Fix a stuck Idea - Write - Edit step

When a post will not come out, there is almost always one step that is stuck. This page gathers the ten most common places to get stuck, the most frequent at the top. Each entry has the same layout: symptom, cause, fix, check.

You edit over and over and the post never comes out

• Symptom: you write, edit, redo the outline, write in more, change the titles, then fix the ideas again. One post drags on for days, with ten rounds of edits.
• Cause: the writing loop. You started writing before the outline was locked, so every step pulls you back to the Idea step. Perfectionism makes the loop spin faster.
• Fix: stop writing. Go back to the Idea step, lock the outline with How to build an outline from a one-line topic, then go through once in the right order: Write, then Edit. Do not reopen the outline while you edit.
• Check: the post goes through the three steps once each, and the big idea titles in the final post are exactly as in the outline.

You think for ages and the outline will not come

• Symptom: you hold the topic and keep asking what to write, how the ideas should go, whether anything is missing, for days, with nothing on paper.
• Cause: you think in your head and do not write it down. One interruption and it is gone, so you start thinking from scratch.
• Fix: stop thinking and start talking or writing. Answer the three starter questions out loud or on paper, and let the ideas roll. Choosing comes later, once every idea is in front of you.
• Check: after one round of pouring out ideas, you have at least seven to ten ideas written down.

You freeze on one idea while writing

• Symptom: the other ideas flow, but one idea will not come out, or you catch yourself wanting to go online to look something up.
• Cause: a blind spot you missed. You do not understand that idea well enough to explain it yourself, and the handover before the Write step skipped it.
• Fix: do not look things up in the middle of writing. Mark that idea and keep writing the rest. After the writing round, study that one idea until you can explain it yourself, then rewrite its part.
• Check: you can talk through that idea in one go without freezing.

The post is long but choppy

• Symptom: the post is very long, jumps from idea to idea, and after reading it you cannot tell what it is trying to say.
• Cause: the outline kept too many ideas, or there was no core message to filter them. You put every idea you poured out into the post.
• Fix: go back to the Idea step. Write the core message from three things: who the customer is, their problem, your solution. Keep the six to ten ideas that serve it, and save the rest for other posts.
• Check: reading the big idea titles straight through, a stranger can see the post’s message.

The titles and the content no longer match

• Symptom: you read it again and the title says one thing while the part below says another; the post’s message seems to have drifted away.
• Cause: the post went off key. You changed words in a title while editing, the title’s meaning changed with them, and the content is still written for the old title.
• Fix: put the titles back exactly as in the locked outline, then edit only the content below them. In the Edit step, do not change the post’s title, the big idea titles or the small idea titles.
• Check: compare the titles in the post with the outline; they match word for word.

After editing, the post is too short and missing ideas

• Symptom: after cutting, the post is thin, does not get all its ideas across, and you want to add words to make it longer.
• Cause: the draft was too thin to tighten, or the outline had too few ideas. Tightening needs enough material.
• Fix: do not add words in the Edit step. If the draft is thin, go back to the Write step and talk more deeply about each idea. If the outline has few ideas, go back to the Idea step and add ideas, because a post is long thanks to many ideas, not many words.
• Check: before you start cutting, the new draft is about twice as long as the post you plan to publish.

An interruption kills your fire

• Symptom: a call or another task cuts in while you write. When you come back you cannot pick up, your energy drops, and you leave to do something else.
• Cause: you write in one sitting on inspiration, with no stopping point to put away where you are.
• Fix: split the post by the three steps and finish each step in one slot. When you have to stop in the middle of the Write step, write one line, “at idea number so-and-so”. When you come back, read the outline and the idea you were on, then keep writing. How to split your time is in How to publish steadily with little free time.
• Check: after an interruption, you are writing again within a few minutes without rereading the whole draft.

You can only write when you are in the mood

• Symptom: when you feel good, you can write; when you feel low or tired, you sit in front of a blank page and nothing comes.
• Cause: there is no outline to hold on to, so writing depends on how you feel that day.
• Fix: do the Idea step first, in a session of its own. Once you have an outline, the writing session is only going through it one idea at a time, with the internet off and your focus on the page.
• Check: you finish a draft on a day when you are not in the mood.

The outline takes four or five days

• Symptom: writing and editing go fast, but the outline alone drags on for four or five days.
• Cause: the Idea step is where you are still weak. That is good news: you know exactly where you stumble.
• Fix: practice the Idea step on its own. Pour out ideas by recording instead of sitting and thinking, ask AI to group and pull apart the ideas, and write down how long this step takes for each post. How to practice is in Practice Idea - Write - Edit until it sticks.
• Check: the time spent on the outline gets shorter with each post.

You cannot answer the three starter questions

• Symptom: you cannot say what the topic is, how it works, or why it matters.
• Cause: you do not understand the topic deeply enough, or you only know a little about it because someone told you to write it.
• Fix: drop this topic and pick one you have dealt with yourself and understand deeply. A topic where you cannot answer the three questions is not ready to write.
• Check: with the new topic, you can answer all three questions from what you know, with no looking anything up.

Still stuck?

• See the short answers in Common questions about Idea - Write - Edit.
• Share the stuck post with a community such as the HXN Tribe. Other people often see right away which step you stumble on.