Conquering the blank page
A practical way to approach bid questions
This article comes with “From blank page to first draft”, a checklist tool to help you turn this approach into action. Link at the end.
You open the RFT, read the first question, and your mind goes blank. Like trying to coax your dad’s old lawnmower to life, it can be hard to get started.
Most bid writers know that moment: the cursor blinking, the question open, and no clear way in.
When that happens, it’s rarely about capability. You’ve done this before and know your stuff. More often, the task feels heavy, unclear, or high-stakes, and the starting point is hard to see. The blank page usually signals a need for structure rather than more effort.
This article looks at how structure can make that step easier, bringing order to complex questions.
Why starting can feel hard
Bid questions often bundle several tasks at once. They require interpretation, judgment, organisation, and awareness of how the response will be assessed. Under time pressure, that combination can feel mentally crowded.
Research into decision-making, including the work of Daniel Kahneman, suggests that people think more effectively when tasks are clearly defined and broken into manageable parts. When a task feels ambiguous or open-ended, starting often takes longer than the work itself.
When you stare blankly at the screen for more than a minute or two, that’s often a signal to pause and create structure.
Creating your way in
Structure does more than organise content - it gives the brain something concrete to work with.
You wouldn’t eat a birthday cake like a sandwich. Breaking a question into smaller, defined components narrows the focus and makes progress more achievable. Instead of responding to everything at once, you’re tackling one part at a time.
In a high-pressure environment, that shift can make the process feel lighter and more controlled.
Anchor yourself to the question
To create a clear reference point and keep focus anchored, start by copying the full question into a document, OneNote or even a blank email, and place it at the top of the page.
Highlight instruction words such as outline, describe, demonstrate, or explain to clarify what’s being asked before you begin drafting. It’s a simple way to mark some early direction.
Break the question down before writing
Many RFT questions contain multiple ideas within a single paragraph. Trying to respond to them in one pass can feel unwieldy.
Separating the question into headings or prompts gives shape to the response and makes it easier to see what needs to be covered. It also reduces the risk of missing something critical later on.
This step often determines how smoothly the rest of the writing will go.
Build momentum early
Waiting for the perfect opening sentence can add some unnecessary pressure.
Start with a section that feels familiar or straightforward. Once there’s something on the page, the rest often follows more naturally - progress creates clarity.
Don’t try to do too much at once. By pausing to perfect phrasing, you’re likely to interrupt flow. It’s usually more effective to mark where evidence will be needed and keep drafting. You can strengthen credibility during review.
Apply the same approach to all questions - even the tricky technical ones
Methodologies, risk management, and governance often feel more demanding, sitting at the boundary between bid writing and subject matter expertise.
The same structure helps here too. Break down the question, identify what input is needed, and focus on clarity over volume. The process doesn’t change, only the level of technical detail (which usually sits with your SME).
Structure supports the reader too
Clear structure benefits more than just the writer. Evaluators review large volumes of responses under pressure. Logical organisation and alignment to the question make a response easier to assess, and that ease of reading builds confidence in the submission.
A steadier way to work
Remember - a draft is a working document, it’s not a measure of your competence.
Approaching bid questions structurally creates a steadier, more repeatable way of working. It supports clear thinking, better collaboration, and more consistent results without relying on last‑minute pressure.
When bids are approached this way, the work feels more manageable and the outcomes more reliable.
Turn structure into action
If the ideas in this article resonate, the next step is applying them when a real question is sitting in front of you.
I’ve created a checklist titled “From blank page to first draft” to help you approach any bid question in a clear, structured way, especially when the starting point feels hard to find.
The checklist helps you
unpack what the question is really asking
break it into manageable parts
identify where evidence and SME input are needed
and get a first draft moving without overthinking it.
It’s designed to be used
at the start of a response
when a section feels stuck
or as a shared framework when working with SMEs.
The approach is the same whether you’re responding to a simple capability question or a more technical section like a methodology or risk response.
How to get it
Download the checklist here, or DM me and I’ll send it to you.
