I’m delighted to have been asked back by Charli Mills to contribute guest posts over at the Carrot Ranch blog.
If you have dyslexia or struggle with reading and writing, not all the advice you are given and read will work.
My post outlines two pieces of advice that don’t work for me. It also offers four tips that do work for me when it comes to writing and reading. Click the following link to be taken to the post.
Why My Ears Work Better Than My Eyes When It Comes To Advice About Writing « Carrot Ranch Literary Community
It can happen to all of us. One week you’re full of blogging ideas, only to find a week later you have no idea what to blog about.
Even I’ve suffered from bloggers’ block. And if you don’t do something about it, you may find your passion for blogging dwindling and people becoming less interested in your blog.
8 Ways To Help Overcome Bloggers’ Block
While generating engaging blog post ideas comes easy to some, many of us can sometimes find it challenging.
Thankfully there are plenty of easy ways to develop regular ideas that will engage your readers.
If you’re eager to break out of your ‘ideas’ block, here are a few suggestions to get you started.
1. Read and comment on other blogs.
Many bloggers do this every day, but looking at and reading other blogs is an easy way of generating ideas.
While stealing the blog posts of other bloggers is a definite no-go area, there’s no harm in using some of their ideas as a starting point. For example, I started writing and publishing blogging tips after reading blogging tips posts.
Looking at photos on a photography blog has given me ideas for blog posts and short stories.
Look at blogs similar to yours, branch out and look at entirely different blogs. While their content may be irrelevant and uninteresting to your readers, they may have ideas you can adapt.
2. Don’t just leave comments; read them too.
The comments left on blog posts can often be as interesting as the post itself. And, best of all, the comments section can be a brilliant source of ideas.
I take time to read comments that others have left because, often, what they say will spark ideas for new blog posts.
Likewise, longer comments can often be a whole blog post in itself.
Read the comments on the blog posts you leave comments on and see if anything sparks a new idea. You’ll be surprised by the results.
3. Write and publish a questions and answers post.
This is a great way to reach out to your audience and get them involved.
In my blog post Do You Have A Question About Blogging? I asked readers to leave me questions. I answered those questions in a new blog post. I also featured the blogger who asked the question.
It resulted in me getting many questions and generating many new blog post ideas.
Unfortunately, I haven’t gotten around to answering all the questions, but I know I can always go back to them if I find myself stuck for ideas on what to write.
4. Interviews.
We all have bloggers who inspire us with their blogs, so another great way to reach out is to ask for interviews and collaboration opportunities.
Don’t be afraid of approaching somebody for an interview. You’ll be surprised by how many bloggers will agree. After all, you’re offering them and their blog some free publicity.
5. Use a memo pad.
Whether on your phone or in physical form, a memo pad is essential to a blogger’s arsenal. None of us knows when ideas will strike, but when it does, be ready to write them down before the idea is lost.
Even if you don’t think an idea is currently functional, you can always go back to it at a later date. This is ideal for days when bloggers’ block hits you hardest or you’re short on time.
If you write down every idea that comes to you, it shouldn’t take long to create a helpful inventory you can refer to.
6. Get your readers involved…again.
Another way of writing and publishing content your readers will enjoy is by asking them for their input.
Ask them for their feedback on which posts they enjoy reading the most.
Check your WordPress stats, as this will tell you what your most popular posts are. You may be surprised by the results you receive.
You might discover that your readers respond and share your personal posts more than your how-to guides. You can also pitch ideas to them to see if there would be something they would be interested in reading.
This can give you endless ideas and insight into what to write next.
Encouraging their ideas and feedback is also a great way of retaining loyal readers. Just remember to acknowledge them for their input.
7. Take up a challenge.
One of the easiest ways to overcome bloggers’ block is to participate in a blogging challenge.
Over the years I’ve been blogging, I’ve participated in hundreds of blogging challenges hosted by other bloggers. They were fun and opened up new doors, which helped create new blog posts.
