Enjoy this guest blog by Chris Hoole!

You may have dreamed of being paid to write, but the reality might not live up to your expectations. Yes writing is a wonderful career to choose and it has many benefits such as being able to work from home, having the chance to write about things you love and being paid for being creative but there are down sides too and knowing how to work through these negatives can help to ensure you create great content even if your heart isn’t in it.

More Facts than Fiction

Writing for a living doesn’t necessarily mean you are able to write stories all day. In truth most writers working from home find they are constantly writing for companies who are looking to market their business online or through printed materials. If you write for a company who specialising in products you love this can be great fun, but many business out there will be marketing services and some of these can be completely out of your comfort zone, which can make writing turn from a pleasure into a chore.

Set Your Writing Free

If you have been educated in creative writing you can help to remain fresh and in love with your job by using some of the common exercises that help creative juices flow.  Free writing is a great exercise that can help you come up with ideas for topics you are uncomfortable with. Write down anything you want about the topic, you could end up with questions that inspire your next posts and then it is down to you to find out the answers and write the piece aimed at people like you who know little about the subject. Offering advice and answering questions is a great way of building a valuable blog or viable article that can really help optimise websites.

Watching people is also beneficial to writers and something that can constantly prove to be useful. Although it is rude to eavesdrop if you are in a café or waiting for a bus listen to the conversations around you. Learn what makes people tick, listen out for opinions and study the body language of those around you. While this may not help directly with your tedious writing task you can find it is useful to put yourself in the mind of the audience you are writing for.

Research and Read

If you have a regular client who wants unique content on a topic you don’t feel passionate about it is a good idea to spend time researching. By reading great blog posts, news articles and visiting similar websites you can quickly educate yourself on the basics, and from their your knowledge will be given a chance to grow. Sign up to newsletters, take advantage of free eBooks and use your time to learn something new. You may discover you do have an interest for the subject after all. This is one area that really helps me to stay in love with writing, I constantly learn new things and I enjoy finding a passion for something I felt nothing for previously.

Get Away from it All

Some days the brain will simply refuse to play ball, and on those days it is better to leave the page empty and get out of the house. Going for a walk or browsing in shops can help to reenergise your brain, plus you never know when inspirations will strike. When you go out always take a pen and paper, iPad or phone that allows you to add notes. That way if an idea does come into your mind, and it probably will, you have the ability to write it down and use it later.

These methods are used by many copywriters who remain passionate about each job they are working on. Find the passion in your writing to produce your best work.