Unless you're one of the lucky ones who is never at a loss for words and has an endless supply of blog posts in your publishing queue, you have probably experienced a case of blogger's block once or twice.
Most of us have, including me. Your blog languishes and even though you know it's one of the best ways to maintain your online visibility, you neglect to post on a consistent basis. Maybe it's not even blogger's block, but you've become "a lazy blogger", as Rebecca Livermore bluntly points out.
Sometimes it's not a case of not having any ideas for blog posts, but stems from the common complaint of "I don't have enough time to write on my blog."
That's an excuse I use when the days go by, one after another, and no blog post gets published.
I was thinking about this problem of blogger's block and how I could jumpstart not only myself but others in my network from whom I've heard this excuse complaint. It got me thinking about how I can offer some kind of virtual blog writing day. A day, or a few hours, dedicated to cranking out blog posts and putting them into your publishing queue.
I decided to ask my Online Visibility group on LinkedIn for some feedback on the idea and posted a poll. I share the poll on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and send a link to my email list.
In addition to 126 votes (at the time of this post), there were more than 80 comments from members offering their thoughts on whether or now it would be useful and what they wanted out of a virtual writing day.
Of the 70% "yes" votes, many felt that a 4 hour chunk of time would be too long and suggested 2 hours. There were also many requests to get plenty of notice of date and time in order to plan and block off the time to dedicate to writing.
The way I envision it is that everyone would call in at the top of the hour. I would share some blog writing tips. We could have some Q&A and then everyone rings off and writes for about an hour. We check in again and report on our progress. Get feedback, Q&A and then repeat.
This is something I intend to do free of charge…participation is optional, if you feel you would benefit from support, motivation and some accountability to get some blog writing done.
What do you think? Is this something you would be interested in doing? Add your comments here or on LinkedIn to let me know. With the commitments I currently have, I probably would not be able to schedule it until mid August.
If you're one of the lucky ones, how do you avoid blogger's block?
My book, 62 Blog Posts to Overcome Blogger’s Block, will help with both situations: 1) no content ideas and 2) I don’t have enough time. It provides details on the types of blog posts and visual samples. It will launch in August.
Sigh…blogger’s block is an ongoing struggle. I wouldn’t say I’m one of the lucky ones, but I find I blog most consistently when I write about topics I find interesting. Sounds simple and obvious, but I notice that if I have a hard time finishing a post, it’s probably because the topic doesn’t really grab my interest.
Another helpful habit is writing down thought-provoking ideas when they occur to me. I have a Word doc where I keep a running list of topics along with a short description of the blog post’s main points. If it’s time to write a post and I feel stuck, that list usually gives me inspiration.
Hi Kim, thanks for stopping by. Keeping a running list of blog ideas is a great way to tap into some inspiration. When you start blogging, it seems like you grow “blog antennae” and everything is potential fodder for blog posts. I use Evernote to track blog ideas and links to posts for research. Blog on!