If you’ve been blogging more than a month, then you must have experienced it:

“What am I going to blog about today?”

You sit there. You stare at the screen. Nope, not even a title. Perhaps a run through your feeds will help? Half an hour later, you return, and still nothing. Now the (self-imposed) pressure is on. People are waiting. You actually have had some return visitors, you’ve managed to post every day since you started, and if you don’t post now, THEY’RE GOING TO LEAVE AND NEVER COME BACK!!!!!!

But of course that’s not the case. However the pressure builds, you end up desperate for something, anything to post, and you either post a batch of links, a cut & paste quote, a YouTube video, or just some other piece of blog-junk that you feel bad about, but hey: at least you posted? Of course, you can freeze altogether, feel guilty about not posting, and just never go back to it – I’m sure that’s how a lot of blogs die young, people just block up, can’t get back, and the whole thing comes to a screeching halt: at least I hope that’s the case, as the other alternative is that some of my favourite bloggers stepped away from the PC and fell off the planet, because that’s what it seemed like.

‘Never Give Up, Never Surrender’

This post has been prompted by the never surrender post RT did recently, where he very kindly linked me as a source for blog inspiration (!), and he comments on the recent apparent slow down in this corner of the blogging world which some have noticed, and makes some good points about how to overcome bloggers block or a lack of inspiration.

I too, have noticed an apparent posting lethargy amongst some of my contemporaries, and felt it a bit myself, and I’m not sure if it’s BB, end of summer (depending on your hemisphere) blues or just the length of time we’ve been blogging: I’ve noticed that we all seem to hang out with bloggers of a similar experience, most of those that I read and visit are a few months either side of a year old and I guess we’re all at the same point. A year’s a long time to write every week, especially when real life and jobs can get in the way. I haven’t been suffering from the block the last few days, instead my absence can simply be explained by a realisation I came to a couple of months ago, which has taken the pressure to post away from me:

I am not a Problogger.

No really, don’t try to convince me otherwise

Seriously, it all came down to the fact that I don’t have to do this – I do it because I enjoy it. If I’m not enjoying it, I don’t do it. So for the early part of this week, I didn’t have anything to say, so I didn’t do anything apart from reply to comments and visit a few blogs. I felt no pressure to post and it was cool.

The thing that the vast majority of us need to remember is that unless your total real life income is from blogging, it’s not that important, and if you wake up and the sun is shining, and you want to go outside and not switch on the computer for the whole day, then that’s what you should do. When you find yourself wandering around with a head full of ideas for your blog, that’s a good time to get back on the computer, or even just write them down on paper. I’ve sat down tonight after three days and typing this post has been easy. In the past a single paragraph has taken an hour of procrastination and been no fun at all.

So, if it feels like hard work, but isn’t supposed to be work, take a break, guilt-free, and feel better for it.

Filling The Gaps

If you’re still worried about losing your readers, here’s some things to cheer you up. A poll I carried out a few months back asked what sort of posting frequency was need to keep people coming back. Over 50% of the voters would give you at least a week before thinking of un-subscribing, with half of those giving you a month or more.

So if you want to keep your readers from drifting away, you need to post at least weekly, so they know you’re still there, which is quite easy to do. Now while it’s true that the following ideas won’t fill a full time blog, if you’re feeling burnt out, just doing one of them will keep your blog ticking over for up to 14 days, and if you truly enjoy blogging, you’ll want to come back before then. If after 14 days away, you still can’t think of anything, it may be a sign that it’s time for the goodbye post.

• The Links Post: Yes, I know it’s hackneyed and everyone does them etc. etc, but done correctly they can be a great way of sharing some linky goodness, networking and flexing your creativity. Look at RT’s ‘Drive Bys’ or Michael’s quotes as good examples. Don’t just give a list of links, tell your readers why they’re good, intrigue them, pick a theme maybe, or link them with a common factor. Just make sure the post contains plenty of you.
• Trawl Your Archives :Your best 5 posts, 3 posts on your best money makers, the post that got the most comments, the 6 that never got any at all. A good way to show new readers your good bits, and maybe remind yourself about the great posts you’ve made. Again, don’t just link them, tell us about them.
• Go Personal: It depends on what your blog is about, but use yourself as inspiration: Show us an old photo and write about it. Tell us where you made your first $5 online, and what you’ve learnt since then. If you’re a theme designer, or code author, reminisce on your first project, best project whatever. It doesn’t matter what the blog is about, you have some history.
• Run A Poll: Ask a meaty question, and watch the new votes and comments come in. Maybe choose your blog as the subject, and the resulting comments could prove good inspiration for a series of posts – re-design, widgets, theme etc.
• Hit The Stumble Button: If you haven’t already got StumbleUpon, get it, configure with your favourite subjects and get stumbling. There is literally a whole world of inspiration out there. When you land on something that interests you, link it from your blog and write about it.

Well, that’s five posts and you only needed one!

Give Yourself A Break

Chris Garrett asked a while back, How do you decide what to write about? to which I replied in the comments that I was:

Very much a ’sit-down, now what am I going to write?’ blogger.

Does it show?

He said yes …..but that it is not such a bad thing, and he’s right. Whatever your subject, if you’re not making a living from your blog, then you are a ‘personal blogger’ – you’re doing it because you enjoy it, so take a break, and come back when it’s fun again. We’re not going to go anywhere.

Any more tips for when the inspiration just won’t come?