Sales Letter Stuckness How To Get Unstuck Fast (and Stay Unstuck)

By Author: Ralph Adams
Total Articles: 39
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"I can't write a sales letter, I just stare at the blank screen."
There is no doubt that writing, especially writing sales copy is intimidating. It is a big factor in the blank screen panic.
Personally, I love the blank screen - it is more interesting to me than going back polishing and editing. I do those too but the first cut is always my favourite to write.
I've always said that if you are staring at a blank screen and don't know what to write you haven't done your research.
That is true for professionals. For others trying to write copy, especially if you are intimately familiar with what you are writing about because its your product, the problem could be something else entirely.
It could be too many ideas.
What Not To Do.
Regardless of the cause of the 'stuckness' staring at the blinking cursor will not get you unstuck. Staring at the blank screen got you into this mess in the first place - so don't keep repeating the mistake. Get away from the screen now.
Change your emotional state.
The other trick is to 'leave it to your subconscious' to sort out. George R.R. Martin ...
... took 5 years to write the most recent novel in the 'Game of Thrones/Song of Fire and Ice' series largely due to writers block - it wasn't until the HBO series was commissioned it for a TV series that Martin got going again - because he had to explain how the story ended and they were able to get through the blockage.
If you are stuck, don't just leave it to your subconscious - you need to give it the building blocks in needs in order to be successful.
What To Do.
The first thing to do when you are stuck is to review all your research. If you haven't done any research then go and do lots of it.
If you've done plenty of research then it is more likely that you are stuck because you have too many ideas and no way to order them. Often all you need is one small idea that everything can crystallise around. This is why you review your notes and see what comes up.
You may get the breakthrough just by rereading your research notes.
Then and only then can you leave it for a day or so for your subconscious to go to work to get you unstuck.

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