Defeating writer’s block isn’t easy unless you know what helps. For a long time, I struggled with this often. I’d face that blank computer screen or page but the words seemed frozen inside my mind failing to come out.
Eventually, I learned to integrate these following steps when challenged with writer’s block. In this post, I offer 5 remedies that work to help free your mind to write.
Let’s get started!
1. Journal Writing
Years ago I developed a daily habit of journal writing. This practice changed my life both personally and as a writer. Through keeping a daily journal I discovered my love for writing.
Journaling is a great way to keep writing even when you don’t want to.
You’ll clear your mind which will help you put your thoughts into perspective.
It’s encouraging to go back and read what you’ve previously written.
You will develop a consistent writing routine.
When writing from your own life experiences you’re writing what you know. You’ll write with a passion and a purpose. Your writing will be richer when you write about what matters to you. When you’re not interested in what you write about then it will be difficult to write about it all the time.
My friend Anne Peterson always says “Write the scary stuff. The things that you are most afraid write.”
Anne was recently interviewed about self-publishing and writing. You can view the video interview here.
3. Write something every day
Making a point of writing every day is crucial to developing a consistency and sharpening your writing skills. You’ll develop a writing habit that will help you grow as a writer. Doing this makes the act of writing more enjoyable. You’ll progress over time into becoming good at what you do. Writing consistently is important to your growth as a writer.
Tips to help you write each day…
Free write: This is one of my favorite things to do. I just start writing about whatever is on my mind.
Read a blog post someone else wrote and comment on it.
As referenced in point 1: Write a journal entry.
Join a writing community where you can engage with other writers and bloggers. You’ll feel more encouraged by others. Frank McKinley founded the Tribe Builder’s Network. A Facebook group I highly recommend for all writers and bloggers seeking to get the attention your writing deserves!
Time Blocking; Set aside a time to write. One you can commit to. Decide how long you’ll write for and stick to that plan. Like exercise even starting small and working up. More important than the time spent is the consistent action of writing for a period of time. This will develop discipline and consistency.
Word count: Decide on a word count. Commit to writing a certain amount of words each day.
Write something every day even if you don’t want to.
Inspiration and motivation may not always be there but press on… write anyway.
4. Read
Are you a reader? Reading is helpful for when you can’t find the words.
If you can’t find the right words to write then reading will feed them to you.
Vocabulary and spelling will improve.
Sentence structure and grammar skills will sharpen.
6. Let go of perfectionism
One of the problems writers and bloggers face is with perfectionism. We want our writing to read well and be interesting to others. Something I’ve discovered many of us face. The truth is we’ll never write perfectly.
Yes, it is important to create good quality content. It isn’t important to be perfect. It is impossible to please everybody. What you write about won’t benefit everyone. Sometimes you won’t publish your best work. That’s okay. Often what I’ve thought was not my best work got the most attention!
The main thing is that you keep writing and publishing your work. If you are consistent in writing and shipping it out you’ll grow over time. Your writing will get better and better. I’ve never met a successful writer or blogger who likes everything they wrote. Most important thing is to keep writing!
Have you ever wondered what it takes to become a successful blogger? Popular bloggers have learned there is power in generosity. They stand out in the crowd as the rare gems that know how to succeed. We can learn a lot from them. They do what unsuccessful bloggers don’t.
Many bloggers start out excited and enthusiastic. Not long later they become discouraged and frustrated. Why? They just don’t understand what steps to take. Becoming a popular blogger is not as difficult as you may think.
How do you blog like a top dog and achieve blogging success? In this post, I share how you can begin blogging like a pro!
1. Be generous
Being a giver navigates people toward you! Give of yourself generously without expectation. This is a sure way of achieving success as a blogger!
When you love what you do it shows through in how you present yourself to others. You can show love to your readers by giving them what they need.
Solve their problems.
Show your readers you care about them by being a giver.
Enthusiastic people shine brightly and stand out in the crowd.
People will want to know you. It just happens.
Being enthusiastic and generous helps you live life from a place of love, not fear. Do this and you’ll experience blogging freedom and futuristic success.
These are magnetic qualities not all bloggers have. You will shine brighter in the crowd of many others in your niche.
[bctt tweet=”People know when bloggers are giving to get something in return or giving without expectation.” username=”https://twitter.com/CoriWriterBWP”]
2. Connect with other bloggers in your niche.
Getting known for what you blog about requires you to show up. Go to the places where other bloggers are and connect with them. Show interest in what they write about and regularly read their blog posts. Thoughtfully participate in the comment section of their posts.