There are hundreds of challenges on WordPress. My post, How To Make Your Blog Standout From All The Other Blogs Out There, gives details of some of the blogging challenges I’ve taken part in.
8. Check your draft folder.
If you’re like me, you’ll probably have lots of unfinished blog posts in the draft folder of your blog. Some of mine go back a few years.
There may be many reasons why you never finished drafting those posts, but reread them and see if now is the right time to finish writing them.
Rereading them may even spark some new ideas.
These are just a few ways to stay relevant and retain your followers. Make a habit of looking for inspiration from multiple sources to keep your ideas fresh and unique. That way, you’ll never be short of ideas again.
Conclusion
Many bloggers encounter times when they can not find any new ideas for blog posts.
Don’t just leave comments. Read the comments others have left. They can often spark ideas for new blog posts.
Looking at photos can often create ideas for a short story, poem or new blog post.
Don’t be afraid of asking other bloggers and writers for an interview or collaboration opportunity. After all, you’re offering them some free publicity.
Check the draft folder of your blog. It may contain posts that you can finish and publish.
Encourage your audience to ask you questions. Answering questions can generate new blog posts.
Consider taking part in a blogging challenge. There are lots of challenges available that are hosted by other bloggers.
Make sure you always have something available to write down any ideas for blog posts.
What about you?
Have you ever encountered bloggers’ block?
How do you combat bloggers’ block?
Join the discussion by leaving a comment that I can respond to with more than just a ‘thank you.’
Did you enjoy reading this post? Then you may also like…
Today, I’m delighted to welcome Esther Chilton to my blog.
While I’m putting the finishing touches to my next short story collection, Esther kindly accepted my invitation to write a guest post. This is a must-read for anyone who is in the process of writing fiction, whether it is for an upcoming book, competition, for publication in a magazine, or as a blog post. Esther gives lots of great writing advice and tips over on her blog.
Image Credit: Pixabay
To be successful, a short story or novel needs to develop a strong sense of atmosphere. This draws your readers into your story so they can imagine this world you are creating. It also sets up expectations for them and gives them information about the characters they’re likely to meet in your story.
Here are some ways to help you ensure your readers feel as if they’re right there alongside your characters, experiencing the story for themselves:
Setting
Setting isn’t the same as atmosphere, but it is a big part of it and can help to shape the mood of the story. A story set in an abandoned warehouse immediately evokes a sense of eeriness and isolation, of neglect and dreariness.
Make sure you choose a setting which suits the type of story you’re writing. Different settings create different atmospheres. In a ghost story, you want the atmosphere to be creepy and one of trepidation. An ideal setting is an old theatre or graveyard. A setting on a crowded beach in Malaga induces a very different atmosphere.
Description
You can’t create atmosphere without description. But this doesn’t mean you need paragraphs and paragraphs of purple prose to ensure your readers can picture the scene. A few powerful adjectives and adverbs will effectively make your readers feel part of the story.
Perhaps you have chosen a hotel as your setting. Using different words can dramatically vary the atmosphere created. For example, look at the following description of the hotel:
She eagerly hurried inside, her eyes soaking up the sumptuous sofas, gleaming floors and dazzling chandelier taking centre stage.
This short passage gives an image of light, of space and a pleasant place to stay. From this passage, your readers can also imagine the type of people the main character will meet e.g. smart businessmen and wealthy women.
The following describes a contrasting hotel and produces a very different mood:
She gingerly stepped inside, her eyes widening at the sagging sofas, the filthy floor and dull, flickering light.
Here, the hotel comes across as dingy and dirty. Your readers can picture this hotel’s patrons as seedy and up to no good.
Five Senses
Sight and sound are often used to bring a scene to life and for impacting upon the tone of a story. But the senses of smell, touch and taste can also affect a story’s mood. A rundown cafe might smell like a mixture of sweaty training shoes and over-fried chips. The menu may be caked in sticky sauce and clammy mashed potato. Perhaps the tea tastes like stagnant water.
