Disclaimer
The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent anyone else's view in any way, including those of my employer.
© Copyright 2008
The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent anyone else's view in any way, including those of my employer.
© Copyright 2008
Are you like me? I’m totaly jealous of folks who seem to have, not just the time, but the ideas to blog every day or even more often. And not only do they post all the time but everything they say is brilliant, well-developed, and thought provoking? Yeah, I secretly hate those people too.
Lately I’ve been asking prolific folks I know how they manage to do what they do. Of course, what’s imperative is that you enjoy writing and write for yourself first, but it’s also nice to think that someone else might actually care what you put down. Here’s a list of strategies I’ve heard lately…what’s yours?
How do you generate ideas? How do you motivate yourself to write regularly?
More Options ...
Categories
Tag Cloud
Blog RSS
Comments RSS
Void « Default
Life 
Earth 
Wind 
Water 
Fire Light 
Previous 
Next 
Comment Meta:
Last 50 Posts
Back
I find it much easier to write about things when I’m plugged into RSS feeds of interest. I started using Google Reader a year ago, but lost the routine last winter. Snackr (an AIR app for RSS I highly recommend) allowed me to catch up, though, and I’m again riding the wave.
I’ve created a lot of flotsam by doing this, but I tend to create drafts to store interesting links, particularly when I find ones that I can relate to each other in a single post. Then, when I’m looking for something to write, I try browsing through the drafts first.
It helps greatly to co-author a blog. I can feel productive when Amy writes something.
I toyed with starting a couple regular memes, but I never needed them and so never posted them. Blogging is very much about rhythm. When it was not part of my routine (thanks to blogging elsewhere during Bloomington Startup Weekend), it was extremely difficult to get back in the rhythm. I forced myself to do another theme change, though, and regained some interest and momentum.
Lately I’ve been reading some of the books written for “new faculty.” Not that I’m there yet, but writing continues to be one of my biggest challenges, whether for blogs or for other deadlines. Almost all of them suggest daily writing practice and blocking out space every day to write. In theory this sounds like a great way to systematize it, but I’ve always be averse to systems of any sort (notes parallels between going the gym to work on muscles and writing muscles).
Have your prolific subjects advocated for that kind of approach?
If other people find RSS feeds helpful, more power to them, but personally, they have killed my writing dead. In the early 90s it was called the Usenet effect.
SDC: I feel the same way most of the time. If I see lots of folks have blogged about a topic either I a) spend my blogging time reading what they wrote or b) feel like the topic is already over done and I should look for something fresher.
Intellagirl