How To Use Pinterest to Conquer Writer’s Block
By: Scott Ninneman
Tags: Writing Inspiration, Writing Tips, Writers Block, Pinterest, Writing Ideas

How To Use Pinterest to Conquer Writer’s Block

Photo by Andrew Neel on Unsplash

Today’s the day you’re going to write that award-winning story. You grab your favorite mug and fill it with caffeine. You flip on your BlueTooth speaker and start your favorite writing playlist. Sitting down at the keyboard, your hands hover in eager anticipation above the keys.

And nothing happens.

No words, no ideas, no next great novel. Not even a short personal essay comes out.

Have you ever been there? Did sheer frustration cause you to get up and walk away? Is there a solution?

There’s a surprising place I found to overcome my article writer’s block. It’s Pinterest. Let me tell you how I use it.

Pinterest 101

If you’re not already familiar with Pinterest, here are a few things you should know.

Pinterest is the world’s largest visual search engine. It’s a similar concept to having a corkboard at home.

Content on the site is represented by image boxes and videos called pins. Each user creates boards where you can save, or pin, the pins that you like or want to see again. Your friends and followers can see what you’ve pinned both on your profile screen and in their online feed.

Many people think of Pinterest as a place to get recipes and little else. It’s true, you can find millions of awesome recipes on the site, but there is so much more. Whether you’re looking for tips on how to care for succulents or trying to find an inspirational quote, you’ll find it on Pinterest. As I write this post, the top trending topics are:

Healthy dinner recipes

Woodworking Projects

Life Quotes

Deck Ideas

Truck Accessories

As you can see, there’s a lot more than just recipes to capture your attention.

Why it matters

Perhaps the most important thing about being a successful writer is writing things that others want to read. The problem is, figuring out what is of interest to others is not always an easy task.

Pinterest takes away some of the guesswork.

To see how this works, select any Pinterest user and go to their profile page. There you can see their collection of boards. The board titles will often tell you a lot about the person and their interests. You may see boards for recipes, DIY crafts, gardening, parenting tips, blogging advice, and anything else you can dream up.

Clicking on any board will show you what items stood out to that user and how their thoughts are organized. If you prefer to write to a specific avatar, this can be especially helpful. It’s not hard to find a real-world user that is similar to your avatar.

Photo by Juan Marin on Unsplash

How to use Pinterest to conquer writer’s block

I stumbled upon this method one unproductive morning. My day started very much like the opening paragraph of this story. An hour into my day, there were no words in my document, but I had watched more than a few music videos.

My writing was going nowhere.

I decided to tab over to Pinterest to see if there were any new and exciting pins in my feed. As soon as I did, though, something caught my eye.

Primarily, I write for a blog about issues related to living with bipolar disorder and chronic illness. Writing inspiration often comes from following similar bloggers in my niche.

On Pinterest that morning, I noticed a pin from one of the top bloggers in my niche. I clicked on his user name and went to his profile. As I scanned his board titles, an idea was born.

Each board title could easily become a story topic.

For instance, scanning his profile, I saw the following boards: Bipolar and Employment, Bipolar and Relationships, Bipolar and Anxiety, Helping Loved Ones Understand Bipolar, etc.

The boards went on and on.

But wait, it gets better.

Usually, picking a topic for a post is only half the battle. Then you have to write the content to match your idea.

Pinterest makes that process easy as well, When I clicked on the board, Bipolar and Anxiety, I started to see pins that could be my post’s headings. Notice the titles of some of the pins I found on that board.

Using Pets To Soothe Bipolar Anxiety

Physical Symptoms Of Anxiety

Caring For Plants Eases Anxiety

How Diet Affects Bipolar Anxiety

If I used those topics as the skeleton of my article, then all that’s left is to flesh them out. Easy-peasy. My next post had already written itself.

Find out what’s relevant

The last great thing that Pinterest does to help with writer’s block is to show you what topics are relevant. Trending topics on the site show what people are searching for right now.

Gathering this information couldn’t be easier. Simply click in the search box and scroll down. There will be a list of topics that are currently trending, and as is written above, this can be a rather eclectic list.

If you frequently check what’s trending, you will start to see patterns of what days and times specific subjects are the most popular. That information will help you to know what to write and the best times to post it.

Pinterest has more than 290 million active monthly users. With that many users, there’s a lot of value in the subjects it shows as trending.

Since I’ve had this epiphany about using Pinterest for story ideas, I’ve not had one day of writer’s block. In fact, there are currently 68 topics on my to-be-written log, and each time I browse the site, I add more. The only problem I have now is finding the time to write them all. Well, that, and the discipline to actually sit down and do it.

Oh look, One Republic has a new music video…

Until next time, keep fighting.