Are you committed to blogging, know that regular is right, but find it’s not that easy?
A few weeks ago I was “on fire”; not literally, but it was so easy to write blogs it’s as if they fell out of my fingers and the keyboard did it’s own work.
But sometimes, I think, I think, I think and the screen remains blank. I know I must get something out, but I can do nothing.
Do you ever have a writers block?
The worst thing I find is when you approach a deadline, whether real or a personal one. Then, if I can think of nothing I try to make myself write, I can think of nothing interesting and I implore myself to write….. Still nothing. Then I get stressed and now there is certainly nothing.
How about you, what makes it hard for you to write?
Days when blogging all goes well?
There are days when I feel creative, witty and communicative. For me these are when I’ve felt well, had a great day with clients (or other good people), achieved good results or just feel relaxed. Some times ideas just pop into my head when I’m relaxing, even if I’m not (meant to be) working.
How about you, what makes it easy for you to write?
Ideas and tools to help blogging.
I’ve come to the conclusion that being relaxed and happy is good for blogging, feeling pressured is not. My main aim is to use these good times, but without taking away “non-working” times.
When the ideas flow:
When you’re creative, but can’t complete the blog, try some of the following:
- Quick notes: I write a headline, PLUS a one paragraph summary. I’ve found that the headline alone doesn’t remind me later, but the one paragraph gets me back there.
- Bullet points: Sometimes I’ll just write a set of bullet points, and expand those into sentences later. Later still I write the blog. But looking at it twice like this helps me.
- Voice memo’s. The iphone is great; I’ll record a few sentences; that’s easier than writing, the passion that stirred me comes straight back later.
- News articles: Sometimes I see a news headline (specially when I’m in a hotel, early for a meeting) which gives me a great idea, I’ll cut it out if I can – or use “Instapaper” if it’s electronic (instapaper is a piece of freely available software that allows you to store notes, easily)
Writing blogs is like baking bread.
Mix bread, knead it, store it in the fridge, prove it, then bake when ready.
I’ll write in 2 or 3 stages, expanding my initial notes a few hours later, not a lot; but it keeps me able to remember the passion that made it a good idea. Then comes the writing stage.
Commit to write: I’ll set some time aside each week to convert the notes to blogs, or write ones from scratch. The pre-prepared stuff really helps, sometimes I’ll also use a few creativity tools (but that’s for another article).
Schedule your blogs.
By having this store of blogs, I can schedule them over a few weeks. This removes the time pressure, keeps me creative and even means I can have a holiday. If I feel really excited about a blog between scheduled dates, I can always send it out anyway.
How about you?
What do you do, I’d love to hear and share some tips.
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