Introduction
Ready to kick writer’s block to the curb?
In this electrifying episode of **Content Universe**, host **Mikkel Svold**—founder of the Montanus content production agency—drops some serious knowledge.
Think writer’s block is a real thing? Think again! Mikkel dives into why it’s often just a self-imposed illusion.
With tons of experience crafting everything from podcasts to snappy social media posts, he’s here to show you how to dismantle that creative wall.
*What’s the secret?*
It’s all about understanding your story, doing your homework, and planning like a pro.
Say goodbye to those paralyzed moments in front of a blank page!
This episode is your ticket to transforming the overwhelming process of writing into a smooth, structured journey.
Curious about how to make stories flow effortlessly from your fingertips?
Join us and get ready to navigate the content universe with fresh insights. Your next big breakthrough is just a listen away! 🌟
What You’ll Learn
1. How to banish writer’s block for good.
2. Essential prep steps to prevent getting stuck while writing.
3. The power of the “writing paper” technique explained.
4. Why focusing on one story enhances content clarity.
5. Avoiding the pitfalls of multitasking writing and research.
Episode Transcript (AI Generated)
Hello and welcome to the Content Universe. Today I want to talk about writer’s block. I want to talk about how you can avoid writer’s block, why I don’t really believe in writer’s block, and if you feel like you are still having writer’s block no matter if I believe or not. How you can get ahead of that block and basically never really experience it first. Those of you who don’t know me, I am Mikkel Svold. I keep on saying this wrong. I don’t know why. My head is kind of spinning, but I am the owner and founder of Montanus, which is a content production agency where we produce podcasts for our clients and basically turn into blog posts and turn them into Social Media posts. And of course, we do all kinds of other content as well. But that’s what we do mostly. And that is also the segue into today’s topic, namely how you can overcome writer’s block and what writer’s block is, because I think that’s a good place to start. Writer’s block happens when you, for some reason, don’t know what you’re writing. So of course, it can happen at the beginning of a piece of… it could be a blog post, it could be a brochure, it could be a Social Media post, whatever. But it happens when you don’t exactly know what it is that you want to tell, and that, ladies and gentlemen, is the big secret with writer’s block and how to overcome it, is to never get in that position. So, you always need to know what you want to tell. Okay, let me take you back just a few steps. If I asked you to write out from your memory the ugly duckling. Most of you could more or less get that right. Maybe not into the details. But you would be able to write out that story. Just like you would be able to sit down and tell that story to a kid. Maybe you’d have to come up with a little bit out of your own fantasy. But, you know, the overall, in-and-outs, most people, at least in the Western world who kind of knows H.C. Andersen, they will be able to tell that story. Without any blocks. Without any so-called writer’s blocks. Or storyteller’s blocks. And that is the same principle that I want you to work on when you are writing a piece. No matter what it is about. Because the big problem here is if you are trying to write something and you’re not entirely sure what the story is. You’re not entirely sure what the facts are. You’re maybe not entirely sure what the purpose of the text is. If you have those kinds of questions before you start writing, you will run into trouble. Now, when I was a kid, my teacher used to tell me that sometimes you just have to kind of let the fingers do the walking. You’d have to sit down and then just speed write. Many people, they use this thing with speed writing to get their fingers going on the keyboard. To get some kind of feeling of the story. To me, speed writing is a complete waste of time. What I would do instead is, I would sit down and intensively, extensively do my research. I want to know exactly what is it that I need to write about, what is the text, what do I need to convey, what is the message, what is the purpose of my text. And if I have any insecurities in that, I’ll go back and then revisit my research. So what I want to know before I start putting pen to paper is I want to know all the facts that I need to know. If I’m writing about some technology which I often am, I have to kind of know that technology. If I don’t understand the technology that I’m about to write about, it’s going to be really, really hard to write. So I’ll sit back and then I’ll do the research on what is the technology. I will try and understand how does it actually work, even though it’s really hard sometimes because it’s like super intensive engineering stuff, but I’ll still see if I can get some kind of grasp of the technology itself. I will sit down and then I will pin out what are the key things that I need to tell in this text that I’m writing, what are the key benefits it could be, what is the key story, what are the main points that I do need to cover and then I’ll jot those down on the paper. So I work with what I call, I stand upon the shoulders of a great writer called Migtel Wild and I can really recommend his book. I think it’s only in Danish but go to Migtel Wild with one i so if you are in Denmark know how to spell that out and then find his books. He’s really brilliant. Anyway I stand on the shoulders of him and I work with what he calls a writing paper and a writing paper is not an outline