Hello there.
If you’re anything like me (as opposed to everything* like me), sometimes your blog will go quiet, because as I explained here, nothing you type up ever seems good enough. Blogging grinds to a standstill since you have nothing worthy of saying. Confession: on my gaming blog, I have 33 draft posts. Some of them are just titles so I can get inspired (some day) and write them up!
So, in the meantime, what do you do?
- Draft it. WordPress’ “Draft” section is your friend here. Not sure if that topical thing is going to work? Too scared to admit your position on the Avril Levigne marrying Chad Kroeger thing right now? Draft it and move on. When you come back later, there’ll always be something you can add to it, if you still like it. Or in my case, will spend half an hour swearing and changing themes, to discover those embed codes aren’t working because they are URL codes.
- Describe your day. What happens to you over a day? A week? A month? I have no idea. Tell me more about your fascinating life. And if there’s nothing fascinating, pick something delightfully average. Talk about thoughts you’ve had while drinking cups of tea today, how hard it is to take a good photo of a beautiful sunset, or what bothers you late at night when the clock is glaring and it’s 3am.
Pencil graffitti in a toilet at uni. It quotes Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. “The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the heir beware.”
- Challenge yourself. This pops up on a lot of Freshly Posted blogs. Maybe you wanna share a list with someone and note what you’ve achieved before (insert looming birthday). Or turn back time to the ever popular Tumblr 30 Days, 30 Letters challenge. Or even jump aboard awesome WordPress ones like The Daily Post, Weekly Post and photo challenges. Hell, even draw in the inspiration of Every Day Matters. A challenge exists for everyone out there. And if it doesn’t, make your own!
- Photos. There’s no excuses not to post cool photos, since cameras are now embedded in phones, iPods, tablets, laptops, regular computers . . . and cameras. Go snap your way through a day. Yesterday I went to a university open day at my old uni and took photos of food with my iPod. “Are you really taking photos of what you’re eating?” my siblings asked. Well, yes! Ever since my memory card wiped those awesome tea party photos, I’ve been seizing the chance to click my way through the day (20% battery warning permitting).
Dinosaur sand sculpture from an Adelaide show in 2005.
- Prompts. Sign up for constant questions through Plinky here for a weekly or daily prompt that could trigger something awesome. I keep my weekly emails in the hope one day I’ll get around to blogging some of them. Soon . . . An alternative is an actual book of prompts. Some exist for writers, like this one which I got for free a while ago on Amazon.
- Videos. Truly run out of inspiration? Seen the well run dry and are watching trickles of that inspiration run away? Hey, look again. Bruce Wayne might have fallen in there while running away from Katie Holmes. As my law teacher pointed out, animal videos are the best procrastination (and in this case, blogging) videos. If that’s your thing. On that note, check this out! Law tutes are awesome.
- If everything else here fails, and it might . . . make a list. This is fail proof, because everyone can make a list. Whether you’re writing a list of stuff you’re grateful for, that bucket list I mentioned earlier or just songs you can’t get stuck out of your head, the list is king.
- Click “Publish”. It’s scary. But it’s worth it. You’ll see the post appear and watch that green progress bar shoot to the right towards a star. Should you still think it’s not okay, click “Edit” and try again.
Good luck, cadets. It’s a big world out there, and I know you’re gonna write something cool about it. And as strange as it is, I’m going to take my own advice and work on those posts!
*Everything like me means you’re nineteen, constantly clicking her shoulders and pondering what to do with her life.
