Press Release Writing Tips to Get Un-Stuck from Writer’s Block
Press releases aren’t easy to write. Sometimes you’re in a writing groove and feel like it’s all coming together, and suddenly you’re stuck. You hit a rough patch and nothing seems to work anymore. Other times you can sit and stare at a blank piece of paper for hours waiting for the inspiration to show up. So what do you do? What happens when you get stuck writing a press release? How do you get through this type of writer’s block?
Walk Away from It
Get up from your desk and leave your press release for at least ten minutes, and twenty to thirty is preferable. Do something mundane. Take a walk. Clean out your desk. Check your email or make a few phone calls. Allow your brain to focus on something else for a while. Chances are, while you’re focusing on other things, you may be inspired with ideas for your press release. Walking away from it relieves some of the pressure.
Stop Writing, Start Researching
If you haven’t done the research yet, now is the perfect time to get it done. Instead of staring at your unfinished press release, you can be productive and research facts and data for it. You can also find a few people to interview and grab quotes from them. Between the research and the quotes, you may find the answers you need to continue writing your press release.
Force It
Another option to break through writer’s block is to force it. Allow yourself to write an absolutely terrible first draft. Even if you have no idea what you’re writing or why, by putting pen to paper or fingers to keyboard, some of what you write will be usable. And by writing and forcing it, you will also end up with new information, new ideas, and a possible direction for your finished press release.
Shift Your Focus
Sometimes you’re not stuck on the entire press release, but rather you’re stuck on one specific section of it. Skip that section and shift your focus to a different area of your release. If you’re stuck on the lede, write the call to action and the concluding paragraph. If you’re stuck on one of the body paragraphs, skip it and go to the next paragraph.
Writer’s block happens to everyone and it seems to happen often when the project is difficult. There’s no one hard and fast rule for dealing with writer’s block. When you get stuck you may need to try several different things to find what works for you. Sometimes simply taking a short break from the project can help you come back at it with new focus and energy.
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