I suffer from blank page syndrome. As soon as I sit in front of the computer, I forget everything I was going to write about. The blinking cursor appears to mock me, until I click away and do something else. 20 minutes later, as I’m washing dishes/reading a book/changing nappies I’ll be struck with a brilliant idea for a post! and then it takes me 20 minutes to get near the computer again, at which point I’ve forgotten it again.
Which meant that most of my blog posts were done on the fly, just jotting down whatever was in my head.
It worked and it didn’t work badly, but I was forgetting so many things.
So I bought a notebook. I know! Insanely simple. You probably all do this already.
It’s nothing special, but of an evening, in the 10 minutes before I go to sleep, I try to jot down as many post ideas as possible. Things I want to write about, things I think you’d be interested in reading about, just general stuff.
And then the next day, when I’ve got time, I sit down with the book and remind myself what I was planning on blogging about.
It’s meant that I’ve been able to write and then schedule blog posts, which in turn takes the ‘I MUST POST’ stress off me and means I actually remember to blog things. Which is kind of extraordinary for someone as disorganised as I am.
I’ve been blogging for three years now, why didn’t I think of this sooner? I’m a bit of an idiot sometimes.
Plus, having posts scheduled means that they go up at the same time, all the time, rather than one post being published at 7am and another at almost midnight. I can write when I want and everything seems to fall together better.
Also, it seems that writing is like sex. The more you do it, the more you want to and the better you get. So I’m also writing more, even if I’m not posting more.
What do you do to stop blog fatigue and come up with post ideas? Do you plan your posts ahead, or do you write them on the fly, when inspiration strikes you?
(Not saying one is better than the other, just saying that planning and scheduling ahead seems to be working better for me than writing on the fly. Of course, it takes some work to get ahead, I actually used some reposts and some guest posts to get myself ahead and scheduling. So you know, feel free to steal my idea.)
I do both. No notebook, but I’m a chronic pre-poster. I’ll get inspired and blog and schedule a week’s worth.
And then I’ll insert random things as they occur (and reschedule the others if need be)
I usually just blog on the fly. Sometimes I’ll write posts and let them sit in drafts but they never get posted because I re read them and end up not liking what I’ve written. Other days, I’ll have had a story or a post banging around in my head and write it down.
You know what we need, besides chocolate, because that goes without saying, we need a waterproof notebook because that is when I have all my brilliant post ideas – in the shower.
I mostly write on the fly or when something happens that I feel like sharing, but for me at the moment school seems to be taking all the writing out of me, I can’t seem to write blog posts or work on my novel which is sad but to me school is important too so for now writing blogs on the fly and putting the novel aside is probably best or at least that will keep my head from exploding from all the things I want to try and write.
Total spontaneous blogger!
I just write whatever pops into my head on the day. If I’ve taken my camera out, I’ll use those pictures. Sometimes I’ll write about my garden and what’s growing or isn’t. I’ve thought about a notebook for ideas, but then I’ll get an idea when I’m away from home and of course the notebook isn’t with me……
My family are off limits so that restricts me a bit.
If I have no inspiration at all, then I’ll often post just a picture or two.
I carry a funky notebook around for this very purpose. If I happen to forget it at home if I’m in the car or something, then I use the ‘record voice note’ on my blackberry. Often on the radio, I hear someone mention a website address that I’m interested in checking out, and I will always record it like this – and then check it out later.
I have several notebooks…all of which I forget to write ideas in! I mostly blog when inspiration strikes but for blogs that require alot of research I’ll spend anything up to a few weeks collating as and when BG Xx
Mine’s a slightly more technical version of your notebook, my iPhone. I have the Wordpress app on my phone & whenever I think of something to write about I will stick a few words into the app & save it as a draft, often just a few words as a title to remind me.
My biggest problem is thinking of things when I’m driving, random stuff I hear on the radio gives me a blogging idea but I forget it by the time I can write it down, so I like Ness’ idea of using the voice memo on her blackberry. I am totally going to do that =)
I’m a “jot stuff down on the back of an envelope” kind of girl……then I often start wrting, and save it to draft. And from there it evolves.
Or, if read somthing interesting that I want to follow up on, I use the “blog this” button and save it to draft, to write later.
And other times I just write, and hit publish quick……
I’m a planner because of my type of blog. Some of the informational posts take a bit of research and the activity posts all need to be done beforehand to get photos. Activities are on a Friday for lots of reasons – readers like to see them before the weekend and it gives me all week to do them are just a couple! I also have a big list on the computer of ideas.
I have a posting rhythm so I don’t get too many of the same posts all together and completely forget one area. It isn’t strict turns, but I try to spread things around. I have a calendar and I try to keep at least a week ahead on that, although it doesn’t always happen and sometimes I think of the activity during preschool pickup on Thursday. The calendar lets me keep check of what I’ve done as well. Actual posts are written the night before and scheduled to go up between 7-8am the next morning, this is because I have a lot of US readers and that catches them on Twitter in the evenings, then I can repeat any Tweets or Facebook links myself later. I like knowing everything is set before I go to bed, so if it’s a disaster morning it can all just happen without me.
I try to write down ideas on my iPhone, however since Zack has fallen in love with the damn thing I rarely get to use it while he’s up and about… I really think I should buy this: http://blogupnorth.wordpress.com/2010/09/06/it-will-never-catch%C2%A0on%E2%80%A6/ It looks like it’s a great invention! 😉
I keep trying to have a few posts scheduled in advance, but I’m rarely able to pull it off. It just doesn’t seem to happen. I keep working at it though.
Fantastic idea, the same thing happens to me all the time. I’m off to get myself a note pad.
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