---
title: "Find where you're stuck in Idea - Write - Edit"
description: "Thirteen common places to get stuck in Idea - Write - Edit and the step to go back to, with symptom, cause, fix and check for the Idea step."
---

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# Find where you're stuck in Idea - Write - Edit

When a post will not come out, there is almost always **one step that is stuck**. With a process, you know which step you stumble on, so you can fix that exact spot right away.

Do you follow the three steps of [The Idea - Write - Edit publishing process](/docs/content-system/idea-write-edit/introduction) and still cannot get a post out? Find your symptom in the table below. If the process just feels heavy in general, with no single place you get stuck, [practice Idea - Write - Edit to get faster with every post](/docs/content-system/idea-write-edit/guides/how-to/practice-until-it-sticks).

| Symptom | Go back to |
| --- | --- |
| You edit over and over and the post never comes out | Idea |
| You think for ages and the outline will not come | Idea |
| You spend hours on one title | Idea |
| You freeze on one idea while writing | The handover before Write |
| The post is long but choppy | Idea |
| The titles and the content no longer match | Edit |
| After editing, the post is too short and missing ideas | Write or Idea |
| An interruption kills your fire | Write |
| The post gets weaker toward the end | Write |
| You can only write when you are in the mood | Idea |
| You are afraid to sit down, your notebook is full of topics but you do not write | Write: switch from typing to talking |
| The outline takes four or five days | Idea |
| You cannot answer the three starter questions | Picking the topic |

The places to get stuck in the Idea step are fixed right below. The [five common places to get stuck in the Write step](/docs/content-system/idea-write-edit/guides/troubleshooting/stuck-while-writing) and the [three in the Edit step](/docs/content-system/idea-write-edit/guides/troubleshooting/stuck-while-editing) have their own fixes.

## Stuck at the Idea step

![Stuck at the Idea step](/docs/_astro/illus-docs-nam-nan-mot-goc.en.qacHlA3k_ZTKTiY.svg "Five symptoms, one step to go back to")

The Idea step puts every idea on the table to choose from, then locks one outline. Cuong estimates that **80% of a post's success** sits in this step.

### No outline emerges

The Idea step has two jobs in order: **pour out every idea, then choose**. An idea that stays in your head gives you nothing to choose from.

**Symptom:** for days you ask what to write and whether anything is missing, with nothing on paper.

**Cause:** you think in your head and do not write it down, so the ideas cannot be seen and chosen from.

**Fix:** stop thinking and start talking or writing. Answer the three starter questions out loud or on paper, and choose later.

**Check:** after one round of pouring out ideas, you have a few dozen, enough to filter down to six to eight.

### Titles eat hours

A reader skims four things first: the title, the description, the opening and the main content. The main content is your idea, so **the title comes after the idea**.

**Symptom:** you start with the title, then write, delete, write, delete. Two hours later it is still not done, and sometimes it takes a whole day.

**Cause:** the title is the idea you are about to say, and the idea is not locked.

**Fix:** do the Idea step first. Once the outline is locked, the big idea titles already exist, and the post title is one sentence that says the core message.

**Check:** you have the post title in the same session in which you lock the outline.

### The three starter questions

The three starter questions are:

1. What the topic is
2. How it works
3. Why you or your customer should care

Once you answer them, you start to have a position for the post. A question you cannot answer is a place you do not understand well enough.

**Symptom:** you cannot say what the topic is, how it works, or why it matters.

**Cause:** you do not understand it deeply enough, or you only know a little because someone told you to write it.

**Fix:** if you want the topic, study more, patch your blind spots, then come back. If not, drop it and pick one you have dealt with yourself and understand deeply.

**Check:** you answer all three questions without looking anything up. The next step is in [Outline a post from a one-line topic](/docs/content-system/idea-write-edit/guides/tutorials/outline-from-one-line).

### The outline takes days

When one step drags on while the other two go fast, it does not mean you lack time. It shows you **exactly where to practice**.

**Symptom:** writing and editing go fast, but the outline alone takes four or five days.

**Cause:** the Idea step is where you are still weak.

**Fix:** practice the Idea step on its own: pour out ideas by recording, let AI group them, and write down how long this step takes for each post. How to practice is in [Practice Idea - Write - Edit to get faster with every post](/docs/content-system/idea-write-edit/guides/how-to/practice-until-it-sticks).

**Check:** the outline time gets shorter from post to post. Cuong's example: from a day to two or three hours.

### Long but choppy

A good outline lets a skimming reader, and an AI scanning the post, **see the message**, the main idea, and whether the ideas connect.

**Symptom:** the post is very long and jumps from one idea to another, and when you finish you do not know what it wants to say.

**Cause:** the outline holds too many ideas, or there is no core message to filter with.

**Fix:** go back to the Idea step. Write the core message from three things: who the customer is, their problem, and your solution. Keep the six to eight ideas that serve it, and save the rest for other posts.

**Check:** read the big idea titles one after another, and a stranger can see the message of the post.

## Still stuck

![Still stuck](/docs/_astro/illus-docs-la-ban-go-ket.en.rHqk1uKo_ZTKTiY.svg "The process is a compass")

With a process, you know where you are on the map. If you feel lost, like being lost in a forest, **you have left the process**.

- See the short answers in [Common questions about the content system](/docs/content-system/faq).
- Share the stuck post with a community such as the HXN Tribe. Other people often see right away which step you stumble on.

Source: https://cuongthach.com/docs/content-system/idea-write-edit/guides/troubleshooting/fix-a-stuck-step/index.mdx