Tag: blogging

How to Find Blog Inspiration

joelsherwoodLeave a comment

There are a million cozy vlogs out there about fiction writing. Unfortunately, there is much less out there about how to feel inspired about a different kind of writing: your blogging practice. If you’re a blogger, whether professionally or as a hobby, you might occasionally feel drained or bored with your blogging. Here’s a guide on getting inspired and excited!

A note about inspiration itself: every writing book and teacher out there says that if you WAIT to write until inspiration strikes, you’ll never be consistent enough to improve. This is true. However, that doesn’t mean that writing has to be drudgery– inspiration can be a source of FUN, in addition to new ideas! Rather than letting these activities be fuel for procrastination, do them in your free time and NOT when you’re supposed to be writing.

Read your favorite blogs.

Go to your bookmarks or email inbox and click on those blogs you return to again and again. They don’t have to match your blog’s topic. See if they have any new posts and catch up on the blogger’s personal life, industry news, or topic trends. Spend a while just reading for fun, but make sure you have a receptacle ready for any ideas that might spark. Comments are almost always welcome!

Not only is this good research that can help you figure out what direction to take your own blog, but it might remind you of why you’re blogging in the first place– whatever that reason is.

Obviously, do not plagiarize anyone else’s work. I’m not saying you should copy what they wrote. If you decide to write something as a response, please give credit where credit (and backlinks) where it is due!

Write some affirmations and repeat them with gusto.

If you’re feeling “blah” about your writing practice, it might be because of negative beliefs you have about the process and its possible outcomes. To combat this, write down some affirmations that reflect the way you want to feel about your blogging. It works better if you say them out loud with dramatic flair!

Make a YouTube playlist.

Once again, I am not saying to plagiarize. Instead, get inspired by making and watching a YouTube playlist. It can be about your blog’s niche topic or anything else you want to learn about. Learning, in a way that’s fun, gets our brains warmed up before the task of writing begins.

Journal for a week.

Journaling is helpful in a huge variety of ways, depending on how you do it. In the short term, it can get you into a writing flow, but in the long term, it can also be mined for inspiration. Write whatever you want (in a notebook or app) every day for a week and then reread what you wrote. What themes keep popping up? What was on your mind a lot? What opinions do you have? The answers to these questions can all lead to blog posts.

Get out of the house.

This is a classic tip, but it works. Take a break from writing and leave the house. Going for a walk can be just the right solution, but I find it even more effective to go somewhere there are people to interact with, like a coffee shop or a restaurant. You don’t have to have a long conversation with someone to be intellectually stimulated by your surroundings– just order a drink and hang out.

Read a book.

I am not going to say that getting off of screens is the most important part of reading, because many of us read using digital devices! Rather, I am of the opinion that books go in-depth on a topic in a way that other media rarely does. Get a solid nonfiction book (about your blog topic or something else) that interests you and see what doors open in your mind.

Talk to someone else about writing.

Often, talking to others about something that’s on our minds can help our brains make connections that they wouldn’t otherwise. Make a date with an IRL friend who likes to write or participate in online discussions. You can talk about writing woes or writing wins, or both. Read and then gently critique each other’s writing, or plan your next steps together.

How to Brainstorm Blog Post Ideas

joelsherwoodLeave a comment

If I had a nickel for every time I Googled this…

For some reason, I never feel like I have a handle on what blog content I want to write next. I am always looking for the next big idea, and usually I seek it in those exhaustive lists of blog post topics put out by those blogs-about-blogging. Lists populated by stuff like “7 Things Making Cabinets Taught Me About Marketing!”

The thing is, even if you’re blogging professionally, writing is an endeavor that connects humans together. People who read your blog value what YOU have to say. This may be because they already know who you are and value your thoughts as someone they respect, or it could be because of the high merit of the ideas you write about.

Blog about stuff you have real opinions/expertise on. (This does not mean you have to be an expert (whatever that means) before you can write a single word; in that case I recommend admitting that there’s a lot you don’t know and providing resources for people who want to learn alongside you.) Write from your own unique point of view, because that’s what readers want to see.

However.

Knowing that fact doesn’t necessarily mean you know exactly what to write about next.

There IS an exercise that I have found helps me when I don’t know what to write about. I discovered it recently from Little Coffee Fox, who got it from a book. Just write 100 things– it’s as simple as that. Number a piece of paper and free-write ideas until you get to 100. It’s both harder and easier than it sounds!

If you need more help, I recommend making a mind map. You’ve seen them, they look like this:

Each bubble can have more bubbles coming off of it, in an endless fractal of related ideas.

Put “BLOG” in the middle and make a bubble for each broad topic you want to write about. If you use WordPress, these may be your blog’s categories. Keep making bubbles outward in a circle until you get to topics small enough to be individual posts. For example, BLOG -> Dogs -> German Shepherds -> Training your German Shepherd puppy -> Supplies you need for training your German Shepherd puppy. Go back and add this to your list of 100 ideas.

If you need even more help than that, I recommend scrolling through YOUR OWN social media pages. What do you usually post? What have you ranted about recently? What did you share because you agreed with it? What did you share because you DISAGREED with it? What inspired you? I’m not saying to steal other people’s posts word-for-word, but the emotions and thoughts you have while scrolling social media can be a big clue as to what you could be writing about. Add any insights to your list of 100 ideas.

Once you have 100 ideas (which might take a few sessions, despite what Little Coffee Fox says) keep them in an accessible place. Add more if you think of them. Make more connections. Write. Always write.

Break a leg!