We all get writer’s block from time to time. I am going to show you a secret I learned for beating writer’s block instantly.  It won’t require to you stand on your head while chanting, nor will you need to climb the tallest mountain, or disarm the Black Knight…although I understand these techniques work. All it requires is that you make a slight change to the order of your work flow.

Have you ever watched that reality show where chefs are given several mystery ingredients and told to create a savory meal from just those ingredients?  It amazes me that these food artists are able to create a 5 Star quality meal in short order without prior knowledge of the ingredients.  That shows creativity, and expert knowledge.

I was reminded of this reality food show when a fellow writer tipped me off on a very simple secret he uses to come up with a steady flow of open-ended, creative articles daily.  Most cooks decide what they want to cook, and then they go out and search for the ingredients.  But in the reality show, it is just the opposite.

By the same token, most writers decide what they want to write about, finish the article, and then search for images which will enhance the content.  What if you decided to search for images first, and used your images to decide what to write about?

This simple trick gets the creative juices flowing.  All we need to get past writer’s block (or blogger’s block) is some inspiration.  Writers are by nature very creative people, so once they see a few interesting pictures which pique their interest, the ideas come fast and furious.  Sometimes it is a specific picture of a person, place, or thing which the writer has not written about recently.  Suddenly there are multiple angles from which to attack the subject matter.

Even better are abstract or conceptual images.  Humorous images work best for me, but every writer will have their favorite type of concept art.  For example, the royalty free image above is an excellent photograph, full of rich, warm color.  It is also very interesting conceptually.  Not only can I now attack a subject from multiple angles, I now have multiple potential subjects.  Is this about love?  Is it about humor?  Youth?  Fashion?  Kissing up to your boss?  What is she thinking about?  Maybe she is considering enlarging her lips?  You can have a lot of fun with this type of concept art.

So the next time you are struggling with writer’s block, make a slight change to your work flow.  Go get the images first, and then create your 5 Star meal.

Dan Padavona, Warmpicture.com