I’ve missed blogging. I’ve been keeping a personal journal, and getting my idea-sharing fix mainly from Twitter and Delicious lately, so my poor old blog hasn’t had the attention that it deserves. The thing is, none of the other tools are quite as rewarding for me as blogging. For one thing, I don’t own the other platforms, but more to the point: my blog is my own space for sharing ideas, getting feedback, developing my own voice, and (yes) enhancing my personal brand.
I think the daunting thing about getting back into blogging (or starting a blog, for that matter), is choosing what to write about, out of all the things that could possibly be worth writing about. Then there’s the issue of realising you don’t really have anything new to add. Then, there’s making time for it. There’s always excuses.
Ultimately, it comes down to just setting a deadline and being committed to getting something out. I know, from experience in blogging regularly in the past, that it gets easier and better the more you do it.
It’s not really the act of blogging that’s powerful, but the act of blogging regularly and with character. And of course having a topic that you care about.
This post really is just a way of breaking the silence. A way to get back into the flow.
Quite true. I often find that life happens and the next thing you know, it’s been two months and you haven’t written a single thing. The question is, how does one sustain the momentum once you get back into the swing of things?
My view is that you shouldn’t try to rush it! Start slow, write a post once a week, and then build it up once again…over time. One needs to attempt to write in a sustainable way and not put too much pressure on oneself.
Thanks for the post and looking forward to you getting back into it!
Welcome back!
I think it boils down to routine, once you get back into it, the ideas start to flow. Following other websites on the net and technology trends lead to thousands of ideas flying through the brain and deciding which one to write on is near impossible, so it boils down to finding that little gap and then working on the gap, rather than trying to compete or write on things that have already been covered (in your case that is).
Open up Analytics, look at which posts have been most popular and that’ll get you on the right foot
@John Thanks for the encouragement. I’m personally trying to get out as much blogging as poss! lol. Let’s see how it goes – likely I’ll end up with a post a week anyway.
@Chris Thanks bud. I’m getting analytics going for my blog now. I see you’ve got a team blogging on iMod now… it’s looking great!
Awesome, I look forward to seeing what direction you go with. Yup, trying the multi-author thing to see how it goes; Lifehacker has been part of the inspiration since the beginning and I’ve decided to take things up a notch and see how it goes!
When I had a viewpoint blog up, ideas seemed to straggle wearily to the plate. When an IRL imbroglio erupted, I pulled the blog. The past couple of days I’ve been looking for that writing outlet again … that chance to share the world and the table it has set before me with others.