I don’t know about my colleagues on the literary side of things — the poets, essayists, and novelists who get to smoke and drink too much and rage when creative inspiration creeps quietly out of their brain and eases out the front door. But as a marketing copywriter with almost 20 years of freelancing behind me, one thing is certain.

Muse. Schmuse. Freelance copywriters, the hired "marcomm guns" of the B2C and B2B commercial world, gotta keep on keeping on whether we’re inspired or not. We can’t afford the sheer luxury of "Gee, I’m not feeling it today." Not if we want to keep our kids in piano and saxophone lessons or eat on a regular basis.

So after many years of staring dully at pad after pad of blue-lined yellow paper, requisite black pen poised … then moving onto a succession of blank green, amber, and white PC screens where I continued to stare even more dully, I discovered the secret to banishing writer’s block from my arsenal of "not writing today" excuses.

It’s fast, it’s easy. No batteries or trips to France required.

It works with projects of every kind, print or web. I’ve shared it with my copywriting students over the years and now I’ll share it with you …

And the secret is …

Keep writing, but this time, through the path of least creative resistance.
(Yeah, Roberta. That sound good, but how do you do that?)

Turn your project into manageable chunks and write your way through
the easiest chunks first.

For example:

• If you’re writing a DM package, start organizing the order form first. Even if it’s all boilerplate, just start typing away.
• If you’re writing a sales letter, do the PS first or start in the middle of your letter where the specifics about the product/service usually reside. Do the chunk: "And that’s not all, when you act now you’ll get these…"

You DON’T have to write in a linear, A to Z fashion. As long as you’re writing, you’re not blocked.

I know you’ve read all the tips about taking a walk, a nap, pushing yourself away from the computer and those are all good suggestions. But when you’re on a deadline, sometimes you don’t have that luxury. That’s why I prefer this "copy chunking" method — it keeps me productive toward my goal of getting the project written and off my desk.

Copy chunk your way through and you’ll find yourself having actually written a large part of the project, just without the brain-numbing frustration. With so much work already done, the pressure is off and you’ll be able to tackle the harder chunks with more energy and flow.

You’ll still have to do all the usual editing and you might need to smooth the transitions from chunk to chunk. But you won’t have killed several hours in your average workday writing nothing (or worse, writing crap) because you couldn’t string two words together and make them work right.

Like the swimmer who finds themselves caught in a serious undertow, you don’t want to thrash and fight your way out. You’ll lose precious energy, get tired, and well, probably die. Instead, you want to swim parallel to the shore and wait for the undertow to lose its grip.

That’s what writing in chunks will do for you. It will keep you afloat while you’re waiting for your copy mojo to return.

Maven’s Maxim
Write your way through writer’s block. Organize your project into manageable chunks and starting knocking them out one by one. Got a multi-component project? Do the easy ones first. Got a single letter? Write the PS first. Copy chunking will keep you writing and not whining.

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