Image by Anna Gay
Don’t you feel stuffed? Food, family, traveling, house guests, and parties…. not to mention the potential for family feuds, awkward gift giving situations. The holidays are emotionally draining and tiresome.
We talked about blogging your way through the holidays, we didn’t talk about getting back on track after they were over. It’s hard to get back on track–undoubtedly you’ve taken a break from the computer to some degree. Whether it was 2 full weeks off and internet deprivation, or you checked in once a day, you’re going to have to get back in the swing of things. Oof– it’s HARD.
- Start slow. There’s no point trying to get yourself back up to 5 blog posts a week if you can scarcely write 1.
- Comment every day. If you’re finding it difficult to come up with content or get it down in to words, start your writing routine with comments. Leaving comments allows you to open your mind and get your fingertips moving.
- Find inspiration outside of the computer. Take a walk around the mall, down the street, through Wal-mart. Get inspired by the life around you, and bring it back to your blog.
- Guest post. Stuck on your site? What would you say if you were another writer? Coming up with content for another person’s blog can sometimes be easier than coming up with it for our own.
- Use a writing prompt to get you going. There are plenty of bloggers with themed posts– start by writing a Things I Love Thursday or a link round-up to get your brain juices flowing.
- Change your venue. Many believe that writing is a habit that should be done daily–and I agree. But sometimes you need a change of pace. Pick up your laptop and work from a nearby coffeeshop. Write your next blog post during your lunch break at work. See if those changes don’t get you mentally moving.
- Write the works of others. I’m reading Twyla Tharp’s The Creative Habit, and in it, she mentions that a writer friend of her, when faced with a road block, starts typing up the stories of writer’s he admires. It forces him to look at how other writers use language, text, and grammar. This not only improves his writing and understanding of writing, but helps move him through Writer’s Block.
- Cut back on media. How can you focus your mind when you have g-chat, twitter, facebook, and your blog page open? Turn everything off–your phone, your tv, close the browsers, and let yourself focus ONLY on writing.
- Read a magazine. Write like a magazine. You remember, those crazy things we read before the internet took over? Those things that a lot of people STILL read? (I don’t really read them anymore, to be honest.) Consider it another form of writing prompt– look at how human interest stories are composed. How product posts are written & broken down. Play around on your site.
- Maximize brain energy when you have it. The last few days, I’ve felt a surge of writing energy. So much so, I felt conflicted between my new resolution to spend less time online and to be productive. So I maximized my productivity as much as possible.
Regardless of how the first few weeks of the new year start out, don’t be too hard on yourself. If it takes you a few weeks to come up with a quality post, let it. In the end you WILL get back on track. Do you have any tricks and tips that you use to get yourself in the flow of working again after a long time off?
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i really like #5… use a prompt to get you writing… it really helps with eat sleep denim because just when i think there is nothing to talk about with jeans, a good list gets me going.
Yes, I am all about Leechblock, I lock my computer down so no Twitter etc. Helps a lot.
Great tips. I like the idea of leaving comments to get the juices flowing. It really does inspire when reading other blogger’s work and giving feedback. Good luck to everyone trying to get back on the blogging horse!
http://www.iheartcocoon.com
#8. Cut back on media. This is where I need to begin.
I love no’9!
It is so simply stated but often overlooked. I think I might just start paying non-cursory attention to some of the print articles that catch my eye in hope of using the construct and format effectively in my own original content.
Love #3–I do it all the time. It’s so important to find inspiration from the world around you. It makes your writing–and blog for that matter–more interesting and relatable. I have found that what interests me the most, somehow seems to interest my readers just as much if not more!
Simple things, but really useful for a good start. I have already started with several points myself, will try some others as well.
Still the most valuable thing – to find this special inspiration then posts usually come themselves.
Good luck!
Oh my goodness! This is just what I needed to read right now! Thank you, my heart!
Ah, this is such a sweet and inspiring post. Thanks for the awesome tips x
#5 is a great tip. I’ve been thinking of doing a weekly themed post! I think I’ll start the year off with that.
All are great tips, though! Thanks for the advice.
Great blog post. I definitely need motivation to get back into writing my own blogs. Thank you.
I find that setting concrete goals for each day helps. Discipline is the best way I know to get myseslf writing. I love this post by Seth Godin about the quieting the lizard brain – it’s about getting yourself to do the things that you really want to do, from last January: http://bit.ly/ak3LLB
I completely agree with #2. Commenting can really help you get the ball rolling. I have gone to write a comment, and it turn into inspiration for a blog post. Making observations about other people’s work helps me. I do #5 every week, and I’m so glad because I’m constantly looking for a topic for my Tuesday post. Another great idea for #6 for people without a laptop is write somewhere else on paper.
My Heart Blogged
I loved the idea of turning off all media to focus on writing and leaving comments on other blogs. I thought I’d be back in the swing of things but life got in the way today. Great ideas!
