5 Easy Ways to Conquer Page Fright

At Current360 we know that maintaining an active, staff-authored blog has a lot of benefits: it enhances our search engine visibility, showcases the many brilliant minds who work here and occasionally garners some attention from the outside world.
But as many Bulbs will confess, crafting the mandatory monthly blog can be a horribly gut-wrenching, nausea-inducing experience, striking fear, unease and shame into even the most eloquent among us.
With that, I’d like to offer up some of my favorite techniques for dealing with blog anxiety.
5. Go to another room.
Ever walk into a room and forget why you’re there? ‘Turns out the brain ‘reboots’ itself when we walk through doorways. Use this to your advantage. If you’re stuck in a rut, strut through a doorway to clear your mind and await the genius.
4. Read something good.
Mimicry leads to mastery, so if you’re struggling to get that first sentence out, take a few minutes to read some good writing. Think about the writer’s voice, pace and rhythm —then do your best impression.
3. Keep a blog-idea file open on your desktop.
Great blog topics come and go like the wind, so keep a doc ready for any brilliance that may descend from the ether. By the time the next blog’s due, you’ll have a nice little stash of thoughts to sift through.
2. Have a drink.
Nothing silences the inner critic like whiskey*. So if insecurities are making it hard to get your brain off the ground, maybe it’s time for a quick chat with John Barleycorn?
*Only for home-blogging.
1. Don’t fear the reader.
It’s natural to be nervous about what others may think of your writing, but don’t get too concerned with outside opinions. Even Shakespeare had a few critics, and at the end of the day it’s just a blog, not the State of the Union Address. And if you’ve tried all of the above tricks and still can’t get the ball rolling, go talk it out with a friend. Chances are, they’re suffering from acute blog anxiety too.