Sooner or later bloggers have to Face The Monster. The Monster is a blank blog screen and no ready ideas of what to blog about. Here are my six best ways to defend yourself against The Monster with a steady stream of ideas:
1. Develop a swipe file of ideas from articles, other blogs, and the like. I keep mine on my Outlook Task List, grandly called “Hidden Wit Editorial Calendar.” (It’s not a calendar, but I think it sounds really official.)
2. To capture the stray good idea, carry a small notebook in your purse or stash it in your car. Try not to write and drive at the same time. I also know people who stash one near their bed for their middle-of-the-night ideas. I can never find the notebook in the dark, so I gave up on that one.
3. Review books that you read on your topic. You could start a series if you read a lot.
4. Tell stories about people in your field, observations about current ideas, news items that relate to your topic.
5. Tell personal stories. Some people might like my stories about my over-active dog Maggie, others may think they’re really lame. That’s okay. I’m writing about stuff I observe and how I think it relates to marketing and books and publishing. Sometimes I might hit a nerve with a bunch of people. Other times, I may be writing for myself.
6. Repurpose stuff you’ve already written. I used to publish a newsletter and have reused most of the content in my blog. Do you have old reports, presentations, ezine articles from a few years ago? Update them and use them in your blog. If they’re too long for a single post, create a series.