Your readers will be able to imagine themselves there, smelling the vile scents, feeling the congealed food on the menu and tasting the liquid being passed off as tea.
Weather
The weather is a useful tool for producing a certain type of atmosphere. A gloriously sunny day immediately conjures up feelings of warmth and joy, where something happy is about to happen. This may be the atmosphere you want to create for a wedding in your story. Though, perhaps it’s a wedding doomed not to take place. Again, you can use the weather to change the mood of the story and build up a mounting sense of tension, with the wind gathering momentum and thick clouds charging across the sky.
Time
The time of day can make a difference to the type of atmosphere your readers feel. For example, you can darken a story by setting it at night. There’s always an extra sense of menace, of threat and uncertainty in a story that takes place at night.
First Person Viewpoint
A story written in the first person can be very effective in creating a sense of atmosphere and making your readers feel as if they are part of the story, seeing and experiencing everything along with that character. Take the following example:
I looked at the garden, at the weeds weaving their way towards the house, merging with the ivy-coated walls. Something tugged at my memory. A smell – of unwashed skin, of bad breath and of something worse. Much worse. I shuddered, shivering and shaking. I remembered.
See how you share in this character’s horror, seeing, smelling and feeling everything she is.
So now you have some tools for ensuring your story is an atmospheric masterpiece!
About Esther Chilton/Newton
Author, writer and blogger Esther Chilton
I’ve always loved words and writing, but I started out working with figures in a bank. I was on an accelerated training programme and studying banking exams, which meant I didn’t have time for writing so it wasn’t long before it was a thing of the past – or so I thought. My love affair with writing ignited again when I had an accident and seriously injured my back. It meant I could no longer carry out my job working in the bank and it led me back to writing, which has now become a daily part of my life.
I’ve now been working as a freelance writer for nearly twenty years, regularly writing articles and short stories for magazines and newspapers such as Freelance MarketNews, Writers’ Forum, Writing Magazine,The Guardian, Best of British, The Cat, and The People’s Friend to name a few.
Winner of Writing Magazine, Writers’ News and several other writing competitions and awards, I have also had the privilege of judging writing competitions.
As well as working as a freelance writer, I have branched out into the exciting world of copywriting, providing copy for sales letters, brochures, leaflets, web pages, slogans and e-mails.
I love writing, but equally, I enjoy helping others, which I achieve in my role as a tutor for The Writers Bureau. I feel like a proud parent when one of my students has a piece of writing published. Some of them have gone on to become published authors and have achieved great success.
In addition to tutoring, I work as a freelance copyeditor offering an editing, guidance and advice service for authors and writers. I’ve edited novels, non-fiction books, articles and short stories.
If you’d like my help or would like to know more about what I can do for you, please get in touch: estherchilton@gmail.com
Blurb: After launching her short story collection, ‘The Siege and Other Award Winning Short Stories’ as an e-book, freelance writer and The Writers Bureau tutor, Esther Newton, received numerous requests to bring out a paperback version.
‘The Siege and Other Award Winning Short Stories’ paperback features a further six short stories, as well as the original twelve from the e-book, offering more drama, more tension, more laughs and even more emotion. From the heart-rending story of a young girl who’s never had a friend, to some special letters to Father Christmas, to a woman running away from a violent man, each story will keep you reading on straight into the next.
The collection includes prize-winning short stories from Writing Magazine, Writers’ News, The Global Short Story and Ouze Valley Writers competitions, amongst others.
And all other online stores. The book can also be ordered through all good bookshops. Additionally, Esther has copies of the paperback for sale at £5 each. You can order one directly through her. If you’re interested, please contact her at: estherchilton@gmail.com
Esther is currently working on her next collection of short stories, A Walk in the Woods and other Short Stories. It’ll feature some prize-winning stories, as well as some new ones. Look out for it later this year.
If you have any questions or comments for Esther, please leave them in the comments section.
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