15 Posts To Put A Stop To Writer's Block

Getting out of the writer's block rut and creating new ideas for your blog when you just aren't feeling inspired can be a big challenge. That's why I always get slightly excited when I see a new post on my Bloglovin' feed that promises a list of ideas to get my creative juices flowing. Even if you have plenty of inspiration already, it's always nice to have a few backups for a rainy day right? So I thought I'd compile a list of 15 of my favourite blog post idea posts that I have come across...

1. The Bloggers Lounge - 38 Blog Post Ideas

2. Water Painted Dreams - 50 Fail Safe Blog Post Ideas

3. Sweet Electric - 108 Blog Post Ideas For When Writers Block Strikes
4. The Blog Stylist - 32 Of The Most Popular Blog Post Ideas
5. The College Prepster - 50 Ideas For Blog Posts
6. Sometimes Sweet - Post Ideas For The Stumped Blogger
7. The Best Of Intentions - 36 Of The Best Blog Post Ideas Ever
8. Zoe London - 50 Ideas For Great Blog Posts
9. The Sunday Chapter - 150 Blog Post Ideas For When You've Hit Writers Block
10. Chasing My Extraordinary - 18 Blog Post Ideas
11. Postcards From Rachel - 15 Blog Post Ideas
12. Allyssa Barnes - 25 Blog Post Ideas For The Uninspired
13. Strange & Charmed - 25 Blog Post Ideas For Any Blogger
14. Frock Me I'm Famous - 50 Blog Post Ideas
15. Lot 48 - I Don't Believe In Writers Block: Some Blog Post Ideas 

Did you find any of the above posts useful? If you have a blog post ideas post of your own, please let me know - I'd love to check it out and maybe I'll add it to second edition!

How To Break Creative Block With Oblique Strategies

In 1975, musician Brian Eno and his painter friend Peter Schmidt published the original pack of Oblique Strategies cards, through thinking about approaches to their own creative work. The idea behind their deck of cards was for artists to break creative blocks by encouraging lateral thinking through following the aphorism on a randomly selected card. 

The reason I want to blog about these little cards is that they were mentioned to me on my very first day at art school. I'm certainly no stranger to creative blocks - and when I hit that brick wall, I really hit it hard! Creative blocks can turn into a vicious downward spiral, and the oblique strategies are an excellent tool for encouraging a new perspective on things in order to break the negative loop in one’s head.

To give you an idea of the kind of 'advice' the cards dish out to you, here's 10 randomly selected card messages:

Retrace your steps

Turn it upside down 

Use your own ideas

Emphasise repetitions 

Just carry on

Is there something missing?

Use an unacceptable colour 

In total darkness, in a very large room, very quietly

What else is this like?

Courage!

The impact of the cards on creative block has been described as “Like when you’re feeling a pain in your foot and someone slaps you in the face, suddenly you’re not feeling the pain in your foot anymore". Just one of these cryptic messages has the power to throw you off your original thought process, and that can be all it takes to get the ball rolling again. During the creative process, sometimes your thoughts solidify, and the effect of the cards is to make them liquid again. 

The first edition of Oblique Strategies was privately printed in a limited, numbered and signed edition of 500. If you want a physical copy of the new fifth edition you can buy them for £30.00 (about $48). However there are several online versions available for free such as this one, and even Twitter accounts that tweet messages from randomly chosen cards. 

It is a universally acknowledged fact that if our practising becomes monotonous and thoughtless, it will not be productive. So, perhaps add one of the online versions to your bookmarks and hopefully next time you're at a creative loss they might just relight that creative spark.