Having blogger's block? Feel editorially depleted? Hazel from Hot Cross Mum feels your pain. Luckily, she also has some great tips on finding your blogging muse. Over to Hazel:
As the parent blogging community continues to grow and grow, it amazes me how diverse, thought-provoking, entertaining, insightful and brilliant the writing continues to be. For any parent, finding time to write at all is a challenge, let alone write anything which other people want to read.
But, inevitably, at some stage we all experience that dark day when we completely lose our blogging mojo. We want to create a new post but can’t think of anything remotely interesting to write. So we leave it for another day. And then the blog starts to feel neglected and a bit sad and we start to feel guilty and try again; staring at the laptop for what feels like hours, but still...nothing. Not one shred of inspiration pops up.
If this has happened, or is happening to you, don’t worry. Here are a few ideas which will hopefully help you get your blogging mojo back.
1. Step away from the laptop. Ever heard the saying ‘you can’t see the wood for the trees’? Clinging to your gadgets will not help, so the best thing you can do is shut everything electronic down for 24 hours (yes, really!) and go and get on with your life: the single best place to find inspiration. As one blogger very wisely said: ‘Live first, blog later’.
2. Be a good observer. Really listen and watch your children, friends, pets, neighbours (no CCTV, please). Brilliant nuggets of inspiration can be found in the smallest gesture, conversation or a single word your child says.
3. Remember that your posts don’t always have to be about huge, contentious issues or be Man Booker Prize-winning material. A quick survey or poll, a Top 10 list, even a favourite, inspirational quote can make great content and keep your blog blood flowing. Shorter posts can also make a refreshing change for your readers.
4. Go out! Going anywhere with children will usually throw up something unexpected which you can develop into a great post. A recent post I wrote about turning our kitchen into a restaurant all came about from a walk to the village shop for milk.
5. Keep a pen and notebook handy at all times as a great idea for a post will strike you at the most inopportune moment – mine usually happens when I’m packing the bags at the supermarket or driving somewhere. Scribble a quick note about the idea as soon as you can, because you can guarantee it will have gone forever by the time you get chance to sit down at the computer.
6. Share your feelings. After a really tough day, the last thing you may feel is inspired. But posts in which bloggers share their struggles, emotions and frustrations always seem to be very popular (we must all have a sick sense of morbid fascination!). The posts that are the most difficult to write are often the most engaging.
7. Reading other blogs can be a fantastic source of inspiration - you might discover online writing opportunities, requests for guest posts, information about blog tours/carnivals, charitable events or other trends/events in the blogosphere which you’d like to get involved in. If you were inspired to write a post because of something you read on someone else’s site, remember to credit them and link back to them.
8. Read the newspapers, flick through a magazine, watch TV, read a book - you’d be surprised where inspiration might find you. I was recently inspired by a TV advert theme song – yes, I was desperate!
9. If you are really struggling to come up with new content, dig into your archive. Link back to your first blog post and make some observations on that, or post about your favourite ever blog posts (your own or others), link to the best posts around that week or even blog about the fact that you are having blogger’s block. We will all sympathise!
10. Regular blogger events, such as Josie George’s fantastic Weekly Writing Workshop at Sleep is the for Weak and the weekly ‘Gallery’ prompts at Tara Cain’s Sticky Fingers are brilliant sources of inspiration. The ‘Dear so and so…’ posts started by Cat at 3 Bedroom Bungalow are also great to have a go at.
11. When inspiration does eventually strike, write it all down for the future. Even ideas for titles for a post may come in very handy when you suffer from bloggers block again.
12. Ultimately, don’t let the pressure of your blog force you to post something – anything - just because it’s a Tuesday and you usually post something on a Tuesday. I think everyone would prefer it if you went out sledging and came back the following week with a brilliant post about the humiliation of your trousers falling down as you hurtled down the slope.
Where do you find your inspiration? Have you ever suffered from bloggers block and how did you bounce back?