet, they sort of encourage you to carry on!
Now that the holidays have ended *cries* and I’m answering all the comments I didn’t answer in the last couple weeks *cheers* I clearly am flowing with ideas and things I want to write eheh
This way, I’m a living proof that your tips work extremely well eheh Thank you so much <3
Oh yeah true! Sorry that you’re holidays are over! I think a lot of us have been breaking recently and I also had a thing where I was in a similar situation to you but instead of writing an advice thing I basically gave advice like “Don’t have a heat wave”, “Don’t have your country do well in the world cup”, “Don’t have exams” and e.c.t basically saying it’s ok to have a break every so often, just remember to go back!
That’s also an awesome tip! I think people tend to feel scared to stop because when they return all of their readers have gone away. But, that’s not true at all 🙂
In fact it’s way better to take a break when needed than continue writing not as good as you would normally write without feeling burnt out
I didn’t even realise that was a tip! Yeah I feel like sometimes personal things should take prominence and people do understand. Everyone can relate to going through a faze of not really knowing what to write about!
Hello Friend. I just read your post and I am glad that I did. Yes sure, we all experience creative blocks from time to time. When I initially started my blog, my intention was to post something every single day. However, as you can imagine, this did not work out for me. It was not so much a problem with the ideas necessarily, but with the timing. I kind of just did not have the time for that. I keep an idea log where I write all the ideas that come to me, lest I forget LOL.
Have you tried taking your issues with creative blocks to God in prayer? I do not know whether you believe in God or not. However, I have found that God is helpful at times when I experience creative blocks. God is the creator of the universe and everything else in it. He cares for us like a father cares for his children and he is always willing to impart us with knowledge.
The bible says in Proverbs 2:6
“For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding”.
You are also allowed to take your requests to God, the bible says in Philippians 4:6
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God”.
If you have a few minutes to spare, find a quiet space and say this prayer with me:
“Father God, I thank you. I thank you for your perfect love, your ever-forgiving nature, and the gift of life. Father I pray that you shall give me the ability to release anything that is making me impure in your presence. (Take a minute to forgive those who have offended you. Release any feelings of anger, envy, bitterness and other negative feelings. Ask God to forgive you of your sins then resume the prayer). Father I pray for creative wisdom and divine ideas. I pray that you shall impart wisdom to me, I pray for a brighter mind, brighter ideas and creative knowledge. Father God, I rebuke any evil force in the physical or the spiritual realm who plan to steal the blessings that you would send to me, Father God destroy them by fire in Jesus name, Amen. Father I pray for a good testimony over this prayer, In Jesus name, Amen”.
If you do not have a relationship with God and you are interested in building one. Here are my detailed suggestions on how you can do so:
1. Confession of faith: you need to find a quiet space. Imagine that Jesus is in front of you. Ask him for forgiveness of your past sins and the sins of your ancestors. Ask him to give you the strength to forgive those who have offended you. Honestly, I suggest that you forgive the people who have offended you, because whatever they did to you is now in the past, and upon a confession of Jesus as your Lord, you become a new creation. In addition, God commands that we need to forgive others, before he can forgive us. You can also get a deliverance before your confession of faith. Deliverance will rid you off any ungodly spirits that have taken residence in your body and mind. A pastor with a deliverance anointing should be able to help with this. There are also videos on YouTube, where pastors with a deliverance anointing pray directly for people through the videos. You just need to search “deliverance prayer” in the search bar to reach these videos. Now, you need to tell Jesus that you want him to come and be your lord and personal savior, and surrender to him. You need to know that Jesus died for you. He died on the cross so that you may have a chance at salvation. The minute you give your life to Jesus, you need to know that you can no longer live as you wish, you shall live according to the stipulations in the bible. Believe in your heart that Jesus was risen up from the dead by God, and confess with your mouth that he is the messiah and your personal savior.
