What to do when you get writer's block.

byKatSchmidt

378 followers

Updated 4 years ago

Filling unproductive days

We all have days, or at least partial days, when the creative juices just aren't flowing. Personally, I suffer from anxiety and can get very apathetic after an anxiety attack hits. I always bounce back, but I lose precious time on those days.

So I've been making a list of things I can do on those days, when I need something perhaps a bit mindless, or at least not very taxing. You might call it busy work.

Here's my list so far. Please add yours in the comments below and we can build great list to get us all through the hard days!

Things to do when you aren't creating:

• Keyword Research
• Update old posts:
  • With things I've learned since they were posted
  • Or go back and re-edit now that you've had some time away from the content
  • Head to Google Search Console and look for pages that get high impressions but low clicks - these probably need some udpates.
    • What queries are they showing up for - does the article suit these?
    • What are searchers looking for when the article shows up - does the article meet their needs?
    • Does it need a more catchy headline? A different focus or keyword?
• Identify *orphaned content and add links to other posts
• Map out an editorial/content calendar
• WordPress admin -
  • run any updates
  • delete plugins you no longer use
  • delete unused images from library
  • Run a backup
  • Run database optimization
  • (add more WP admin tasks below if you have any)
    
• Copy-edit or proofread old posts (this is easy if you use a tool like Grammarly)
• Check emails
• Reply to comments
• Join WA live chat and do some networking
• Social Media:
  • Engage and interact with followers
  • Mine for new followers
  • Seek out new brand partners or influencers
  • Update accounts (bios or info that may have changed or is out of date)
  • Create new post templates

OK - that's my list so far. I'll come back and edit this if I think of more. All of these things are somethign I can do to be productive even on non-preductive days, and most of them even help inspire a new idea or motivate me to get back int he game!

Please add your list or ideas in the comments below and together we can keep the productivity flowing!

EDIT: I will add all the ideas in the comments to the list as well so that you can all just copy paste it if you want.

*For those of you who don't know, an orphaned post is one that has no links going to it from other posts on your blog. You can search the term in WA to find related trainigns and info.