How to write your way through brain fog

What do you do when the words don’t flow? When you can’t keep the goal in sight, you get lost in the document and it’s all an exhausting and frustrating muddle?

Whether it’s due to stress, tiredness, or illness, for most of us there are times when writing doesn’t come easily. So how can you write when you’re not feeling your best?

I recently found the notes I’d prepared for a one-to-one workshop for a business owner who wanted help with writing through menopause induced brain fog. Reading them through I realised that the approach could be helpful for anyone who is temporarily struggling to write, and indeed anyone who wants to improve their writing productivity.

Much of what we covered revolved around breaking down tasks to make them simple and manageable, and trying to eliminate the worry around writing.

Worry less

We talked about the worry first, because stress makes writing impossible. When your brain is in fight or flight mode you aren’t able to think rationally or creatively. Writing well means thinking well, and anxiety throws a nasty spanner in the works. The more you worry that you can’t write, the less able you are to do it.

If you relax, even for a short period of time, writing will come more easily.

So thinking about ways that you can minimise stress while you’re writing will really help.

Pick your time

One of the key things you can do is to work with your energy, not against it. Trying to write when you’re exhausted or wrung out will probably be unproductive. Some people find pockets of energy early in the morning where they can find focus. Some feel better in the evening. There’s no universal right time to write, but there will be a time which is better than others for you.

What’s the best time of day for you to write? Are any times easier than others? Can you structure your day to make the most of clear headed periods?

Find a calm space to write

Giving yourself proper time and space for writing is a good place to start. As well as thinking about when you write, think about where you write too. Working from home from the kitchen table surrounded by mess isn’t conducive to good writing time. It can be really hard to concentrate if you see towering piles of washing up every time your eyes move away from the page. So choose somewhere that you can close the door on any mess.

And the same goes for your laptop. There’s no point in finding a lovely quiet spot to write, but then just opening another tab in a whole tab forest and expecting to be able to relax into writing. Write in Word (use the Focus button to turn the rest of the screen black - thanks for the tip Alan Furley!). Write offline. Open a new window rather than another tab. Turn off notifications.

If your ability to concentrate feels really limited - if you just can’t make those mental leaps like you usually can - make your writing sessions short.

Forget multi-tasking

Writing in short focused bursts is better than long unfocused sessions where you try to wrestle writing in between everything else on your to do list. Multi tasking is the enemy of focus, especially when it comes to writing or any other kind of deep work.

Lastly, on writing and mindset, understand that if your confidence has taken a knock it can be really hard to write. Particularly if you associate writing with expertise and you don’t feel like an expert right now. Know that some of the very best writers write as compassionate friends, and not as experts at all. Free yourself of the need to be ‘an expert’ and aim to write as a good companion.

How to make sure what you’re writing is on target

The two key things you need to know for any piece of writing are these.

1. What’s your goal - why are you writing this?

2. Who it’s for - who is your reader?

These two things are connected. Your reader needs to feel connected to your goal.

Have a real person in mind for every piece of writing. Know what’s on their mind. What are they struggling with? What’s the question you’re answering for them?

What’s their challenge and how do they feel about it? What do you want them to take away from reading ? How can you best use your knowledge to help them? Keep asking yourself ‘so what?’ until you get to a clear goal for the piece of writing.

Write your goal at the top of the page before you begin so you know where you are going. So my goal for this is “help you learn to write more easily so you’re less stressed and your life is happier!’ That’s reminding me to keep the advice simple and clear.

How to break down writing tasks so they’re more manageable

Writing a blog or a report isn’t just one task, it’s a whole series of tasks. That’s one of the reasons it can feel so overwhelming when you’re not feeling your best. If you separate these tasks out you can tackle them individually. Match the level of complexity to your energy level and the time you have available.

Here’s the list

1. Pick your topic and your reader

2. Research - looking for data and examples

3. Think of relevant examples from your own personal story

4. Produce a messy first draft - don’t worry about grammar and spelling

5. Rewrite the draft into a rough workable shape

6. Write the headline

7. Edit the draft (or ask someone else to edit it for you)

8. Read it out loud to check that it’s simple to read and easy to understand

9. Check for spelling and grammar ( or ask someone else to proofread it for you)

10. Check what it looks like on the page. Is there enough white space so that it doesn’t look cramped?

Tackle one task at a time.

