I've wasted hours staring at blank pages. That's not great when you write for a living.

The truth was fear and perfectionism held me back. When you've convinced yourself every sentence must be perfect on the first try, writing anything is like climbing Mount Everest.

Your mind tricks you.

It's too hard. [Give up]

You won't get it right. [Give up]

Your clients will hate it. [Give up]

Suddenly, the blank page becomes our enemy. Taunting us, a perfect representation of all the ways we've failed as writers.

We can't get anything done.

Imagine how many hours it added to my process.

Way too long.

As I got more work, the blank page freakout wasn't helping. It was hurting me. Everything took longer. I worked a million hours.

Then I got burnt out, and my writing took a further hit.

So I had to develop a strategy to defeat it

Ever see someone who sits down at their laptop, opens a new doc, and writes?

Who are those people?

Now I'm one of them (most of the time).

Hi.

You can be too, and the answer to defeating the blank page is surprisingly simple.

Here's what I do:

Start with an outline

The better my outline, the easier it is to write.

I pre-write my outlines, combining them with the research phase of my writing process. I'll add a link from a good source or something I want to riff on, jot a few bullet points, and go.

When you have a 750 word article, starting from a 500 word outline makes it so much easier. You have the bones there. It's about adding filler and flow.

Set a timer

Outside pressure works — for me, at least. When I'm up against the clock, I don't have time to freak out.

I write.

It may seem 'old school' at this point, but I still love a Pomodoro timer. It may take me a minute or two to get started. But more often than not, I'm surprised when the timer dings 45 minutes later.

Start with 5 minutes, move up to 20, then an hour.

Ignore the intro

Intros are hard. I used to get so caught up with intros. They were painful. I'd stare at the screen, type something, erase it, stare again, type something, erase it.

Ugh. Brutal.

Then one day, another writer said something life-changing. Don't start with the intros.

If you're stuck, pick a sub-section and write. Then come back to the intro.

So let's do the hard stuff later.

**Write a sh*itty first draft**

If you've never read Anne Lamott's book Bird By Bird, I suggest you do for one big reason:

The sh*tty first draft.

"A shitty first draft, while not a thing of beauty, is a miracle of victory over nothingness, inertia, bad self-esteem. Secret? Butt in chair." (source)

Every first draft sucks. So take the pressure off yourself to nail every line the first time.

Start writing knowing no one is ever going to see this but you — it's freeing.

Edit later

Your brain is a tricky little jerk and that comes out big time when writing. You can read something a million times, and then the second it's off to your client, you spot a mistake.

Sure there are plenty of tools to help with general grammar and spelling errors, like Grammarly and Hemingway.

But fresh eyes make a difference. I walk away for at least an hour and ideally more. Then when I edit, I read my article out loud (it works, trust me).

Breathe

You're not going to defeat the blank page overnight. But you can start making a difference.

So the time is now. Don't let it control you any longer.

Take a breath, and write.

These techniques helped me stop making a blank page my enemy. Now every time I open a new doc, it's an opportunity.

How Writers Can Reclaim the Blank Page

I've wasted hours staring at blank pages. That's not great when you write for a living. T...

What will you write today?