Life happens! – and thank God for that, otherwise bloggers would have nothing to write about! But sometimes life’s happenings get in the way of our writing, and once you get out of the groove it can be really hard to get back on track and get your blogging groove back!
Personally, I need to stick to a regular blogging schedule, or else I start making excuses why I can’t write anything. As inspiring as life can be, it can also suck the inspiration right out of you – and that’s exactly where I have been the past few weeks…. But fear not – I am back! I woke up one morning, put on my big girl panties and talked some sense into myself – and then I realized that I should blog about not being able to blog! How is THAT for making lemonade out of lemons!?!
Here are the eight steps I used to kick my writer’s block to the curb, shake off the nay-saying thoughts and get back to feeling inspired!
- STOP BLOGGING! – I know, it is counterintuitive, but sometimes we need to take a step back from our projects in order to get a better overview. Allow yourself to disconnect from all things social media for a day or two – chances are that the only person who notices your silence is your mom! (That was the case in my situation!)
- Focus on maintenance! After being disconnected for a couple of days I started to miss my blogging community. But I still didn’t feel like I had the ideas to write anything compelling – so instead I did some blog maintenance!
- Clean up Pinterest boards and add powerful descriptions to pins and boards.
- Create new images for old posts as a great way to “recycle” your previously successful articles – or give new life to articles that may not have received the right amount of exposure when you first published them.
- Share, pin and retweet other people’s articles – it’s great blogging karma and it shows your readers that you are still alive and well.
- Organize notes and lists! In true “A type” personality form, I have lists for lists. I write everything down, such as blog ideas, to do lists, things not to do – you name it – I have a list for it. Getting organized by throwing away old lists, crossing off things already done (or things that will never get done) and then moving forward with new fresh lists is revitalizing – at least if you are a “type A” kinda person!
- Create an editorial calendar! This task goes along with cleaning up your lists. Scheduling future posts helps you to be organized, but it also makes you accountable and more disciplined. Your readers enjoy predictability and knowing when they can expect a new article – so this one is a win-win.
- Ask for help! I know, this might be the hardest thing for so many of us. We are independent and strong (-willed), but asking our “village” for help can be necessary!
- Invite guest bloggers. Creating a blog series and inviting other bloggers to write on the topic once a week will help free up your time, which in return will prevent you from burning out (again).
- Brain storm with a friend on new topics. Find one or two friends who are equally as funny/ smart/ creative as you are, and then brainstorm with them over your article ideas. Together you can quickly create outlines for several great articles – and then all you have to do is finish writing the post.
- Create a new series! Blog series are a great way to keep the creative juices flowing with ideas. I have planned three blog series for the next couple of months. These series will keep me from getting overwhelmed by the wealth of ideas and inspiration around in my everyday life. Complete creative freedom can be paralyzing.
- Start writing!… Yup, just like that – now that you are organized, have a plan, a list of ideas – then all that is left is for you to put your fingers on the keyboard and let them do what they do best!
- Cut yourself some slack… this one is ongoing! Prevent burn-out by giving yourself time off – or simply allowing life to “get in the way of” your blog. Without life your blog would be rather dull – so remember to balance the two!
How do you get over a bad case of writers block?
Which do you find harder to deal with – too many unorganized ideas or not enough ideas at all?
Wonderful ideas, Tove. For me, I definitely need a calendar, or else I won’t remember anything or I’ll lose the motivation to write. I also force myself to write everyday, even if it’s crap. Because usually I think it’s crap as I’m writing it, but a few days later, I find it’s not so bad with a bit of editing. And I also think doing maintenance is a great way to stay in the blog world without the heavy work of writing—doing graphics and updating the site are some ideas.
All good tips here! Sometimes, I feel the need to step back from writing to get more inspiration. And having a schedule really helps.
Early on, when I first started blogging I used to get quite fatigued. I felt like I had to put out content 2-3 times a week.
Now I tend to focus on putting content out once a week or once a fortnight, and focus on making trying to make it good quality. 🙂