So I wrote this whole long blog post about the future of news, lessons learned from going to the 2009 Online News Association conference last weekend in San Francisco. The conference was great on so many levels – one session after another of journalists taking about the cool new tech tools they’re using to tell stories, how they’re connecting with the communities they cover in new ways online, and how those communities are being empowered to get in on the storytelling process.

Then the computer ate my blog post. Actually, I got busy with some other projects that day, decided to finish the post the next day and shut down the computer without realizing I hadn’t saved all my brilliant work (and apparently whatever auto-save feature WordPress.com uses isn’t available on WordPress.org, or I haven’t activated it yet). All my brilliant observations vanished into the electronic ether. And I haven’t been able to face doing it all over again.

Then it dawned on me. One of the biggest takeaways from the ONA conference was that good enough is good enough. There are some times when anything less than perfect won’t do, like an investigative piece that’s based on number crunching, court documents and multiple interviews. There’s no way to publish that kind of thing before it’s cooked.

But for some things, like blog posts that are observational v. reported, good enough is good enough. Sure it would have been great to have had the complete 10-step manifesto I’d almost finished on what journalists need to do in order to make it in the brave new world of online media. But I don’t.  And I was stuck on not having perfect. So instead of going with what I had, I stalled out, waiting for inspiration to strike, or enough time to materialize on my calendar to write the whole damn thing over again.

Well, that’s not going to happen, thanks to a confluence of work and life events that’s made me busier than I have been in a while.

So I’m going with what I’ve got. And I’m asking readers to make this an interactive experience. I’ll share some of the tidbits I picked up at the Online News Association conference, and you share what you learned. And instead of one big long blog posts, I’ll share my lessons learned in a trickle, with your help, starting tomorrow.

I’m adopting the ‘good enough’ mind set for my paid assignments too. Sometimes if a project is important enough, it pays – literally – to spend that extra day doing additional research or that extra hour or two writing or editing. But other projects don’t call for that kind of meticulousness. I’m not talking about fudging the reporting or failing to live up to the terms of a contract. A 500 word story doesn’t have to be the definitive account of a subject: if you write about something often enough, 500 words might cover one small corner of a topic that you can revisit again and again.

I’m also taking a similar approach to the redesign of this blog, which some of you have already noticed has changed rather dramatically in the past week. Once again, I wanted to wait until everything was perfect before announcing it to the world. Instead I’m taking a page from my techie friends and going with what I’ve got now, and will tweak what needs tweaking as I go.

I’ve been working behind the scenes for the last couple weeks with a very talented Web design partner and fellow freelance writer Ron S. Doyle to give WordCount a look worthy of the subjects I cover. I think he did a splendid job – a round of applause for Ron please. If you usually read WordCount through your RSS feed, come take a look at the site and let me know what you think.

Writer’s block has to be one of the worst occupational hazards of freelancing, right up there with magazines that take forever to pay.

Lifehacker, one of my favorite sources of unconventional thinking on getting stuff done, suggests curing writer’s blog by stepping away from something you’re working on while the words are still flowing. Do it often enough, and you’ll avoid getting blocked at all, says Lifehacker’s Kevin Purdy.

As someone who writes for a living I can’t afford to pound the keyboard for 30 minutes, or even two hours, and then step away. If I don’t finish what I’m working on, I don’t get paid. To get rid of a case of writer’s block,  here’s what I suggest:

1. Work on elements of a story package that are easy to do: the a headline, deck, subheads, source list, photo captions, charts, etc.

2. Re-read interview notes, highlight quotes, make notes or work up an outline.

3. Get up from the computer and do something non-work related for a couple minutes – take the dog for a quick walk, fold laundry, make lunch, read the paper – then come back and have at it again.

4. Work on another project – there’s always another project.

5. Think of it like a crossword puzzle or a yoga pose. If the approach I’m taking to a specific sentence or section isn’t working, take another approach – mentally will myself to look at what it is I’m trying to say from an entire new direction. I wonder – does this mean I could write off my yoga class as a business expense?

6. Talk to someone about what you’re writing – or even just talk to yourself – to force yourself to come up with a concise explanation of the piece. This is great for when you’re stuck on a nut graph.

