You can choose one of easiest ways out. Send out an e-mail that you are sick and ezine will be out next week at normal time. But this doesn't feel right, because you are lying to yourself. You could grab first free article on net you find to throw in there and just use same links you did last week and have thing out in less than an hour. No, you pride yourself on writing at least a part of your newsletter every week and putting together a well-rounded issue, one that readers save. There are plenty of examples of junk ezines on net and you don't want yours to rank with those. After all, you worked hard for your subscribers and disappointing them is not an option.

What we are talking about here is writer's block. Something you think is reserved for poets and other "literary artists." An internet marketer can't have writer's block. But somehow, after those few months or days of flow, ideas you have carefully saved and knew were great when you wrote them down have deteriorated in your notebook. Who could have known that they had a shelf life? And why is it that more free time you have, easier it is to put off writing that new article?

“I’ll do some work on novel, then. Could you get me a bag of inspiration while you’re over there? Oh, on second thoughts, why not stop by Sarah’s first? She might have some spare.”

What a pity it doesn’t work that way. There’s no one ready-made source of great ideas. They don’t just arrive to order, oven-fresh and neatly packaged, from Ideas-to-go. Yet, at some point, each of us will need to summon up ideas for a talk or a piece of writing, perhaps under pressure of a deadline.

So what can we do to help process along?

Know how you work best. For some people, ideas bubble up while they’re taking a shower or washing dishes, for others they shape up best on a jog or on daily drive to work. Some people like to kick ideas around with a few like-minded friends, while others work best alone and in silence. Some find that time pressure results in their best ideas, while for others it induces panic and blankness.

Keep track of what gets your creative juices flowing and take advantage of it.

Relax. Creativity guru Jurgen Wolf (whose site www.brainstormnet.com is a treasure trove of creative ideas) suggests sleeping on problem whenever possible. Just before going to sleep, and just after waking, are among most fertile periods for developing new ideas, so take advantage of this by keeping a pen and pad on bedside table. If you don’t have time to sleep on it, put your feet up and a favourite CD on (many people find classical music, especially Bach and Mozart, very effective).

Start from your own experience. Look at your education, your career and your hobbies and interests. Nobody else has had quite same experiences as you, and other people will be interested in hearing about new topics. Even activities they share, such as parenting, or working life, can still provide interesting material when looked at from your own unique angle, especially if your experiences of them have been amusing or educational.