Blogging rut? We’ve all been there. Maybe you’re too busy, or you’re overwhelmed, or you just forgot.
That’s okay. Stop beating yourself up about it. It happens to everyone.
Your new plan of action from this day forward is simple. (In fact, you might even think it’s too simple.)
But if that were actually the case, wouldn’t you already be doing it?
YOUR THREE STEPS TO BLOGGING SUCCESS
The simple, unvarnished truth: You already know what to do.
But sometimes:
- You need extra encouragement to do the thing
- You make things more complicated than they need to be
- You get so overwhelmed that you don’t take action
Let’s break it down a little further, shall we?
BRAINSTORM
Do you have any specific place where you know you get your best ideas?
For me, it’s the shower. I consistently think up something great when I’m trying to avoid getting soap in my eyes.
I try to write any great ideas down after I get out. If I kept my phone upstairs (the floor where my shower is located), I’d probably have a higher success rate. As it is, I usually resort to a pen and paper.
These observations come from knowing myself and how I think. I like to take notes on my phone, or sometimes in a small notebook with a nice pen.
Your process might look completely different from mine. Once you’ve identified how you think and take notes best, you can start to take advantage of it. Maybe you like talking to Siri, or Alexa, or Cortana.
Any way is valid as long as it helps you get the ideas from your head into the world.
WRITE
In the graphic above, you’ll see “write” and “blog” right next to each other. Maybe you’re thinking that’s repetitive.
When I say “write,” I mean “write anything.” Write everything. It doesn’t have to be a blog.
There are almost as many types of writers in the world as there are types of sea life.
All of them will tell you that writing of any type is like any other exercise. The more you do it, the more you want to do it, and the more you accomplish. Words follow words, and pretty soon, you’ve written more than you expected.
If you like typing or dictation to get your words out, that’s cool, too. Remember what I said about any way being the correct way for you? That absolutely applies here as well.
If your writing involves research, use whatever methods suit you best to keep track of your notes. Scrivener, Evernote, plain old note cards–there’s no wrong way to do it.
BLOG
Once you get in the habit of brainstorming and writing (of any type), blogs will naturally follow. It doesn’t matter what your subject focus is.
The keys lie in getting both your ideas and your words flowing freely. A blog or two is bound to flow out that spout as well. Pretty soon, your blogging rut will be nothing but a misty memory.
You might find that you work best in advance, canning evergreen entries to schedule for later use.
Then again, you might find that you work best on a deadline, trying to get your entries written and posted the same day. Or you might combine those approaches.
Remember what I said above? By now, I’m sure you’re sensing a theme.
The only wrong way to do it is not to do it at all.
What does your process look like? It might take you time to answer this question. Starting to answer it is the important thing.
