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Top 5 tips for beating blogger’s block
“Writing is easy” said journalist Gene Fowler. “All you do is stare at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead.”
We might be staring at a blank screen nowadays but the feeling of frustration is just the same. So what can you do if you get hit by blogger’s block? Here are my top 5 tips for getting your creative juices flowing again:
# 1 Go the easy way round
You don’t have to be a Booker prize winner to write a decent blog. Find shortcuts and solutions that work for you and your readers. Make links to other people’s writing and posts - where it’s relevant, and your readers will enjoy exploring the links. Using quotes is another ‘easy’ approach. Keep a folder of well-known quotes that are relevant to your subject (be imaginative here - look for the connections!) and pick one to use as the hook for your post. This practice will help you develop new ideas and insights into your subject matter and is also good for traffic (people search for quotes).
# 2 Get into the blogging habit
Write short, frequent posts so you are getting into the routine of writing most days. This makes it easier to keep your momentum up. According to the pros it’s also good for search engines and traffic. The longer you leave it the harder it’s going to be to write - you’ll have to overcome those initial fears of hitting ‘publish now’ all over again.
# 3 Capture your ideas
Writing at your machine is only one small part of the blogging equation. The raw material comes from everything else you do - conversations you have, people you meet, things you do, connections with client, stories on the news, a song you’ve heard or a movie you’ve seen… The list is endless. The trick is to keep your eyes and ears open for things you can turn into posts and to capture the ideas - a few words, a headline, a rough outline, a picture, a phrase - whatever is enough to jog your memory when it’s time to write.
# 4 Respond to invitations
I’m writing this as part of a group writing project being run by Problogger. There are lots of invitations out there - blog carnivals, memes, even requests for creative comments on other people’s blogs like the ‘lateral thinking’ challenge being run by Roger von Oech at Creative Think. Any of one of these should be enough to spark your writing again.
# 5 Walk away
When you’re really stuck don’t sit there till the drops of blood form on your forehead. Walk away. Go and do something else. Talk to your team. Walk round the office. Make some phone calls. Go outside. Take a lunch break. Clean the kitchen or cut the grass. If you’ve time, go out for a walk. Even thirty minutes out in the fresh air will get your ideas flowing again and you’ll be more than ready to write when you come back.
Well that should be more than enough to get you blogging again - but I’m going to cheat and add a number 6. Ask a question. This is good for generating comments on your site. It can help you brainstorm a problem and generate new ideas. It also builds rapport with your readers.
So now it’s over to you: what techniques do you use to get round blogger’s block?
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I get rid of Blogger’s blog by biting my fingers off, roasting my toes, and then slurping my brains out with a straw.
=)
On a more serious note there are days when I just can’t write the words I want. Sometimes it’s “The Watcher At The Gate”, other times it’s just me being sick of the whole project.
Those days are when I resort to very unorthodox methods to get my words out.
This is a good post. I’m bookmarking your blog. ;P
Useful tips. I shall subscribe to this blog, I can always benefit from tips like these. Thanks for dropping by my blog as well.
Your point #5 is a good advice. This is usually what I do when I still cant write anything whatever I do.
Sometimes I tend to sleep. Or play video games. Or even just take a stroll down the park. It refreshes the mind and might give us some ideas along the way. ^_^
A nice and helpful post. ^_^
If you have time, why don’t you drop by my post:
http://mobileko.blogspot.com/2007/05/snatch-top-5-tips-on-how-to-be.html
It’s also an entry for the problogger top 5- group writing project. ^^ Goodluck to us all!
The keeping posts short is my biggest problem! My posts all tend to go on longer than I planned, and occasionally I end up losing the point altogether! Then I have to go on to re-create a point to my post, which requires editing and thinking and then… I’m back at square one, with blogger’s block again! LOL.
Good tips! Thanks!
Some good tips-Thanks
Hi everyone, thanks for the comments and feedback, much appreciated. I realised from this exercise that comments are also a good antidote to blogger’s block: comments keep you in touch with your readers, give you new ideas and inspiration - they’re also highly motivating!
@ Toonses - good point about sticking to the point and the time you can spend/waste trying to get back to it. I’ll try and pick that up in a post another time. Mind you from a quick scoot over at your site it looks like you’re enjoying going with the flow and letting the stories unfold
#2 is critical! You have to write often, or else the fear of never writing the perfect post begins to overwhelm you! Excellent tips!
The thing that has kept me blogging for years now is writing down every idea I get the minute I get it. Thanks for the list!
Don’t forget about blogging prompt sites like:
http://mindbump.com
http://www.creativity-portal.com/howto/writing/writing.prompts.html
Problogger.net also has some very good articles on fighting blogger’s block.
By the way, has anyone ever told you that you look like Miranda from Sex in the City? Crazy…
Hi, thanks for the suggestions for blogging prompt sites. I suppose the challenge is to work out the connection from the prompt back to the aim of your blog - which should be enough to get you thinking, creating and writing again.
Problogger is indeed a fantastic resource - and where this article started (part of a group writing project)
Re your last point - nope!
Joanna