Tips on breaking down the biggest tasks even further

Writing, rewriting and editing are the most complex tasks on the list, so we looked at ways of breaking them down to make them easier to accomplish.

Stress free first draft

Make getting going with writing easier by taking away the pressure of it being right the first time. Just get your ideas out any way you can. If the blank screen makes your mind go blank too, try writing on paper. If blank paper has the same effect, write it as a list of the things that you might want to include. Writing as a list can be a great way to start, because shopping lists aren’t intimidating.

Use a prompt like a planning structure. Filling in boxes can be easier than starting with a blank white sheet, and will give you the confidence that you’re starting the piece with a good sound structure.

Start writing it as an email. Anything that you can do to take away the fear and to make the writing feel more manageable is a good thing.

Write something else entirely just to get you into the swing of things. 10 minutes free writing without any expectation or need to publish can help get you in the swing of writing a workable first draft.

And remember, first drafts are meant to be messy. No one else has to see them. First draft writing is like ploughing a field. You don’t know what’s going to come up, and it will all be a bit of a muddy mess.

Rewriting the draft into a rough workable shape

Start shaping your ideas into short paragraphs. Look at the order. Think of the flow that would work best for your reader, so that one idea naturally leads to another. It will still be messy at this stage. Don’t worry.

Editing

You’re looking to improve lots of different things when you’re editing a piece of copy.

• Does it make sense?

• Is it getting my point across?

• Is the pace right?

• Does it flow?

• Does it answer the question?

• Does it sound like me?

Trying to tackle the whole lot at once can be overwhelming, so break the editing stage down into two phases.

In the first phase you’re editing to get the big picture and flow right.

In the second you’re looking to tighten it up.

Phase 1 Big Picture edit

This is the stage where you can do some radical reworking.

Keep your real person reader in mind. Imagine they’re sitting right next to you as you talk to them. If you’ve included any sections that you don’t think they need to hear, you can cut them. Slash anything that doesn’t feel important. If you realise they need a bit more detail, or you can think of an example that brings the idea to life, add it in.

Good questions to ask yourself when you’re editing include: Does this make sense? Does this idea fit here? Am I trying to say too much? Is there anything else I need to add?

Once you feel like you’ve only got the important stuff on the page, you can start looking at the flow. You want to hook your reader’s attention right at the start, so put the key idea first. Maybe ditch the introduction if it feels like treading water.

Make every paragraph count. Every paragraph should contain an idea that one before or the one after doesn’t.

Just say it once. Ditch repetitive sentences. Move things around so it flows.

Remember your reader, you’re just walking her through a solution to her challenge. Keep her with you by sticking to the point.

Phase 2 Clarity edit

Okay, so now we’re getting close to the finished piece of writing. Your aim is to make it as clear and useful for your reader as you can. You might find more things that you can throw overboard, and my advice here is to be brutal.

Things to ditch

• Anything obvious that doesn’t need saying e.g. ‘In this blog’

• Cliches

• Jargon

• Adverbs ( a word that describes a verb - like quickly, hurriedly, excitedly)

• Bloated phrases. Say ‘about’ instead of ‘in regard to.’

Things to add

• Transitions between paragraphs so your reader moves smoothly from one idea to the next.

• More full stops. Break long sentences down into shorter ones.

Things to look at

• Sentence structure. Put the most important things at the beginning of sentences.

• Word choice. If there’s a simpler word, use it. If there’s a more powerful word, use it.

And finally

Writing is a skill that improves with practice, so it’s good to write every day, even if it’s only a little.

Could you keep a diary? Writing a gratitude diary - noting down three things you’re grateful for every day - not only helps you feel more positive (reducing stress) but it’s also a good way of associating writing with good things (reframing it as something you like to do, rather than dread doing.) Nobody else needs to see it, and it just might help take pressure off and make you feel better.

Often it’s not the writing it’s the thinking. If you can’t get going do some more research, jot down some notes, play around with a few lines.

If you really can’t do it at that time (and this happens to everyone) go for a walk, have a cup of tea, do something else and come back to it.

Be kind to yourself. The fog will lift, and your words will return.

If you’d like some support with your writing, take a look at Content Writing Club.