This is a guest post by Cori Padgett, the creative brains and dubious brawn behind the blog Big Girl Branding.
Alright, sometimes blogging isn’t easy. One day you get stuck and at a loss as to what to write about. Another day you feel like what you’re blogging about is just dull, dry and boring. Still another day rolls along and you feel you wrote something spectacular, but the rest of the world doesn’t happen to see it that way.
Wind meet sails. Sails… meet deflation.
It happens.
But it doesn’t spell doomsday for your blogging career. It just means you need a little inspiration. You need a little sumpin’ sumpin’ to get your creative juices flowing, to unblock those clogged neuro-pathways and unleash your inner blogger rockstar.
One of the best ways I know of to do this is… ta-da!
Read other blogs.
Yep, it really is that simple. You literally have a WEALTH of information right at your fingertips each and every day. A lack of inspiration from this day forward should be a thing of the past. Seriously.
Bloggers and writers are doing their thing each and every day and publishing their content all across the web. People just like you with amazing stories to tell, smart wisdom to impart, and laugh out loud humor to tickle your funny bone.
In a word?
Inspiration!
Does this mean I’m saying go out and plagiarize the crap out of someone else’s blood, sweat and tears?
Um. No. Re-read please.
Do NOT plagiarize and steal other people’s content. That is just plain wrong and will catch up with you at some point. Most likely in the form of reader disengagement because they find out you’re a flake and a decrease in your traffic due to duplicate content issues.
What I DO mean is to read what others who have gone before you have written and get inspired already! See a blog post about Twitter that strikes you as informative but somehow incomplete? Think you can write one even better, with even MORE helpful ideas for readers to capitalize on? Then write it!
Write it in your own words, in your own voice, and make it uniquely yours with your own stories, opinions, and helpful advice. There is nothing wrong with using others work as a springboard for your own ideas. In fact this is often where some of your best posts might just happen.
Want to write a post about the new iPad because you know it’s a popular topic? Do it! It doesn’t matter if 10 other bloggers have already done it, what matters is what YOU have to say on the subject.
Write it out, and give your readers something informative, engaging and compelling to read. Make YOUR blog post all about the iPad become the most Tweeted iPad post in the bloggersphere.
Really, there is no reason whatsoever to feel stumped for ideas or feel like you’re lacking in the inspiration department. There are opportunities to get inspired all over the WORLD. The Internet is just a tiny piece of that little inspiration pie.
Need more ideas to get inspired? Instead of reading a blog to write a blog… why not read a book? Read a magazine? Read the newspaper? Heck, why not go for a walk? Get some coffee at your local coffee joint? Chat with the bum on your street corner?
The more reading you do the greater the opportunity to be inspired. The more you get out in the world, the greater the opportunity to be inspired. Words are inspiring. People are inspiring. Life is (or should be) inspiring. And if none of those things get you excited about life and thinking up things to share with your readers… then I’m sorry, but perhaps blogging just isn’t for you.
Or you need Prozac.
No judgment here, but either way… figure it out and allow yourself to get inspired again. You’ll thank me later!
Warm regards,
Cori
Cori is a wildly hire-able freelance ‘ghost’ and the creative brains and dubious brawn behind her blog Big Girl Branding. She’d also like to note that ‘big’ does not mean what you think it means. It was meant to indicate being a grown up. Sigh… Of course you probably didn’t get that, and it totally loses its effect when she has to explain it. So I guess she’ll just have to put her ‘big girl’ panties on and deal with it. She’ll feel better about the whole misunderstanding though if you stop by and say hello. Don’t be shy!
Follow Cori on Twitter.
9 thoughts on “Lacking Inspiration? Read A Blog to Write A Blog!”
Ha… excellent advice Red! 🙂 I often read books as well, not usually about space and science, but something about finance or success or things of that sort that inspire me.
Another thing that I think helps is to read not just blogs but books as well. I read a LOT of books, mostly about science, and for some reason they just put me in a writing mood. Perhaps the brain activity required to digest what I just read inadvertently stimulates me to write. Maybe I just wanna try to write as compellingly as these authors do. Whatever it is, it helps, and whenever I feel dry in the brain I just relax and read a book about space.
This is also probably safer if you don’t want to accidentally, unconsciously duplicate another blog’s content. Although none of us have that kind of problem do we? 😀
@Codrut.. Aww..thanks hun! I hope you liked what you found.
And so glad I could inspire you a bit. 🙂
@Forlan.. write? Or read? lol 🙂
@Pro Cleanse… LOL..thanks hun. I’m glad you enjoyed it..
Maybe I was tapping into your brain and channeling you! 😉
@Tony.. Thanks Tony, so glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
Its a very interesting article….. I like the heading as well as its meaning behind it.
Lacking Inspiration? Read A Blog to Write A Blog!
Ok, this is strange, I was just thinking about how learning from other people’s example, through books, or seminars, doesn’t mean a thing unless you can find answers inside you. The looking within vs looking without; and you go and write about it …
I just write some famous blog to get inspiration.
I like the image, it reflects its relation to the actual content, something that most bloggers are missing.
Big girl branding? Now, that’s an interesting tag line. This article not only jolted inspiration but also enforced me visit your blog and stick around – something which I rarely to when reading guest posts
Comments are closed.