How to Beat the Writer's Block by Stealing Like a Great Writer

You're staring at a blank page. You can't sit still. You're stuck. Oh, you've experienced this before.

It's your enemy: the writer's block.

Here's how you can beat the writer's block by stealing like a great writer:

Remixing

Wanna know why great writers don't face writer's block?

It's because great writer are great at stealing ideas. They steal an existing idea and remix it to another one. Then, they put their own spin on it.

• Stephen King admitted that he stole some of his ideas from R. L. Stine's "Goosebumps."

• William Shakespeare used to stole his plots from Greek and Roman plays.

• Robert Jordan borrowed some aspects from R. R. Tolkien's middle earth for his book, "The Wheel of Time."

3 Simple Steps to Remix Ideas

1. Pick 2 or more existing ideas.

2. Put your own spin on it.

3. Procrastinate.

Keep a Swipe File

Usually, those who keep a swipe file are copywriters.

Its purpose is to give you an inspiration or idea for your piece. But you can create a swipe file even if you're not a copywriter.

A swipe file is a personal collection of writing examples.

The examples can be:

• Headlines

• Tweets

• Emails

Practice

Every time:

• A headline makes you captures your attention

• A tweet makes you click bookmark

• An ad makes you buy

Put it in your swipe file.

Swipe file examples:

• swiped.co

• swipefile.com

• swipefolder.com

Be a Good Theft

In arts, there are 2 types of theft.

1.) Bad Theft:

• Degrade

• Skim

• Steal from one

• Plagiarize

• Imitate

• Rip off

2). Good Theft:

• Honor

• Study

• Steal from many

• Credit

• Transform

• Remix

H/T: Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon

Hope you learned something new for today :)

- NicolePS. Sorry I didn't send an email last week.

PPS. I was about to send you an email last week about "Stealing Like a Writer." But it was too vague, right? So I made the title more specific and wrote this while procrastinating.