I'm new to writing and I'm doing my best to learn how to write better articles, but so far it's not working out too well. Whenever I'm ready to type, my mind goes blank and I can no longer put my thoughts into words. Is this normal when you're a beginner? If you've overcome this problem, would you mind sharing your secret?
I too face similar kind of issues. What I do, is a bit queer, of course. I smoke or else sit alone and have a pint of beer. Note this, I sit alone And put a small notes before me to take the points as they come. Ppl watch me strangely, but I need to provide the client with the product. So, I do not mind. I do not advice that every one needs to do this.
As the above poster said I find sitting somewhere quiet helps, sometimes I would find myself trying to write the whole article in one go, instead it may be better to think of it in sections. Try to break down what you are trying to get across and think of it a section at a time and it will all come together.
It all depends on your interest, if you are interested in writing article than you can do it very easily but if not than switch to any other work.
Writing is hard for me my mind is always blank before I write.. I have to force myself to do it, once I start I get on a roll but I have to keep going until it is done. Reminds me I have to write a tec article to day. I hate those..
Research or reading about the subject should give you ideas when you begin to write. Also, read articles that you think are well written and pay close attention to their use of language and sentence structure. How do they introduce the subject?
Nora, are you good at natural conversation? I 've heard that some people use a tape recorder to get all their thoughts out and then put that on paper. If you are computer savvy (which I suspect you are), you could get Dragon: Naturally Speaking and just talk while it writes your thoughts down for you.
Also, relish the concept of the horrible first draft. It is a powerful weapon. Once you do get that research (I like to throw together a barebones outline), just write paragraphs. Don't stop, don't read it. Focus on your fingers hitting the keyboard if you want. Just write it all out. Then, when you're done, step away from it for a few hours, or even a day. When you come back, revise and make it sound better than your horrible first draft. But that horrible draft will kick your momentum into gear.
I always tell my writing students to put something on the paper to get them started. Often, it's simply rephrasing the question as an introduction. Once they have something, they seem to have a bit easier time getting started on the writing itself. For example, if the topic was blogging, those that struggle to get started would just write, "Blogging is a form of writing online." Or even, "This paper deals with blogging." Just seeing words gets the fingers going again. When the students go back to revise and edit, they simply cross off that first junk sentence and start with the real ideas that came later. Never let a title or first line be a sticking point. They are the easiest to change later...
Thank you so much for all the wonderful replies. Matt Willard & Internetauthor, I love the idea of a horrible first draft. I was scared that putting down basic sentences would get me nowhere but rewriting them really does make finding the appropriate words easier. Thanks for the tip Figgity, I'm an even worse speaker but I'll consider buying the software so I can get better at that too.
It all depends on our interest and involvement. If you feel typing is boring or mind goes blank then use speech recognizer to convert your speech to content, afterward edit the content.
start to know what's going around and write the word 'at-least' what's the condition. and try to pursue things connected to them...and let your hand do writing while your mind surfing. if it's doesn't work,,,try comfort yourself.
Starting at a blank page is like standing outside of a freezing cold shower and knowing you're about to jump in while the water is still cold. You dawdle. Jump in and get it over with. The first page is always the hardest.
This is an old thread, but what the hell.... I go out for a loooong walk or a drive and take pen and paper with me. Having sex helps too. But not while I'm on my walk or out driving.