---
type: "Trust post"
title: "Fix a stuck Idea - Write - Edit step"
docType: "Troubleshooting"
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."
resource: "https://cuongthach.com/docs/content-system/field-guides/stuck/fix-a-stuck-step/"
markdown: "https://cuongthach.com/docs/content-system/field-guides/stuck/fix-a-stuck-step/index.md"
tags:
  - "docs"
  - "en"
  - "content-system"
  - "Troubleshooting"
  - "Field guides"
status: stable
generated:
  by: "process:cuongthach-okf-export"
  at: "2026-10-25T02:36:04Z"
---
# 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 thirteen common places to get stuck in one table that follows the three steps, Idea, Write, Edit, then fixes each place to get stuck in the Idea step.

The Write step and the Edit step have their own pages. Each entry has the same layout: symptom, cause, fix, check.

With a process, you **know which step you stumble on**, so you can fix that exact spot right away.

This page is for anyone who follows the three steps of [The Idea - Write - Edit publishing process](/docs/content-system/idea-write-edit/introduction) and still cannot get a post out. If the process just feels heavy in general, with no single place you get stuck, read [Practice Idea - Write - Edit with every post](/docs/content-system/field-guides/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 Write step is in [Five common places to get stuck in the Write step](/docs/content-system/field-guides/stuck/stuck-while-writing), and the Edit step is in [Three common places to get stuck in the Edit step](/docs/content-system/field-guides/stuck/stuck-while-editing).

## Stuck at the Idea step

![Stuck at the Idea step](https://cuongthach.com/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.

### You think for ages and the outline will not come

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.

### You spend hours on one title

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.

### You cannot answer 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/outline-from-one-line).

### The outline takes four or five days

The process shows you which step you stumble on. If writing and editing go fast but the outline alone drags on, you know **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 with every post](/docs/content-system/field-guides/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.

### The post is 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?](https://cuongthach.com/docs/_astro/illus-docs-la-ban-go-ket.en.rHqk1uKo_ZTKTiY.svg "The process is a compass")

The process is a compass: 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.

## Read next

- [Stuck at the Write step](/docs/content-system/field-guides/stuck/stuck-while-writing) — Fix five places you get stuck in the Write step, from a frozen idea, lost fire and a weak ending to mood-only writing and fear of the chair.
- [Stuck at the Edit step](/docs/content-system/field-guides/stuck/stuck-while-editing) — Fix three places you get stuck in the Edit step, a post too short after editing, titles off the content and endless edits, with cause and check.
- [Brand profile template](/docs/content-system/resources/brand-profile-template) — A brand profile template with ten entries for the content system that you copy and fill in with the guide and examples, or write None yet.

Source: https://cuongthach.com/docs/content-system/field-guides/stuck/fix-a-stuck-step/index.mdx