Share their content in your social media places. Do this consistently and they will remember you.
3. Expand your reach to a larger audience.
The main point here is to get your work out there! Lots of it! We cannot succeed in isolation and can’t grow our blogs alone. Participating, connecting, and helping others helps you grow your blog.
In order to reach a larger number of people, you’ll need to expand our reach. To do this you will need to write and ship your content out into the world.
Guest posting on other blogs helps you to reach a new blog audience.
Write and publish to Medium and other online platforms.
Joining online communities is a great way to start putting yourself out there.
Facebook groups will help connect you with a larger audience.
Showing up consistently to these online networks establishes valuable connections.
You’ll make some great friends too!
4. Consistently write and publish quality content.
Having a blog posting routine is important. Your readers will rely on your regular publication of new content.
Spread your content around the web by guest posting on other blogs.
My blogger friend Ryan Biddulph is constantly writing and publishing new content. Ryan submits so much of it as guest posts to other blogs. His work is seen all over the internet!
As a result, he is well known by many bloggers and reaches a large audience. Ryan freely gives what he writes generously to others. He is also the published author of approximately 126 ebooks.
He is an example of a blogger who became successful through being generous. His generosity built his blogging business.
Follow Ryan’s lead and you’ll be a happy and successful blogger!
What you write has your name on it. The more you write, publish and ship… you are seen by a larger number of people and often.
5. Utilize social media effectively.
Social Media is a great tool for getting known for what you do. The problem is many people don’t know how to use it properly.
Social Media is all about interactions and connections with others. Facebook live has become very popular! Mainly because people love connecting with the person behind the message.
Your readers want to know they matter to you. If they are following your Facebook page that means they like what you offer there. It is important to maintain consistent engagement with them.
6. Learn what you can from successful bloggers.
Successful bloggers are teachable. They had to learn the tools of the blogging trade just like you. You don’t have to start alone.
There are so many successful bloggers to learn from. Engage with people you are learning from as much as you can. Eventually, they will get to know you no matter how successful they are.
Take an online course(s) about blogging and writing.
You will learn so much from your blogging teacher/guide. By signing up for their course you will also become one of their students which means they will get to know you.
I believe it is important to get the right information starting out. Courses can help so much! I recommend the following courses for consideration;
In 2013 when I knew nothing about blogging I found my first blog mentor Greg Narayan. He is the founder of Dear Blogger. If it were not for Greg, his blog and his help I would not be blogging as I am today.
7. Enjoy the process of growing as a blogger.
I remember when I started my first blog. I wasn’t enjoying the experience after a few months. Mainly because I wanted results quicker than they would come. Until I surrendered my expectations and fears of failure.
Blogging is meant to be fun not frustrating. It can become difficult to enjoy when we get stuck on results. When we are too perfectionistic about everything we do it gets complicated. None of us are perfect. Your blog won’t be either.
Yes, there is much to learn about how to become a successful blogger. You’ll learn the tools of the trade step by step.
8. Patience and perseverance.
If you are a new blogger starting out know you aren’t alone. Every blogger had a beginning. It takes time to successfully grow a blog. You’ll become known for what you blog about over time.
You’ll need to persevere. Give your blog time to grow. All successful bloggers will tell you that it takes about 2 years or more. During that time you will see results. It just doesn’t happen all at once.
If you put into practice some of the suggestions here and learn from other bloggers… you’ll be soon blogging like a top dog in your niche!
Join the conversation
What have you done that’s worked for you to grow as a blogger?
Is there anything you could add to this list?
In my first year of blogging, I think I made every mistake a blogger could make! Today I’m thankful for the valuable lessons I learned as a direct result of those mistakes. I once heard a saying while at a business conference that success is simply failure turned inside out.
As a matter of fact, when I wrote that post I was thinking about all the things I learned in my first year of blogging. Most of which was a result of what I learned from the mistakes I made. My many errors were the result of a lack of knowledge and experience. To become a good blogger I needed to practice. Overtime I learned more and became a better blogger and writer.
The most affluent bloggers I know describe failure as the springboard that helped launch their blogs to success.
The message being we don’t need to fear failure. These common mistakes once recognized and corrected help us to become better bloggers!
