5 Writing Tips to Overcome the Blank Page

My Engineering Brain Hates Writing: Here's How I Cope

👋 Hi, this is Akash with this week’s newsletter. I write about leadership and growth in software engineering. This week, we have crossed 2000 subscribers! Thank you for your readership ❤️.

Writing is a crucial part of engineering. From design documents to product roadmaps, we spend significant time writing. This week, I’m sharing my strategies for dealing with writer’s block. Hope you enjoy this edition!

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Countless times, I have sat at my desk for two hours, struggling to write a single word.

Then, when I’m in my flow state, I write smoothly.

Does it ever happen to you?

An engineer’s relationship with writing is complicated.

I haven’t met a single engineer who loves writing. Be it design documents, user guides, or announcements.

However, every single one of them agrees on its importance.

Depending on your career stage, you will spend 30-60% of your time writing documents. For the last five years, I’ve spent more time writing than coding. With that, reducing moments of struggle became crucial.

Today, we will explore tricks I use to turn the blank page that will make your writing more efficient.

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⭐ Main Takeaways

• How to deal with writer’s block

• Proven tips that you can apply today and improve your writing efficiency

Let’s jump right into it!

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5 Strategies to get out of “Writer’s Block”

🏁 1) Just start writing

Does your motivation tank as soon as you sit down to write?

You might have had a productive day solving exciting problems. But, when you decide to write a design document, you find yourself distracted. This happens to me all the time. I’d sit still, thinking about all sorts of things, but struggle to write a single word.

Over the years, I’ve found a few reasons,

• Writing is often not the most attractive work for us. I’ve experienced “procrastination” rather than “creative block”. When I start writing, I think about all the other cool stuff I could do.

  • “Should I just finish the cool feature X?”

  • “Is it the best usage of my time right now?”

• I don’t have a clear picture of the content when I write, especially recently with newsletters, but this is equally valid for roadmaps or design documents.

  • “What is the one-line takeaway from this content?”

  • “How are readers benefitting from this?”

Questions like these make writing more problematic than it has to be. Some practices that help me deal with these,

• Break down the task. I started dedicating the first five minutes to creating a structure.

  • Templates are handy

  •  Writing down the headings and main takeaways

• Begin with the background. Sometimes, I struggle with writing the main content because it demands more thinking. Starting with the background section helps me build the flow.

• Set smaller goals. A typical document in your job is 3-10 pages long, which I find discouraging. One section at a time keeps this much attainable.

I made the mistake of focusing on the value proposition at the beginning. This is not only slow but also blocks my thoughts from flowing naturally. I’ve benefitted from simply starting, sometimes with the most obvious sections.

🔄 2) Write a shitty first draft

“The reason you’re having a hard time writing is because of a conflict between the GOAL of writing well and the FEAR of writing badly.     - Dan Harmon”

I want my writing to be perfect - to capture all my thoughts concisely and deliver the right message. The problem is that I expect this from my first draft, which takes forever.

Do you feel the same way?

Recently, I wrote a book (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D8KV6N6S). It’s a long-form text, and my fear of writing badly made it more challenging. I forgot that the first draft isn’t meant for the readers. It’s an opportunity to capture ideas. Tricks that helped me deal with this were the following,

• Set realistic expectations. I’m an avid reader. Over the years, I’ve formed opinions on materials I like. Comparing myself with professional writers doesn’t help me get my job done.

• The first draft is a starting point. I started using it to capture raw thoughts, which changed how quickly I could prepare unstructured content.

• Writing is iterative. Once I note down all the ideas, organizing them to tell a story gets easier.

Start using your first draft as a collection of ideas. If you let your mind run free, you’ll have better content.

🔕 3) Manage your distractions

How often have you settled down to write, only to get a notification? Now you’re back to zero.

I get stuck in this endless loop of distractions and calming my mind down. The next thing I know, it’s getting late.

Focus is vital for everything we do. But writing is unique. Encountering a blank state is more common when you write. Your creative mind works best when the rest of it is at rest. My strategy has been,

• Turn off notifications. Before I enter my writing space, switching off as many distractions as possible is provably helpful. Close all those tabs, declutter your desk and activate DND on your phone.

• Try a new spot. Sometimes, when I find myself in those loops, changing my spot helps. Some days, when my office space is noisy, taking a walk in the park and dropping voice notes is an effective way to gather ideas.

• Find the right time. I’m naturally more focused in the morning. I have noticed a significant improvement when I schedule my writing in the morning.

Getting stuck while writing is expected. The urge to take care of one more message will never go away. If you observe, you can find the right environment to unlock smooth writing.

☎️ 4) Talk it out

Have you heard of “Rubber duck debugging”? Giving a problem voice sometimes helps solve the problem.

I’ve found it helpful in writing too. Saying it out loud can clarify your thoughts.

My three-step process:

1. Write freely on a notepad: To avoid those annoying red underlines and suggestions; I like to write on my notepad. I’d set a timer for ten minutes and brain-dump everything on paper. These are not complete sentences.

2. Read the mess: The next step is to read it to myself. As I hear myself, my thoughts get clarified. You can use this time to identify missing context or examples.

3. Build a mindmap: At this phase, you can visualize your notes and find connections between pieces. The connections are what make your writing a complete story.

Sometimes, we get lost in the complex web of thoughts. Writing feels like expressing your feelings if you can organize and understand them better.

✏️ 5) Don’t edit as you go

The last tip of the day: please don’t edit when writing.

I fell for this so many times and wasted whole days.

Do you ever feel, “I don’t like this sentence, let me restructure it.” or “I’m making grammatical mistakes, let’s fix those.”.

Editing is an integral part of writing. But it doesn’t have to coexist, as you write. The most essential thing in the beginning is to present your original thoughts.

Don't aim for the perfect first draft. Focus on getting ideas down, then refine them later.

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🌟 🔍 Parting Thoughts

Like it or not, writing will stay at the core of your success. Over the past decade, I have written:

• Research papers,

• Design documents,

• Roadmaps,

• Product announcements,

• Newsletters,

• Short posts,

• And a book.

I couldn’t avoid writer’s block in any of them. Today, I shared tricks I accumulated over the years that will help you write faster. We explored five strategies,

• Just start writing

  • Breaking down the task

  • Beginning with the background

  • Setting smaller goals

• Write a shitty first draft

  • Setting realistic expectations

  • The first draft is a starting point

  • Writing is iterative

• Manage your distractions

  • Turning off notifications

  • Trying a new spot

  • Finding the right time

• Talk it out

  • Writing freely on a notepad

  • Reading the mess

  • Building a mindmap

• Don’t edit as you go

  • Don't aim for the perfect first draft

  • Focus on getting ideas down

  • Refine them later

What has been your most annoying experience with writer’s block? How did you cope with it?

Share them in the comments!

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👋 💬 Get In Touch

Want to chat? Find me on LinkedIn.

If you want me to cover a particular area of leadership, you can reach out directly to akash@chromium.org. 

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