by Kenneth Andrews

Created on: April 13, 2010

Writing, despite being the dream job of millions, can be a lonely career and even, if writers are strictly honest, sometimes even a boring one. There are many ways in which a writer can overcome boredom, but writing articles for Helium is a particularly effective method in some ways.

If you are a writer, spending weeks at a time engrossed in a specific project, there are inevitably going to be times when boredom will set in, raising the spectre of the dreaded (and largely imaginary) 'writer's block'. You need a break, you to take some time out and set your main writing project aside or you will become stale and demotivated. If you actually leave your desk, however, you are breaking your writing habit and may find it difficult to get back into the groove later.

Helium's format provides an ideal solution to this scenario of the bored and jaded writer. Instead of breaking your working routine completely, which can be disastrous for your self-discipline when you discover that it really is much nicer walking in your garden on a sunny afternoon than it is sitting behind your desk, you can write a quick article for Helium and maintain your work rate.

This is not to imply that writing articles for Helium is necessarily easier in any way than other forms of writing, but as the preferred format for an article tends to be around 600-800 words, the site does lend itself to the writer looking to divert themselves for half an hour.

Writing for Helium can also help a writer overcome boredom as there is such a huge range of titles that you can write to. While most freelance writers will often have to spend a large portion of their time working on material which is of little personal interest, Helium offers the opportunity to earn some money writing on any subject that interests you - anything you are passionate about, anything you are knowledgeable about. If you're a historian being paid to churn out copy on obscure legal issues, why not take half an hour to put together a little piece about the siege of Stalingrad?

Also, Helium can help break the boredom barrier because the format is so flexible. The site generally requires 'articles' but this is simply an umbrella term for a wide variety of forms and styles: reviews, commentaries, essays, stories, poems, songs, recipes and so on. A change is as good as a rest, as the old saying runs, and swapping from a magazine style to a quick naughty limerick for Helium can do a writer no end of good, revitalising those creative muscles for another stint of dull but lucrative labour.

So next time you are mired deep in boredom on a novel or feature, why not write a couple of pieces for Helium and see whether it helps overcome your tedium?

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