There are many days where I wake up and I feel like I have nothing to really talk about on my blogs, which totally bums me out because, typically, the day before I had something super-unique and thought-provoking to say.
What happened? Did I lose the muse? Did she abandon me?
Here are 5 ways that have helped me create content when I didn’t think I had any:
- Go through my notes and my moleskine harvesting ideas. This, of course, requires that you are actively jotting down ideas for blog posts consistently. If you’re not doing this already then I’d suggest you start.
- Read other blog posts. I spend a good portion of my early morning simply reading. What happens more often than not is I leave with far more potential topics to explore than I can actually handle. That’s a good thing and I write them down for future use.
- Meditate about what’s been going on in my life for the last few days, weeks, months. I explicitly look for models and patterns. What happens 100% of the time is that I find a theme about something in particular that needs to be blogged about. It’s very odd, but it works.
- Ask your community. There are times where I’ll throw out thought-provoking tweets and get a number of responses back. These fuel my blog posts for that day or the next.
- Publish pre-prepared posts and drafts. This, of course, requires that you’re actually blogging more than publishing, and should be a consistent practice for serious bloggers. Draft twice publish once (at least).
What are some other ways that you’ve discovered that work to help you blog when you don’t think you’ve got it in you?
joanna says
When i've run out of stuff to say, i'll sometimes go through the photos i've taken looking for interesting photos to post. At least its something posted, and it also serves to break up the blocks of text on the site.
human3rror says
that is a great idea!
Justin Wise says
I have a "blog fodder" tag on GooRead that I use to mark stuff I really like all over da web. That way, when I log in I have all my ideas in a nice, neat little folder. Slick.
You could do the same with Evernote or Delicious, too. Oh yeah, InstaPaper is a must! Either that, or I just come here to be refreshed and rejuvenated with ideas 🙂
Kyle Reed says
thanks for the instapaper idea. Going to be using that very soon
Brett Barner says
Sweet idea with using tags with Google Reader. I've been just staring items, but they are getting mixed together with personal stuff. I'm going to be using the tag system now.
Conner Byrd says
John! What a great post!
"Draft twice, publish once. (At least.)" Amazing advice! Thank you.
Conner Byrd says
John! What a great post!
"Draft twice, publish once. (At least.)" Amazing advice! Thank you.
Phillip Gibb says
I need a Moleskine
human3rror says
get one!
dannyjbixby says
Great list
Amy says
I open my Bible and let the Spirit guide my thoughts and write about it. I also pull thoughts from books I've read and expand on them.
human3rror says
oh, i like that.
Craig Saboe says
I've found the daily devotional reading often does it for me – proof that God often speaks to us through the Scriptures! And having a BIG list of diverse RSS feeds to peruse (like yours) often triggers something for me.
And what format moleskine do you use? Lined, unlined, etc.?
human3rror says
both actually. i have one for sketches and another for thoughts and presentations and other non sense.
Kyle Reed says
Reading. This helps me the most. I have been reading Flickering Pixles by Shane Hipps and have probably stopped at least four or five times to start a draft for a blog post. Reading has inspired me greatly.
Also, I hate to drive anywhere, i just get annoyed with being alone and want it to be more productive. Usually what I do when at traffic lights is start to brainstorm some ideas. We all drive and so we all have time to sit and think. this for me helps a lot. I then record my ideas into my iPhone.
Another tool that helps me for sure.
Yohan Perera says
Looks like you have tapped into a hot topic. This is known as 'Bloggers block" at pro blogger. He has suggested some even smarter methods a blogger can try to solve this problem.
http://www.problogger.net/battling-bloggers-block…
http://www.problogger.net/archives/2009/10/26/how…
And also at Courtney Speaks,
http://courtneyspeaks.com/getting-ideas-for-blog-…