Most writers will tell you about writer’s block and how devastating it can be–to their ego and their pocketbook. But what about writer’s overload? Or maybe writer’s overload is an underlying cause for writer’s block.

I have overload (and lack of planning). There are so many topics that I want to cover and when I sit down to write–I can’t choose. So in a sense maybe it could lead to writer’s block, because if you can’t choose, you can’t write and if you can’t write–you must be blocked.

I do not suffer from a lack of things to do. I suffer from “what to do”. I know, prioritize. But it’s all a priority isn’t it? So which do you decide to be the highest priority? Do you base that on money? Passion? Or something else?

I try to use freewriting when these circumstances arise. Days like today however, cause me to feel guilty if I freewrite when I have so much of that “to do” I should be doing.

I read a good piece of advice recently, “Plan your day or it will plan itself”. I’ve been thinking on that a lot and for the most part I have some sort of schedule laid out–but I haven’t actually planned anything. At 6:00 a.m. my schedule tells me to “write”, but it doesn’t tell me what to write. It should state things like, “finish the deck piece”, “start the parenting piece”, “post a recipe on the food blog”. Instead, it says, “write”. It sounds real good in theory, sort of like the Nike deal, “Just Do It”, but it leaves too much to the imagination and too much to be led astray with.

Imgine it. You’ve dreamed of being a writer most of your life. You finally get the chance to follow your dream and work on making a career for yourself as a writer and the best you can come up with in your scheduling is… “write”. Yea boy, that just gives you tons of direction doesn’t it?

Defining your plans down to the letter will help you acheive a better, more productive day.  At first it seems odd to write out every little plan, but there will come a day when you’ll need a definite plan of action.  Try to add more than “write articles” to your calendar today.  You’d be surprised what you can do when there’s a big plan.