Ah, you’re breaking my heart with No. 9. I’m old school, hailing from the days when print media was king. I still love writing/editing for magazines with their established readerships, talented art staffs, fact-checking staffs and in-house promotion departments. (To say nothing of the paycheck I receive after I’ve submitted my 2500 or so words.) I still read them, even when I’m not writing for them. I love the smell, feel, look of paper and ink and hate to hear of the demise of print – even though they’ve lost tons of ground to new media. I do think there’s room – and readers – for both. But, I digress …
I love Tip No. 8. Yeah, I’m a disciplined freelancer and blogger but I can be the world’s greatest procrastinator too. Twitter hold endless fascination for me and I sometimes feel the need to check my FB page every half hour. (http://www.Facebook.com/EverBeautiful – thanks for the opportunity for this gratuitous plug!)
I find Tip No. 4 interesting but from a slightly different perspective – that of an editor editing another’s guest post. If I’m too lazy/uninspired/tired to write, I sometimes turn to a guest writer for a post. The process of editing his or her work never fails to motivate me to write.
Another of my tips is, after years of writing for others, I’ve learned to be deadline oriented. (Or I’ve trained myself to be that way.) So now, I set deadlines for myself all the time. It’s amazing how the words flow when the deadline looms.
Finally, I don’t beat myself up if I miss a day – or a couple of days – of blogging. The words will come, even if I have to force them out one at a time. Talking helps too. I corner some poor unfortunate soul – usually my husband – and tell him about a new post I’m thinking of writing but haven’t yet tackled. I talk about the idea, playing with headlines, teasers, kickers and, before I know it, all that remains to be done is to put pen to paper, uh, fingertips to computer keyboard, some formatting, and hit “publish.”
Thanks for an informative and inspiring post!
Really like #2 and #6. I find that I am not as productive in my house as I am outside of it. When I’m stuck I try going to the library or getting some air. It helps. And I would even add not to beat yourself up if it take a little longer to get out of the holiday coma!
Great tips! I especially like the first. I think that a small post is such a good way to get back into blogging. I find that if I have been away from blogging for too long, the thought of a multi-picture, several paragraph long post is way too daunting, so I shoot for just a paragraph with a picture or two.
Very very timely! Just got myself out of the rut. It’s really hard to get back on track after the holidays. I find the start of the year really overwhelming. It is the start of another year, true. But it also means that we continue from what we did during the past year. A new year may not always mean a brand new job, brand new life, brand new everything. Not all of us have that luxury. Therefore, we also have to get ourselves in shape for the other aspects of our lives, not just blogging.
And as much as I love blogging, it’s not our first priority. So before we can share anything to the world, we must live our lives first. I often get the pressure of updating, because I’m not the kind of blogger who reblogs/talks about fashion news a lot. If the certain fashion news is not really for my niche, I do not see the need to blog about it, which is why I really have to get myself inspired to blog.
Thank you so much for sharing this! You don’t know how much this helps me. It’s just funny that I’ve done almost everything on your list before I even got the chance to read it. But regardless, thank you again! More power to you and your blog!
❤Eura
This was SUCH a huge help! I like the idea of going somewhere else to do your writing – there is a coffee shop (several in town) beside my work that is so quaint and relaxing. I love it there! I will have to try writing there one day
I am currently trying to exercise #2, 4, and 9 to get back into blogging more seriously. I’m also starting to stick to a regular schedule of 3 posts a week now, hopefully I can keep it up.
Great tips!
Ah, this is such a sweet and inspiring post. Thanks for the awesome tips, this is a good blog for online fashion, visit our site http://tinyurl.com/3y73heq
thanx
I’m glad I read this..I thought I was the only one in a post-holiday slump!
A trick thats working for me is buying something new for the blog..I just bought a new camera which has been inspiring me to start posting agai.
SOMETIMES WHEN I GET STUCK I’LL GO THROUGH MY OLD MAGAZINE TEAR SHEET OR SEE WHAT EVENTS ARE GOING ON IN MY AREA.
These tips will be of great help. I’m actually bookmarking it as a blogging reminder. While I have already achieved some, I’ll start practicing on the rest of the tips. There is nothing practice can’t improve.
This post really hit home!! It took me so long after the holiday to get in the swing of blogging again. I was having writers block. Once I did that 1st post after the New Year, the juices started flowing finally. I’m slowly trying to get back into the groove of things!! Thanks for the tips!! I love reading magazines for inspiration too!
This is great for me.
I just started blogging about a month ago before Christmas, and these are fantastic tips
great ideas here, thanks for the many creative suggestions!
Number 5 is really great, I started back up by creating collages of my favourite images that came up in the time I missed.
I find lately I’ve been struggling with content. I love the suggestion about turning off all other media. I also like “find inspiration outside the computer”, walking through stores etc. I tend to go straight home from work especially during the cold NY winter. Thanks for the great tips.
These are some great points! I find that going out and attending events and making a concentrated effort to meet new people is very helpful as well.