Many bloggers unintentionally made a few or all of these mistakes that caused some to abandon their blogs. Most of them quit before their breakthrough. If you avoid making these mistakes you’ll have a blog that grows and is guaranteed to last.
1. Blog about too many different topics.
If you speak about too many vastly different subjects you won’t have a target audience and worse your blog might fail. At best you’ll get a small amount of blog traffic. Narrowing down to a niche topic area of interest will attract a specific audience. If you blog about a particular topic you’re interested in you’ll be able to write about it for a long time.
Many bloggers don’t know why they blog. Do you know why you blog? If not, I recommend reading this post; 9 Answers to “Why Do You Blog?” to help you discover the answer to your why.
2. Impatience in the process of growing a blog.
We all like to see the results of our efforts materialize quickly. Blogging with the expectation of quick success is usually met with disappointment. Blog growth takes time.
Successful bloggers all had to develop patience and persistence while learning from blogging mistakes. In their process of growing their blogs, they learned to enjoy the journey. If you stay with it and don’t quit you will make progress. You’ll be pleasantly surprised with the results!
When we let go of unrealistic expectations, we begin to blog just because we love blogging. You can then blog freely and connect consistently with our readers and other bloggers. I once had a wise teacher promise me that effort always produces the desired results in due time.
3. Failure to keep goals realistic and reachable.
There are steps to take that will launch you toward the completion of your blogging goals efficiently. Here are a few;
Avoid overloading your daily agenda of things to do. I use a six most important things to do list for daily blogging tasks. Until I complete those 6 tasks, I try not to move on to anything else.
Try to keep your blogging goals realistic and reachable by taking small steps to achieve them. I’ve heard it said that when you chase too many rabbits, you won’t catch either one. Chasing too many goals at once usually works out the same way, resulting in achieving much less.
4. No consistent blog post routine.
If your readers notice you’ve not been publishing fresh content in a long time they’ll think you abandoned your blog. Most will not come back.
Having quality content written on your blog consistent with your blogging topics and posted on a regular routine is key. Quality and regularity are more important than post quantity on an irregular publishing basis.
5. Poor blog design, difficult to navigate, and not enough buttons or links.
First impressions count! A blog that is poorly designed will drive away your audience. If the purpose/message of your blog is not defined right away, is difficult to navigate with not enough buttons or click links then visitors will leave.
Use a simple start blog design and layout you can build on over time. Less is more here when starting out.
Making your blog easy to navigate and fully responsive to view on all devices, such as cell phones, tablets, laptops, and desktops, is important.
Your visitors will love buttons and links to click that take them where they want to go on your blog. Links should be added to all pages and blog post content.
6. Attempting to do it all alone.
All of us need support no matter what we are doing. From friends, family, and colleagues. There are many bloggers and writers you can connect with. Where do you find them? In communities. Facebook groups and their blogs are good places to start. You’ll be amazed at how beneficial online communities are to your life as a blogger.
Every successful blogger started just like the rest of us. They too had to learn the tools of the blogging trade to grow their blogs. What these affluent bloggers now know took time, commitment, and tons of perseverance to get there. Each one learned from other successful bloggers and most had a blog mentor to help guide them in the right direction. None of them achieved their blogging goals alone.
7. Failing to expand the reach of a larger audience.
Guest posting is a great way to expand your reach to a larger audience. Publishing on a variety of platforms is a sure way to expand your reach to a larger audience of readers. If you do this, you’ll get known for what you do and over time, people trust you and regard you as an expert in your field. You’ll also gain a higher volume of blog traffic.
8. Not building an email list of subscribers is a blogging mistake.
Not building an email list of subscribers is the best way to cause a blog to fail. If you haven’t already established an email list-building strategy, I’d encourage you to do this as soon as possible.
One option is to sign up for Mail Chimp is free up to 2,500 subscribers. This can be a great great starting place for those seeking to keep costs low or free. Constant Contact ,Aweber,and Convertkit are also great choices. All helping you to accomplish your email list building goals.
9. Trying to earn an income as a blogger too soon leads to many blogging mistakes.
I’m often asked by beginner bloggers if they can earn money blogging. The answer is yes. You can, over time, earn a lucrative income as a blogger. Your blog will not generate much of an income for you in the beginning.
Affiliate earnings are a great way to start. The problem is people try to do this too soon. Try waiting to monetize your blog in the beginning. Let your readers get to know you and trust you first. Give yourself time to gain some social proof.
