How to get the Creative Juices Flowing into your Blog Posts

If you’ve been blogging for more than a few weeks, chances are you’ve asked yourself these types of questions from time to time:

• What can I write about today?
• How can I write about that topic when I’ve already covered it?
• How can I write about this topic when everyone else has done it to death?

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

If any of these are familiar, read on:

What you need to do is get your creative juices flowing. Here are some tips:

Read a lot

If you’re serious about being an interesting writer, you need to read a lot. Reading doesn’t just load your mind with interesting facts and information, it also allows your subconscious mind to take on ideas about sentence construction and new ways to make a point. Even reading bad stuff can be good!

Get out and about

You need stimulation from the real world to be an interesting writer. When you are struggling with creativity, the temptation is to stay glued to your desk until the ideas start to come – they often won’t. Invest an hour in a walk and take some air, and you’ll find your mind has been stimulated. We started taking “blogger’s picnics” a couple of weeks ago. Instead of eating our lunchtime sandwich in the office, we packed them up and headed out to a different location each day. I found that my own creativity and productivity took a huge leap in the afternoons.

Revisit early posts

If you’ve been writing for some time, it may be that your mindset has moved on a lot from the early days of your blog. Have a look at your first half a dozen posts. Is there anything there that you would say differently now? Is there a new angle that you didn’t think of at the time? If so, write it up now, from your new perspective.

Do some social networking

Take a break to catch up on Twitter or Facebook, or whatever social media you use. Catching up with friends can stimulate ideas for new posts.

Talk to your readers

Make sure you regularly engage your readers, either via comments, or even by emailing them. Ask them what topics they enjoy on your site, and if you can answer their specific questions with a post.

Talk to someone!

Just have a conversation, with a partner, a family member. Talk about anything, and maybe ask them what you should write about.

Create some passion

Passion is the real secret to getting the creative juices flowing. So you need to find something that you’re passionate about. Is there a post or a news article you have read recently that has stirred anger or happiness or sadness in you? Read it again, and see if you can come up with some thing on the same topic.

Maybe also have a look at:

1/ Eight habits of a successful blogger

2/ Why every business needs a social media presence

3/ Multiple accounts on Twitter? Not for me