Whether you have recently been introduced to online blogging and article writing or you are a seasoned professional or student, there may come a time when you will be faced with overcoming the problem of "writer's block".  For those of you who may not be familiar with this term, Wikapedia defines the problem as follows:

"Writer's block is a phenomenon involving temporary loss of ability to begin or continue writing, usually due to lack of inspiration or creativity."

If this problem should occur with you, during your brainstorming and writing sessions, don't worry, because there is one specific technique, which I believe will work for you in overcoming this temporary issue.  This technique is called "Journaling".

Journaling is different from your standard writing because you are able, and encouraged, to break all of the formal rules of writing.  What I mean by that is that this is much like a personal therapy session between you and your paper or computer screen, where you should feel 100% free to write the first thoughts that come to your mind, without placing any judgments on what you are writing.

First, you should find a place where you can feel comfortable.  If you can't be in a comfortable location, don't worry, because that will probably give you more to write about in the beginning, anyways.

Next, buy a spiral notebook and grab a pencil (so you can erase, if you feel like it), or sit at your computer screen...whichever style is most comfortable for you.  I, like Oprah Winfrey, prefer to write out everything long hand on paper, but you may choose to type freely on your computer screen...that's okay.  Remember, the fewer rules you place on yourself, the closer you will come in achieving your ultimate goal.

At this point, you are ready to begin writing the FIRST thoughts that come to your mind, no matter how silly, useless or insignificant they may seem.  Write these words or phrases, without worrying about punctuation, spelling, margins or the content even making sense.  For instance, if you cannot think of how to begin, you might just begin by write something like the following:

"Wow...I can't think of anything to write.  I can't think of anything to write.  Nothing.  Absolutely nothing.  Why can't I think of anything to write?  This is so crazy!  I don't know whether anything will ever pop into my head because I have so many distractions around me causing me not to be able to think and write.  Oh, I wish I had some help.  Bummer.  I'm bummed.  This makes me sad.  What can I do next?  I need to think of something to write for my blog but I just don't know what.  I'm tired., etc..."

You see...the whole point of the exercise is to release any tensions you may be feeling or placing upon yourself.   Sometimes, you may feel that your thoughts and words are not significant enough in order for you to put them down on paper.  Because of that, you may tend to "freeze up"causing your mind to shut down it's creative processes.  However, once the boredom, distractions, etc. are all acknowledged and written about, your thoughts will then begin to open up and allow your pen to flow freely again.

Just relax during your journaling and release yourself from the burden of having to be creative.  This is not a diary or a story, so all the structure can be forgotten.  The content doesn't need to make sense to anyone.  This is all just for you!  So, breathe and realize that EACH and every one of your thoughts is okay and that EVERY single word is important and worthy enough to be written down.

This exercise should be done for 10 to 30 minutes each day, for about 30 days.  Once you begin this technique, you will once again learn to appreciate the writing process and not feel so bound by limitations and intimidated with the lack of creating content.  It will increase your imagination and creativity, by opening your mind and freeing it from the blocks that restrict you.  It will also help boost your self-confidence level, enabling thoughts to easily stream in and out of your mind, allowing you to become more aware of interesting topics.

This technique was first introduced to me by one of my college professors.  I, too, dealt with the problem of Writer's Block, and would continually "freeze up" at the moment of test taking.  When it was time to write our test essays, my mind would go completely blank and I could think of nothing to write.  This was frustrating, to say the least.  But, by taking my professor's advise and journaling, I was able to overcome my problems.  Once I applied this technique, thoughts were overflowing and made the process of writing papers and essays a breeze.  When I returned to class, I achieved straight A's and was told by my professor that a panel of judges had graded and chosen my final essay as the best written essay among all the students attending summer classes.