10. Neglecting Comments
People who take the time to read your blog post and comment on it deserve a response from you. Over time, as your blog grows, so will your number of comments. It can become difficult to keep up with all of them. While you don’t need to answer all comments it is important to respond to many of them.
By replying to comments regularly, you show your readers that you care and appreciate them. Routine comment responding is such a big natural growth technique in blogging that not doing it can be one of those silent but huge blogging mistakes!
11. Expect more than they give.
An integral part of growing a successful blog is to give your readers more than you get from them. Show your readers it is all about them and not you. A loyal audience develops over time.
Being a giver is a magnetic quality that all successful bloggers demonstrate to their followers. Give whatever you have to offer on your blog for free when starting out. A free eBook or an email course is a wonderful place to start.
12. Weak social media integration and Networking.
Networking is an important part of successful blogging and worthwhile in helping you to promote your blog. Many bloggers don’t know how to optimize the use of social media or begin networking in a way that helps their blog growth.
This results failing to adequately promote your blog and having a weak social media online presence. Social media is all about connecting with others. Not showing up regularly on these powerful platforms disconnects you from your audience.
Integrating your blog with social media outlets helps you to achieve blogging success. Facebook and Twitter are great places to start. You’ll be able to personally connect with your existing readers. A consistent routine of social media interactions helps to establish a new audience, all pointing back to your blog.
Conclusion
When everything indicates you should give up is just when you need to step away but come back to it. You can revisit your blogging and writing goals with a clearer focus.
What blogging mistakes have you made and what did you do to correct them?
How did your blogging mistakes help you grow as a blogger?
Do you want to start a blog but don’t know how or where to begin? The first baby steps are always the most difficult. The good news is starting a blog has never been easier! In this post, I offer several simple steps to help you begin your blogging journey!
I remember when I started my first blog. It was a happy moment! Filled with a few posts and an about page to begin my blogging journey. This enthusiasm lasted for a while. Then what happened next was my world got busy. I struggled to keep up with the pace of creating regular blog posts. Have you experienced this yourself?
There is a countless number of thriving successful blogs. There are equally a large if not larger number of failed blogs. Many of them died out because these bloggers didn’t produce consistent content.
So how do you be blog post prepared for when life gets busy?
Don’t let being busy stop you from blogging.
Life gets busy. We get sick sometimes. Emergencies and other demand of life arise.
It helps to develop a method that works for you to push past distractions and obstacles.
When life gets busy and chaotic our minds get full.
Professional bloggers and writers do the following;
Write when they don’t want to.
Write in the midst of pain and life’s storms.
They’ve developed strategies, habits, and routines that work.
They create content even when life is crazy and doesn’t make sense.
Don’t give up even when discouragement tells them to.
Successful bloggers and writers don’t isolate and are part of communities.
Consider accepting guest posting contributions on your blog.
Make time.
How do you make time in your busy schedule to write blog posts? If you want to grow and succeed as a blogger then you’ll need to be committed to your blog. That means making time to write and publish blog posts. Our loyalty is to our readers. They want content. That’s why they visit us. The more you write and publish blog posts the easier it becomes.
The Benefits of Batch Writing
Creating blog posts in advance is a great method of content creation for every blogger. Doing this enables you to be prepared for those busy seasons of life. As bloggers and writers, we have many things to do and write about. Batch writing helps so much to prevent lack of content and blogger discouragement. I love batch creating content!
Keep a record of blog post ideas.
Record your ideas somewhere. I write down all of my blog posts and other writing ideas as they come to me. I use a small notebook which I carry in my purse. Handy for those times I don’t have a computer with me. When thoughts come I can write it down no matter where I am. Whatever you find easiest to do will be what works for you.
Schedule one month of posts in advance.
An easy way to post regularly is to write 4 posts one Saturday and publish them every Thursday for a month. My friend Greg the founder of Dear Blogger has a guest posting routine where the posts are scheduled for publication every Wednesday. Same day and time every week.
The main point here is to create a blog post routine in a tempo you can manage and stay consistent with. Consistency is more important than frequency.
Have backup posts ready.
Before I began writing backup posts I was always running out of content for my blogs. Usually, when this happened I wasn’t in the mode to quickly write a post. This used to bother me and cause me to question whether I really was a writer and blogger at all. Keeping posts on the backburner for those times when the post well is dry helps tremendously!
If you do this regularly you’ll discover as I did how much time this saves in the long run.
