January is over here in Chicago. It’s now Hurtstobreatheuary. 

Yesterday’s high was -11° F, and today it’s a balmy -1° F. 

And like the air outside, my creativity and motivation have both been subzero since ::checks calendar:: late November. Seriously, my furnace is working harder than I am right now.

Anybody else’s brain already have a bit of freezer burn?

I’m told Morning Pages or a daily 750 Words habit are the cure for writer’s block, the best way to wake a creative brain that’s been in hibernation. 

And I want to be that person, Paige — I have pay for a $50 annual subscription to 750 Words — but I’m not that person.

So I do my word puzzles, drink coffee, and listen to public radio in hopes of sparking some synapse fires before I drag myself up to the office, flip on the space heater, and stare at my to-do list for a while, until I finally decide on a Google Doc to stare at instead.

Wait, know what would probably make it easier to emerge from the winter of my creative discontent? Doing for myself what I recommend my clients do:

💃 Go back to the core message we created to reestablish true north
💃 Use that message to build a loose content framework (strategy? never heard of her)
💃 Identify topics that will de-blankify a document

Maybe I could stop waiting for some quirky anecdote to materialize and write about that until I eventually make a point…and start, y’know, getting a bit more methodical?

Actually, both approaches can work beautifully — if organic inspo strikes, bump a planned topic to another week! But the “first story, then point” plane doesn’t fly as well when the wings need hours of deicing.

So if your creative mind is more tundra than rainforest at the moment, you’ve got permission to switch gears and wrap yourself in a cozy blanket of practical planning. 

Start with top-level content categories and divide them into subtopics. Here’s an example from my own business…

👋 Services I offer

✔️ Messaging
✔️ Website copy
✔️ Email marketing
✔️  StoryBrand Guide

👋 How I work

✔️  Done for you
✔️  Done with you (coaching)
✔️  DIY (Story School)
✔️  Free resources
✔️  Tools I use
✔️  Behind my scenes

👋 Things that are nice

✔️ Recent projects
✔️ Client celebrations/success stories
✔️ Testimonials and case studies

There are a bazillion smaller topics in each of those subtopics. That’s where the stories live.

By the way, putting that list of lil’ buckets together took me all of four minutes, which isn’t so much a flex on my part than a hint for you that this doesn’t have to be laborious. You got this.

So go forth — make thee a spreadsheet.