“HELLO?! It’s dry in here!” My brain screamed at the top of its . . . whatever it has to scream at the top of with.
“’Sup?” I asked.
“Dude, we got nothin’.”
“What do you mean, nothin‘?”
“Seriously? I’m your brain and you are asking me what that means?” It asked. It sounded ticked.
I waited a moment, gathering my thoughts.
“Dude, I’m your brain, I know what you’re thinking. Yes, I mean we have no more ideas up here. You need to get your butt in gear and stimulate us somehow,” it said.
“Okay,” I said. “You got any ideas?”
“You are a freakin’ froo froo. I just told you we’re dried up and you ask if I have any ideas.”
“Oh yeah. Okay . . . wait, then how am I supposed to come up with something if you have no ideas for me to come up with ideas?” I asked, realizing the real dilemma.
“Just figure it out. I’m taking a nap.”
Surviving the Blogging Dry Spell . . . Or How to plan for one.
Yes, the above is a real conversation I’ve had–a few times. Don’t commit judge me!
Remember that feeling when you first created your blog . . . and immediately wanted to change the name of it? And that was after you sat there 20 minutes coming up with the first name. Nah, I’m just kidding about the changing the name part—a little.
We had that giddy feeling of having a presence on the internet. We were now going to take over the world share our thoughts with others.
Then–dun dun dun.
We had to write our first blog post and, yes, we froze.
We were excited but our brains started hurting because we thought this was the be-all-end-all of our blogging career. The future relied on that first post. DOOM was on the horizon and we were freaking out and regretting we ever signed up for the Blog World Life!!!!
Boy, were we wrong. Drama Diva much? I get like that at times. Hey, we all have a touch of diva in us.
But that excitement is something we want to keep going. And wo/man, is it difficult at times. And you know what? It’s okay. It happens, just go with it.
You might look at my blog and wonder how I would know about a lack of excitement in blogging and finding that energy to create something new. All you see is the AMOUNT of articles/posts I have.
Variety is the spice of life, folks.
I do poetry, humor pieces, opinion pieces, post videos, rants, stories and I even interview bloggers and at one point on RonovanWrites I did Author Interviews, I’ve started a new site for that though.
Some sites like to do just one type of thing. If that’s the case, then keep in mind you might run into a dry spell. I said might? You WILL run into a dry spell. Even with variety it WILL happen.
How do you make it through a dry spell and get that excitement back?
- Write while you are excited and hold some of those things in reserve. Don’t put everything out like a maniac like I have done. I’ve put out enough for two years worth of posts. In the beginning I would put it out as it came. Because the thought was that you needed content content content. But the habit you start is the habit you keep. Then I came to my senses and began to go ahead and schedule something for each day moving forward until I am done with that creative flow. I also have drafts of things I’ve done and folders on my computer with things to pull from if I need to.
- Visit blogs and find inspiration there. I said find inspiration, NOT copy. There are times I will read something and think a few things; 1) That word used, I like that and can do something with it, 2) That turn of a phrase brings a memory to mind, or 3) That is just wrong and I need to write something factual about something along those lines. I don’t take an idea and then make it my own. Never do that. If you do something with an idea, give credit to whoever it was and then go with it.
- Have a Reblog day of some of your favorite posts you’ve found and make that part of your regular schedule. Why? It allows you time to actually visit blogs when you might normally be writing because you think it’s all about you. And if you plan to do that, make sure to be someone who reads reblogs as well. Why? I’ve found that reblogs aren’t the biggest traffic inviters on my site. I try, but most times it just doesn’t work. Maybe I don’t present it right. But Reblogging does a lot of things. It helps you rest, and it gives your friends another outlet for their creativity and it shows your enjoyment of what they do. So if you are reading this, expect some reblogs here, and not just from my LitWorldInterviews site.
- Be open to anything. Even if you do only blog one type of thing, be open how to interpret things to fit your content type. I created a Wordless Haiku for Photography even though I am not a Photography but I love seeing what people do with it.
- Spend a day commenting on blogs. I tell you, having a conversation with your fellow bloggers can be a great stress reliever.
- Read your comments on your blog posts. There are ideas waiting there for you.
- Take a break. Yes, take a break. Who says you have to post every day? Take a mental break and recharge. Go out into the world and look around, pay attention, and write what you see.
There are a lot more things you can do, but only you know what they are. Just know that a Dry Spell in Blogging does not mean to stop Blogging all together. It happens to everyone. Dry Spell might even be the wrong words to use. You might just be going through a Down Spell, or a Blah Spell in your energy and you THINK it’s a Dry Spell.
Give it some time and then you’ll be fine. Don’t put a time limit on it. Don’t set deadlines for yourself ever. Deadlines are a killer in blogging. Blog because you want to blog and blog when you want to blog.
Well, that’s about it for me this week. My brain has said “stop now before you get into that you are stretching it too thin, Ronovan zone”.
See Y’all Next Time
Ronovan
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