7.  Tackle a different section of the piece. If you’re struggling with the lead, work on a section that you know you’ve got down cold. Or go through your notes and pick out the handful of quotes you know need to be in the story, put them in your story file along with attributions. Then write the transition sentences that lead up to the quotes. Then write the transition sentences that follow the quotes. Pretty soon, you’re writing.

8. Keep a notebook and pen by your bed, or in your car, in your backpack or purse. Inevitably just as you’re drifting off to sleep, or in the grocery store checkout line or picking up daughter from soccer practice the lead, nut graph or conclusion you’ve been struggling with will pop into your head.

9. Especially if it’s late in the day, pound out as much as you can. Promise yourself you’ll stop once you hit a certain number of words, whether that’s 200, 300 or 500. Then close the file. The next morning, you may be surprised by how decent what you wrote is. But even if you end up not using much of it, it’s a start, and better than opening a file full of nothing.

10. Read something you enjoy – it could jump start your own creative process.

Here are some of my other suggestions for getting over writer’s block.

What writer’s block cures do you use?

Working writers can’t always wait to be inspired. Deadlines aren’t that patient.

But if you let it, lightening can strike. You could be anywhere: a steamy shower, a long walk, falling asleep, in the middle of the night. And wham, there it is, the lead you’ve been searching for. The perfect structure for that feature story. The idea for an article you just know your favorite editor will love.

I call these “aha” moments. For me, they normally come when I’m relaxed or letting my mind wander.

I was inspired to think about inspiration by an article in the July 28 issue of The New Yorker on the subject of insights and how people get them, “The Eureka Hunt: Where in our brains do insights come from?” by Jonah Lehrer. (When I checked today, this article was not online yet. I’ll make the link live when it is.)

In his story, Lehrer interviews a variety of scientists who study the brain and comes to some of the same conclusions that people who work in creative fields like writing have discovered intuitively: that if you walk away from a difficult problem your brain continues to tackle it and will come up with a solution when you least expect it; that being relaxed helps the brain do its thing; that the best time to work on creative endeavors is in the early morning when your mind is half-asleep but more open to new ideas than when you’re fully awake.

How do you get inspired?

For writers, words are our product. When writer’s block strikes, it’s like the factory shutting down. It’s especially bad news for freelance writers, because when the words don’t come, the checks don’t come either. So just like factories, we can’t afford a work – or a word – stoppage.

As a result, people use lots of tricks for getting over writer’s block. Free association. Googling a word to see what comes up. Starting an assignment in the middle then working back to the beginning. A hot shower or a long walk. Here’s what I suggest:

Focus – Before starting, ask yourself: Do I have a clear understanding of my topic? Do I know who I’m writing to? Do I know why I’m writing this: am I introducing a new topic, or advancing a story that’s already out there? Sometimes when you have trouble getting started it means you don’t have a firm grasp of what you’re writing about.

Verbalize – Pretend you’re having a conversation with a friend. Can you distill your topic into one easy-to-understand sentence? Can you say it out loud? If so, write it down and get started.

Break it down – Once you’ve got the what and why down, you’re ready to tackle the project. Do you know how long it has to be? If so, you can break the assignment into chunks: a 750-word story might need a 150- to 200-word intro, 450 words of content, and 50 to 100 words to wrap things up. If you can come up with the lead and nut graph, the rest of the text should follow. Or, outline points you need to hit, then go back and fill in with your supporting material.

Write it through – Sometimes if you’re stuck, it helps to write through an entire piece as fast as you can to get everything down without worrying about how detailed or polished it is. Then go back through to add facts, rewrite and refine.

Settle for good – It’s easy to get hung up on writing the best lead ever, or picking the perfect anecdote to illustrate a point. But at what cost? If your search for perfection keeps you from moving forward, it’s not worth it, especially if it means missing a deadline.

Use peak energy time – If you can afford to write during your most productive time of day, do it. If you’re a morning person, there’s nothing worse that trying to summon your creative energies at the end of the day when you’re brain dead. Instead, sit down at the computer the first thing in the morning when you’re thinking straight. If you’re a night owl, put those productive late-night hours to good use. Shut the door, ignore the TV, phone, email, etc., and pound away.

Forget about it - Stop consciously thinking about your article and let your subconscious take over. Inspiration could strike at any time. When it does, stop what you’re doing, grab a pen and paper or race to the computer.

Write all the time. It’s not always easy, but writing every day gets you into the groove, so when writer’s block strikes, you can dig your way out.