Methods to overcome writer’s block
One of the hardest things about being a blogger is the need to consistently write new material. When you are trying to write worthwhile content, this can become an overwhelming issue. If you are anything like me, this can lead to frustration with the process. That frustration inevitably results in procrastination of the writing process, followed by complete shutdown.
Here are some techniques and guides to help you have a constant flow of material and to help prevent the onset of procrastination.
Plan Ahead
Successful bloggers suggest that you plan and write ahead. I know that I find it more difficult to write one post at a time. I am much more prolific when I brainstorm ideas ahead of time and have three or four good pieces I am working on simultaneously. That way, I always have something ready to go.
ProBlogger.net has a great article that suggest developing a writing schedule. Develop a schedule of writing all of a week’s posts at once, then take the time to refine them as you publish. Try to add an extra post per week to build up some extra content to publish later. Tony Newton at Tony’s Blog Tips makes a similar suggestion. He brainstorms 7 days of posts on the weekend so that he has something to work on throughout the week.
Start With a Headline
As Julie Andrews says in The Sound of Music, “Let’s start at the very beginning. A very good place to start.” Start with a killer headline that will grab your readers. Brainstorm a few and write them down (or type them in your blogging platform of choice).
Work on Writing
The following resources will provide you with a plethora of techniques and ideas to combat writer’s block and get you writing again. You should be able to find enough material here to keep you going like the energizer bunny:
- Strategies for Overcoming Writer’s Block (University of Illinois)
- Battling Bloggers Block
- 101 Great Posting Ideas That Will Make Your Blog Sizzle
Don’t Procrastinate
This last point is the most important. It happens when I’m feeling unmotivated or overwhelmed by the process. Certainly, we all fall victim. I’m tired, not feeling creative, can’t think of anything to write about, yadda, yadda, yadda. But those excuses will cause to you just put of what you must inevitably do – write! Also over at ProBlogger.net, Karen Andrews provides some ideas on overcoming procrastination: Are Excuses Hurting Your Blogging Success?
- Go into your drafted posts. Find one that’s been sitting there for ages; the one you don’t quite know what to do with, but can’t bring yourself to delete. (We must all have one or two!)
- Scan it briefly and then write down a word or phrase which best suits its theme/tone. Sometimes it helps to just have that guideline back in the foreground of your mind so you can then develop it further, with the insight you’ve, hopefully, gained since it was originally drafted.
- After consideration, be honest. If you cannot breathe life into the piece, let it go. Not all ideas come to fruition. Make the decision to keep it ‘just in case’ if you must, but in my experience it’s often best to delete, thus freeing up my mind for the next project.
There is enough information here to keep you busy writing from now until doomsday. To quote Merlin Mann’s paraphrase of Laurence Olivier
When all else fails, just try writing.
31 Days to a Build Better Blog
In an earlier post, I mentioned that I had just finished reading “ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six Figure Income.” As I stated in that article, whether you are a complete blogging novice or a seasoned veteran, I highly recommend this book! As someone who has been blogging for quite a while (more than 8 years) and actually earning from it (although it’s not my sole source of income), I found new and interesting ideas. I can tell you that I wish this book had been available when I started. If you are new to the blogging world, you’ll save yourself some heartache and headache if you read this book.
Author Darren Rowse runs ProBlogger.net and is also co-founder of the b5media blog network. After reading Darren’s book and realizing I could find room for improvement in my own blogging, I decided to buy Darren’s workbook 31 Days to Build a Better Blog. I’ll be working through the workbook in the coming month so feel free to follow along with my progress.
Having purchased the workbook and reviewed it, I can say that I recommend you get a copy. This is not some empty sales pitch for an affiliate program I haven’t tried myself (we’ve all seen too many of those!). I’ve bought the workbook. I’ve read through it. I’m using the techniques. You should, too!
There are no shortcuts
When you are trying to build a blog and hoping to make a little money in the process, it can be discouraging if you are not building consistent traffic. It can be especially discouraging if your traffic is going down. This is when it can be tempting to look for “the easy way.”
What do I mean by this?
You’ve all seen the sites that are clearly automated content – often scrapped from “free content” or article sites. This can be enhanced by the use of automated software that can generate a blog full of content in seconds. Or “autoblogging” software that can post RSS content to your blog on a scheduled basis. Sure, this creates content, loads of it, on a regular basis and “content is king,” right?
That is true to a certain extent. It may get you some random traffic from search engines. But it is not going to propel you to the top of the blogging world and it is not going to create a sense of community that keeps users coming back for more.
You need to sell yourself to your readers. Develop a community.
Here’s a thought – check out Technorati’s Top 100. Do you see anything there that is auto-generated content? I’m going to tell you that you won’t.
I recently read ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income
I have digressed from my original point, but I highly recommend this book for all levels of bloggers and have included a link to the book. If you are thinking of (or already are) blogging for income then you owe it to yourself to read this. (It is even available in a Kindle edition, which is what I read. That way I could highlight and make notes and transfer that to my PC for reviewing later.)
Back to my point. Rowse and Garrett point out in this book that if you are not unique in the marketplace, you are not going to develop readers. If you do not develop readers, you are not going to grow traffic. No traffic = no income. It is that simple.
“For a blog to be successful, your content needs to be useful and unique to your readers.”
If you focus on short-cuts like auto generated content, you are not giving your readers anything unique that they can’t find somewhere else. While it may be frustrating, especially in the early going, you need to stick to your game plan (you do have a plan, right?) and not be tempted to find an easy way out. That “easy way” is not going to gain you anything in the long run.
5 Search Engine Optimization (SEO) blog posts you need to read
So you want to build a better blog? You’d love to earn more money from your ad space and then quit your day job. But how do you do that? We all know the simple answer – TRAFFIC! But building traffic never seems to be quite that simple.
It doesn’t have to be that way! Employing simple SEO (Search Engine Optimization) strategies and developing good writing habits can put you on the road to becoming a blog master. We’ve assembled some must read blog articles to tell you how to do exactly that. Read on!
New Video Site Released
I always thought the Invasion Cinema site was pretty cool. They had some cool retro sci-fi movies and a blog with additional information. I even had the site in my delicious bookmarks and linked from here.
Awhile back, that site seems to have disappeared, so as an offshoot of a video testing project I had done, I decided to create a video site of my own. I tracked down the retro sci-fi movies that had been on Invasion Cinema’s site. This includes the following:
- Assignment: Outer Space (1960)
- Attack of the Giant Leeches (1959)
- Destroy All Planets (1968)
- The Giant Gila Monster (1959)
- Killers from Space (1954)
- Mesa of Lost Women (1953)
- The Wasp Woman (1960)
These movies are free and you can watch them on demand. I will also be adding content to include plot synopsis, cast information, and other information about the films.
While I am at it, I decided to add the classic Superman animated shorts from the 1940s. This series of animated shorts was done by Max Fleischer and I’ve always wanted to have a site with a “Superman Film Festival” flavor to it. The first film is up at http://video.butlerblog.com/2009/11/12/superman/ and I’ll be adding more later, until we have the entire series. You can view the entire “Superman Film Festival” here.
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