Sunday, February 19, 2012

The Blogging Blues!

Have you ever sat down at your laptop to write a blog post and then went blank? Your computer screen glares back at you and you know you have to write something. Anything! But your mind feels like a brick wall, or maybe you’re just sleep deprived, or worried whether or not your manuscript got lost in cyberspace when sending it to the Genesis contest (I’m a victim here.) All you know is that the blog post won’t write itself.
So what do you do? I’ve comprised some tips below, and no, one of them is not eating a gallon of double chocolate ice cream! Yum!

Four Tips To Beat the Blogging Blues
1) Don’t panic. Every writer has the blogging blues at one time or another. Learn to accept blogging as work. It may not always be an exciting outpouring of wit read by your excited readers, but it’s something that has to be done.  Just like walking the dog, and doing dishes. If you don’t do it you have a sink full of dishes and a very unhappy dog. If you don’t blog, you have a platform that…well, isn’t really a platform anymore. And although you may not be Nora Roberts or James Patterson, you’re still a professional writer. Like it or not professional writers have to build their platforms
2)Make A List – For me, the most difficult part about blogging is not writing the actual post, but coming up with ideas for the post. So I keep an ongoing list of topics to blog about. Whenever something sparks my interest, be it a conversation about a certain element of writing with a crit partner, or a problem in my own writing, I write it down. That way, the next time I’m having blogging blues I need only refer to my list and voilĂ .

3)Set a Timer – This works with any writing assignment, but it’s a really great tip for writing
procrastination. Sometimes just forcing myself to sit down and write for five minutes usually gets my creative juices flowing. After all, anyone can write nonstop for just five minutes, right?

4)Take a Break – Occasionally, even after doing all of the above, we can still be stuck in the blogging blues. If we take a vacation and step back from blogging for a time, we’ll come back energized and refreshed. Or you could cut back on the amount of blogs you write per week to only one. Often such a cutback is just the boost you need to chase away the blogging blues.

**In conclusion – If we’re attempting to build a platform and broaden our online presence, blogging is a must. Although it may not always be a walk in the park, using the above tips have made my blogging journey easier and a lot less painful.
Your Turn – What tips do you have to beating the blogging blues?

Happy Writing- Amanda

2 comments :

Christian Sarono said...

I’ve been browsing recently over the internet looking for posts that are useful and helpful, and I’m glad that I made it here. I get some important ideas for enhancing my page since I am a newbie for this field. Thanks for sharing great ideas.

Unknown said...

I often use the list idea, then, when I'm going through the list of ideas, I see if there are different blog posts that can be written on the same subject. It's incredibly useful when writing for two blogs.