but it is something that kind of mimics an outline a little bit. It is a paper where you write down, all the things that you need to cover so you have a one sheet of A4 paper where you can see the entire story of what you’re writing. And then, I’m making sure, and this is an important one, and it’s probably also one of the harder ones. I’m making sure that I am only telling one story so I need to focus down on one single story. If I can see two different stories in my writing paper, I’ll have to split it up and write two different blog posts in that. So, choose one story, but choose one thing that you want to tell per piece of content. I think that is very, very critical. Otherwise, you are kinda messing around in all kinds of stuff, and you can really confuse yourself when you’re writing. Now, once you have your writing paper, it’s all about kinda prioritizing what is it that I want to write first, what is the most important thing, where are the real benefits, or where are the kicker, where’s the good example, where’s the good case story, where’s the fun thing, all those kinds of things. So, kinda prioritize that little bit before you start writing. Then, take a good look at your writing paper which is now closer to what I would call an outline. I would also have a title. I call it a working title, but it is quite a descriptive title of what it is that I want my piece to be about, the piece of content. If it’s a case, I’ll have case, colon, and then what is my point with this case. So, this could be how this and that company utilized this and that technology to raise, I don’t know, awareness of whatever, something like that. So, I will have a really long title that’s really descriptive of what it is that I’m doing. And then once I have that, looking through my writing paper, looking at my title, my working title, I will then go through and say, okay, do I need more research here? Do I need to find quotes somewhere? Do I need to back anything with facts, with other sources? If so, I’ll go ahead and find those sources. If not, I’ll basically start writing. Because what I am now, I am so deeply immersed into this piece of content, into the story of the content, just like I would be if, if I was writing about the ugly duckling, I would be so, I’m already so immersed into that story that I know the story, right? I know the important bits of that story and the same is true when you’re writing any piece of content, in my opinion. You need to know what it is that you’re writing and you need to know what is the story right here. Because when you know the story, ladies and gentlemen, it is not that hard to start writing. It is maybe you have to kind of write the first sentence a couple of times, but once you are in your writing flow, all you need to do is look at your writing paper, write the next piece of your writing paper, and then when you’re done with that, when you’ve told that, that, micro story or that like in-line story of whatever section of the piece that is. when you’ve told that story, continue on to the next one, and then continue on to the next one and then continue on to the last one until you of course finished. This sounds super easy or like… It sounds super simple, I think, but for me, when I discovered this way of working, of working with a writing paper, of working with really hard phase divisions in my writing process, so I will go with of course the brainstorm at the first so I will have to know what is the angle, what is it that I am writing about, then the research phase, not mixing any writing into the research phase, just do your research and find out what is important in that piece of content, and then once you are done with that, and you feel confident that you have your story in place, you know what story that you have to tell, then start telling it, start putting words on the paper, right? And then when you are done with that, if you can really try not to correct anything because once you start correcting that is just using your brain in a whole new fashion so start writing, keep writing, don’t stop until you are finished, and when you are finished, wait a day or two and then go through it again. So turn on your revision, your editing brain and then go in and make that text really, really good. So those are the phases that I go through when I’m writing a piece and that actually doesn’t really matter what kind of piece it is. So no matter whether its short form, Social Media posts or it’s a long form white paper, I still go through those phases, and also most importantly I make sure only to tell one story. One story guys, and that is so critical and if you want to write something long and really profound, that can be like a really in-depth white paper. That story obviously needs to be kind of wide but you still need to pin down what is the story, because if you don’t do that in your heading, or at least in your working heading, working title, if you don’t do that you have no direction, you have no northern star to aim for when you’re writing, and that is very, very important. So that my friends is the episode for today I think. I think I’m finished now, yeah I am, I am. Okay I hope you enjoyed this episode and if not let me know and if you did let me know as well, because that just makes me so happy, and makes me want to continue. So yeah, give me your five star review if you’re in front of a computer or subscribe to the podcast and of course let your friends and colleagues and whoever you think is relevant know about this podcast because that really helps me want to keep going and I just find it kind of fun. Yeah and nice to talk to you guys. Thank you so much for listening and see you on another planet in the Content Universe.