2. Prayers: ask Jesus to bless you with eternal life. Tell him to make a place for you in his heavenly abode. You need to understand that praying for heaven is the best prayer that you can ever pray. Life on earth is so short, you need to be worried about eternal life, which is so much longer. God knows that you need clothes, food, shelter etc. He is your creator and he knows your every need. The bible tells us to pray for eternal life and God would provide our other needs (i.e. clothes, shelter etc.) according to his riches. If there is something bothering you, tell God in prayer, commit it to him and ask him to do it for you. However, bear in mind that this life is temporary and so are the things in this life. When you are praying, the devil will try to disrupt your prayers by bringing sudden disturbances and evil thoughts. An example of an evil thought that the devil tries to use to stop people from praying is by bringing the thought that Jesus is not present and that they are simply wasting their time. Jesus is there with you when you pray. So pray like you mean it. Pray the same way you will if Jesus was right in front of you because he is. You need to understand how prayers work as well. You see, when you pray, God answers prayers. God usually has three answers to prayers Yes, Yes but Wait, and No. God has a reason for every answer that he gives. He loves you and he will make sure that everything works out well for you in the end. When you get a No from God, sometimes it is not because that thing is not good for you at that point in time, but it may be because God is trying to draw your attention to something that you are doing wrong in your life. When you get a No from God, you need to evaluate yourself, what is the motive of your prayer? is it pure? Is it Godly? Is there an area of sin in your life that you need to work on? When you reflect on these things and you find something in yourself lacking, try to fix it. When God says Yes to prayers and sends you his blessings, trust me, there are spiritual forces of the devil in high places that work against people so that their blessings from God would not reach them. You need to pray against these spiritual forces. Rebuke them by the power and the name of Jesus. This way, your blessings would be able to reach you. Lastly, some people pray lazy prayers. For example, someone might pray for a job, without actually applying to any. God does not reward laziness. When you are praying for something, you need to be putting some work in as well. God rewards hard-work and we ought to strive to be hardworking. God’s role is to direct, bless, and make your path clear. However, bear in mind that sometimes God answers even lazy prayers and gives us undeserved blessings, that shows you the power of his love. He would always be with you. You need to make sure that you are close to God in prayer. Do not cease to tell him about what you are struggling with. If you are struggling with sins of the flesh that you believe are hindering your spiritual growth, you need to make sure that you tell God. Make sure that you pray for an increment in faith. Faith is important, you need to have faith in God. When we pray, we need to have faith, God does not like it when we doubt his ability to provide us with what we want, he is mighty and nothing is impossible with him. When you are low in faith, pray to God for an increment in faith. Remember to pray for your family, your city, your country and the world in fact, no prayers are too big for God. Pray that unsaved people would be saved. Pray for your non-Christian family members, pray that they see the light and become saved. When you pray, make sure that you take care of sins. The bible says that we need to forgive others if we want our sins to be forgiven. Make sure you forgive others, ask for forgiveness of your sins first before praying. Sins can block your prayers from getting to God. Try to avoid sin, but pray for forgiveness of sins everyday, because sometimes, we are not aware of the sins that we are committing. When you get answers to your prayers, remember to thank God.
3. The Bible: You need to make sure that you are reading the bible and that you are obeying it. I suggest you begin with the New Testament because the coming of Jesus changed many of the things that were practised before. However, bear in mind that the old testament is also important. You can find free bible apps on google play. You can also find free bibles online. The New Living Translation is an easy to read bible version. However, the most popular one is the King James Version.
4. Hearing from God: Trust me, God would speak to you. He would speak to you through dreams. Through people, through situations, through the bible and so much more. You need to practice and perfect the art of hearing God’s voice. Dreams contain a lot of symbolism. When you possess an avid knowledge of what the bible says, you would understand the biblical meaning of all the symbols in your dreams. However, for now, you can search online bible dream dictionaries for the meaning of things you see in your dream. You also need to know that although there are general meanings for some symbols, some interpretations are based on context. Take context into account. God does communicate via dreams. Sometimes, you might be asking God for direction on something. Pay attention to the words all around you during this time i.e, the things people say, words you see when reading the bible etc. Sometimes you might even just turn on your TV and the TV anchor would say something that directly relates to what you are going through. Pay attention to these things. You would know it is God’s voice when whatever is said is not in contradiction to the bible and God’s nature. If it is in contradiction then it might just be something random that popped up. As you practise the art of listening and hearing, God might give you the gift of seeing visions or the gift of hearing an inner voice, and take you to deeper depths of hearing.
