This is a guest post by Ryan Biddulph. He shares smart blogging tips at Blogging From Paradise.
Watch.
Write.
I hate to sound simple. But being prolific is that simple.
Unfortunately, most bloggers confuse simple with easy. Bloggers believe watching and writing are easy. Anybody can watch, right? Anybody can write, correct? Why do few bloggers churn out content at a prolific clip, then?
Bloggers tend to do a poor job observing. Most human beings seemed tethered to the past or fixated on the future. No human being effectively observes people, places and things now if anchored to the past or ruminating about the future.
As for writing, I know of few bloggers who write 500-1000 words daily for practice. I advise every blogger to practice writing 500 or more words in a Word document daily to gain confidence in their writing skills. Writing 500 words in a Word document is simple. But writing 500 words in a Word document daily for years is uncomfortable.
I faced fears to write this blog post.
I already wrote and published 6 posts today between blog posts and guest posts. Ego told me I already did enough. Fear told me to get to bed in order to avoid feeling run down. I observed the fear. I felt the fear. I released the fear. I wrote this blog post.
Observe. Write.
Observe
Practice watching the world around you. I tune into reader problems. I also observe my life experiences for an endless flow of blog post ideas. But observing is not easy because the monkey mind jumps to and fro, like a tiny simian hopping around on tree branches. Consider meditating daily to quiet the mind. Quiet minds become completely aware of surroundings.
Stop right now. Take 5 deep breaths. Note every possible detail in your current surroundings. Let nothing go unnoticed. Pay particularly close attention to the thoughts and feelings flowing through your mind now. Following this simple practice for 5 minutes daily strengthens your powers of observation quickly.
Listen closely to your readers. Pore over their comments. Readers bring you an endless flow of blog post ideas if you pay attention to their thoughts, dreams, problems and hopes.
Write
Write diligently.
Practice writing daily in a Word document to gain clarity. Hone your writing voice through practice.
I have written enough to where I can write a 600 word post in 8-10 minutes if I genuinely want to. I do not write quickly as much as the words flow from my mind, to my fingers, to my laptop to the WordPress back office quite fast. I do not force myself to write quickly. But I practiced writing tens of millions of words since 2008. Doing so for 10,000 to 15,000 hours beefs up your skills in that discipline.
Observing people, places and circumstances to pluck blog post ideas out of thin air is not enough. Skilled, clear, confident writers convert airy ideas into tangible, helpful blog posts.
Never force yourself to write a blog post but publish content even if it feels uncomfortable to do so. Become prolific by edging outside of your content comfort zone.
I easily could have hit the sack a few moments ago. Writing this guest post for Cori and you rocking readers edged me out of my blogging comfort zone. Baby stepping out of comfort allows me to be more comfortable with making uncomfortable writing decisions in the future.
Summary
Being prolific is a simple but sometimes challenging process.
Become a skilled observer. Mine blog post ideas by watching.
Write diligently. Gain confidence and clarity in your writing voice.
Be a prolific blogger.
