Yesterday was the first Wednesday for a long time that I’ve failed to blog. It’s been coming for a while, the posts seem to take longer and longer and there is something… stopping me from getting it done quickly. I’m suffering from that phenomenon known as Bloggers block.
So what is the problem? Why has my usually tight blog schedule taken a dip? Maybe if I can discover why I can also discover a cure. So here’s my thoughts.
1. I’ve changed my blogging style – long time readers of my blog will remember that it used to be full of tutorials. Whilst tutorials are good, and I still do the odd one I don’t want that to be all my blog offers. I’ve found that most tutorials are better demonstrated with video. That’s not to say I’ve abandoned them completely but I love the opportunity that writing gives me to look into social media in a more in-depth way. Why is this a problem? Because I’m writing more opinion now I want to make sure I’ve researched properly and this takes time. I may have already read the articles on the issue but rifling through them for the stats or case studies I need to prove my case proves time consuming… and this brings me on to my second issue.
2. The Wall – because it’s taking me longer to write my blog posts these days I tend to put them off. To me blogging looks like a big wall that is going to be hard to climb. So I do the little things, the small jobs or the bigger jobs that are easier to achieve first. This has resulted in me blogging late in the evening or even putting it off to the next day (as today). The strange thing is I know the cure for this one, I practice it all the time with other tasks and recommend it to clients. Break the job up into sections so it is easier to digest. So I should break down my blog perhaps into ‘research’ ‘outline structure’ ‘composition’.
3. Not knowing if I’m making sense. This is a big one for me. I often read my blog back and am completely unable to know if it makes sense. I sometimes ask friends to have a look at it for me but it’s unfair to expect them to read a post every week. I don’t’ really know the solution for this one, hire a proof reader? Find a circle of friends that will help me out so I’m only asking them once a month or every two months rather than every week?
4. Topics, in fairness there is more than enough happening in social media that I shouldn’t be short of topics to cover but somehow I still seem to be staring at a blank page every week. I’ve tried lists of topics and even mind-mapping but I don’t seem to be able to keep this up for longer than a few weeks.
So what is this post about? It’s slightly self indulgent, as someone who encourages others to blog I want you to know that sometimes I find it hard too. I’d love solutions, how do you combat bloggers block? What is stopping you blog, even writing these down has helped me move on.
All suggestions will be more than gratefully received and in the spirit of curing me I’m going to do a follow up post full of your best tips.
I am constantly getting bloggers block too, but occasionally I can blog like mad, I think it all comes down to how busy I am with other things in my life
As with more traditional writer’s block, the best answer is to write your way round it. Keep writing and writing, don’t be afraid to write drafts that seem crap and you’ll get your writing engine going again. Now to start taking my own advice.
Thanks Derbhile, that’s very helpful. Writing this post actually helped a lot. A bit of a mind dump but it was done quickly… now to get onto another one 🙂
I often find that if I have procrastinated over writing about a particular topic, once I start it, I usually find it is much easier than I thought it would be.
Are you being too hard on yourself by trying to make the blog post too perfect? It isn’t a finally edited book and can be edited again if you wish to add more or modify it.
I find if I need to add more stats etc, that if I write the bulk of it, save it in draft and leave getting the final statistics or quotes until the next day.
One thing I’ve found useful when writing articles for magazines is that if I source all my images first (for you I guess it would be stats/quotes etc) and then build the text around what I have.
Great tips, thanks Lorna. Maybe that’s the solution find the stats and research then write the post, instead of trying to remember articles that back up what I’m saying.
You know Amanda, I think we all have days when we’re productive and energic and days when we are the complete opposite. Similarly, we have days when ideas threaten to burst from our brains and days when we can’t string a thought together. On the days when it’s a bit hazy round the edges, I tend to look at what’s trending and start reading various articles and blogs. After a while a glimmer of an idea that it inspired by a post (or a few) takes over like a curious imp and I quickly jot it down and brainstorm. After that…..it’s just joining the dots.
I will say too, that it’s ok to have an ‘off’ day, because during the ‘on’ days, you can write up a few and save as draft.
Thanks Christina. I’ve never managed to do that storing posts up thing… Must try it!
I’m a devil for over researching a topic which results in it taking way too long to write a post. One of the things that I’ve started doing is limiting that research time. As Lorna says, it doesn’t have to be perfect. Sometimes you can compensate for the incompleteness of your post by inviting your readers to contribute via the comments.
I like the idea of limiting the time I have to research… in fact that should work for blogging. If I assign a certain amount of time maybe I’ll stop putting it off thinking it will take too long.