5. Fasting: fasting is an effective way to get God’s attention. Fasting is a way to spend time with him. You deprive yourself of food because what you seek for is more than food. There are different types of fasting, and you need to plan what works for you. There is the:
A. Avoidance fasting: This is a fasting form where you avoid something that you cannot do without i.e. Coffee.
B. Daniel’s fast: In this sort of fasting, you only eat fruit and vegetables and drink water. You do not eat anything cooked or anything other than fruits and vegetables.
C. Water fast: In this sort of fasting, you do not eat anything, you only drink water. No food, just water.
D. Total fast: In this sort of fasting, you do not eat or drink anything. You do not drink even water.
Make sure that you work out what works for you. You can pray to God for directions on the timing of the fasting to follow. However, as a general time-frame, on fasting days, many Christians fast from 6am to 6pm. Many Christians also use those moments when they feel hungry/ feel cravings as prompts to pray. You need to have increased prayers during fasting periods.
6. Temptations: When you believe in Jesus. Trust me, the devil sometimes would throw trials and tribulations into your life, the goal of this is to get you to denounce your faith. The goal is to frustrate you. You need to pray and fast when trials and tribulations strike. God would never leave you or forsake you. He would be with you and with God, you will overcome this if it ever happens.
7. Spreading the gospel: Now that you know the truth, you are chosen. It is now your duty to share the truth in the bible with others. Make sure that you save people from falling prey to Satan’s tactics. You need to join the fight to depopulate the devil’s camp, while populating God’s kingdom. With spreading the gospel, do not feel the need to finish reading the whole bible before you begin. You can teach people the little you know.
8. Read: There is a lot of material out there. There are ministers of God who have practised for about 40 years. These people have a lot of stories about their ministry. Some of them have the gift to heal others, others see visions, some of them hear God’s voice. Many of these people have written books about how they accomplished what they have accomplished, and how they got their gift. Buy these books and read them. If you do not have money, some of these ministers have shared their stories for free on YouTube, take advantage of that.
9: Reform yourself: begin to watch Christian movies and listen to Christian music. Make sure that your thoughts, actions, and words are in obedience to the word of God. Make sure that you are not doing anything sinful in your thoughts, actions or words. Refine your world, the space around you, the things you see and hear, make it all about God. You can also join a community of bible believing Christians. However, I need to tell you that there is sectarianism in the religion. Do not pay attention to sectarianism, pay attention to the bible. The bible is your authority. If a church seems to have too much sectarianism issue going on, if they are more focused on promoting their denomination than promoting God and the word in his bible, you need to stop going there. Get a water baptism, and pray so that God would baptise you in the holy spirit.
(I know I have written this list in the order of 1 to 9. It is crucial that you begin with Step 1. Prayers are something that you need to do constantly, so is bible study, hearing from God and reforming yourself. However, you can start small with fasting and spreading the gospel. You can start by preaching to your family members in the beginning phase of spreading the gospel, but you need to expand on these over time. I know this list seems long and all these seem deep, but trust me, you would blend into it so easily and it would become second nature to you. Pray to God to make all of these easy for you, and he will. The devil would try to trick you into believing that God’s standards are too high and that you would never overcome sin, when in actuality, you can. So therefore, pray to God and believe and he would help you overcome sin).
If you ever backslide and fall back into sin again while trying to follow God’s word. You need to ask him to forgive you and try to get back on track.
If you have any questions, feel free to let me know. If you need to talk, I am here for you. God bless you. Have a blessed day 🙂
I forgot to mention:
God would communicate his ideas to you in different ways: through dreams, through your environment. You can just turn on your television and the TV anchor would say something that directly answers what you asked God to do for you. You might read newspapers and certain words would suddenly spark an interest in you. Pay attention to the things that you hear, see, and feel. If the nudging seems Godly and holy, if it sounds like something that God would say, chances are high that it is God trying to communicate an answer to you.
Ahh!!! Such great Gifs makes a great post
You know what’s good! 😀