Have you ever been in a blogging rut? Or maybe you’re in one right now? Do you feel like you need to learn how to love blogging again?
This is different than writer’s block or not knowing what to post about next. It’s also more than just needing to spring clean your blog or master a few marketing aspects.
When you are in a rut you might feel like giving up on writing and blogging altogether. You read posts about how to get organized, and tips for drafting the perfect blog, and ways to create the ultimate daily or weekly schedule, but it all falls flat. You have lost your internal motivation and it can be challenging to reclaim.
Most writers and bloggers have felt this way at one time or another. And almost all of them will tell you they are glad they pulled themselves out of it and persisted.
This post will give you some specific steps to take when you want to discover how to love blogging again. Some may seem unrelated at first glance, but stay with me. Both writing and non-writing tasks will come into play here.
Clear the Mental Clutter
The vast amount of information competing for your brain space can be overwhelming. This can make you feel as if you want to give up writing and blogging to give yourself a break, but maybe that’s not what you need. Let’s deal specifically with one aspect here: what you read and follow online.
Evaluate what you peruse online regularly, and you may find that much of it is simply mental clutter. It can be difficult to admit to yourself how much time you spend following pointless leads and clicking on links that get you riled up for no reason . . . even well-intentioned ones that you agree with completely.
One step toward getting back your love of writing is to make some head space for your own thoughts to thrive.
Oh, I have tried this before, and you probably have, too. But to be perfectly honest, my past attempts were akin to rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. Yes, it made me feel better temporarily. Yes, it looked nicer and neater at first. But, in the end it was still a disaster.
So, even though it’s something I’ve done previously with mixed results, I once again completely re-evaluated what I’m reading and spending time on and why. I considered things like the following:
- Are those positive parenting, don’t yell at the kids, find the joy in motherhood pages motivating me? Or giving me one more thing to file away under am I doing this right? Are they truly uplifting, or just adding unnecessary stress?
- What about following and reading articles on vaccination and other science-related topics? Is it doing me any good to get in a huff over this daily? Do I need to nod my head along with folks who agree with me?
- Here’s one that was hard to look at: homeschooling blogs. Are these really helping me in my journey, or giving me too much information to process? Is this something I need to consume every single day? Do I need to read other peoples’ problems and questions on a regular basis? Do I feel compelled to respond?
What did I do differently this time? What did I cut out of my social media world now that I couldn’t see as contributing to the problem in the past?
For starters, I stopped reading much of the above. With very few exceptions, I no longer have these “encouraging” articles coming through my newsfeed. And for those pages that I have decided to continue following, I don’t necessarily click on everything they post.
This includes even the really “good” ones, which promote all sorts of positive things and give terrific suggestions and to which I’ve felt connected for years. I no longer have the desire to take in this much information, no matter how relevant and useful it may appear on the surface.
I also limited the number of personal blogs and pages I follow on a regular basis. This was {and is} difficult, and I still have a long way to go. I would much rather concentrate on supporting individual bloggers I feel I can relate to on some level. I find it better to have a few interesting blogs to read rather than a newsfeed full of mediocre ones.
Next I made a conscious effort to not follow interesting-sounding links that have nothing to do with my personal life. (So long, HuffPost and Thought Catalog and BuzzFeed.) I don’t have time to read and think about problems I don’t have.
All but just a couple news sources, gone. Right now I follow BBC, NPR, AP, and Reuters. I found that most other news entities, particularly U.S.-based ones, were often sharing a lot of “excess” in the way of entertainment and other unimportant non-news. I need to know what’s going on in the world, but I don’t have time to weed through chatter to get to the basics.
What I interact with online should rejuvenate me, not stress me out further. I’ve had to accept that sometimes what I think is “helping” me become a better parent, a better homeschooler, a better whatever is just . . . not.
You will probably find this to be true as well. Once you start sorting through everything that comes into your personal space each day via your online habits, you will also see that clearing out a lot of this mental clutter will pave the way for you to concentrate on—and yes even love—your own writing again.
Keep Your Message Positive
Sometimes Past Me makes Current Me cringe.
The truth about blogging is: the longer you do it, the more you hate your older posts, and the more you will want to roll your own eyes at yourself.
I recently started this blog over from scratch {after losing basically everything when I switched hosting sites a few months back}. So I had been “gifted” the opportunity to re-invent my blogging self, so to speak. I have tried hard to only put forward posts and messages I am truly proud of, and to really focus my writing this time.
You may have thought about what kind of image you wish to project when you developed a mission statement for your blog. {You do have a mission statement, right?}
There are definitely blogger personas I have adopted in the past, but sincerely wish to avoid in the future. Among these would be the arrogant writer who assumes:
- If only you knew more, you’d agree with me.
- You just wait until . . . then you’ll really know.
- I love this, so you should, too.
Even when I am writing very personal posts about things near and dear to me {hello, faith journey} I want to focus on how I can express my own thoughts without overstepping into putting pressure on readers if they do not feel the same way. I want this blog to remain a positive place for anyone who truly wants to be here.
So, what do I want to do instead?
- Share information with no ulterior motive other than to share information.
- Keep in mind that everything has a season, and I need to concentrate on mine.
- Focus on what works for us.
- Be mindful of the myriad things competing for my attention, and know my priorities.
- Enjoy blogging about what is important to me without imposing expectations on anyone else.
If it helps you may consider giving yourself a blogging motto of sorts. This doesn’t have to be complicated and it doesn’t even have to be written down {although you might want to}.
Write Without Fear
Maybe it’s an introvert thing, but writing stuff down {whether blog posts or books I want to read or to-do lists} has always given me a sense of calm. It’s how my brain processes things.
I share what I write down because I might be writing something that someone needs to see. Maybe one tiny piece of what I have to say will matter.
However . . . I don’t like to ruffle feathers. Bold is definitely not a word I would use to describe myself. I edit and re-edit and re-re-edit everything I post. When folks disagree with what I’ve shared, instead of defending what I know to be true, often my knee-jerk reaction is maybe I’m wrong about this.
It can be difficult to move forward when you have these thoughts about your own writing. Letting go of perfectionism, doubt, and fear is a huge step toward learning how to love blogging again.
Every post does not need to be a perfectly constructed masterpiece. Sometimes venting or being devil’s advocate is okay. Sometimes admitting truths about yourself you have feared owning up to is okay. You are aiming for an overall positive mindset, not perfection.
It won’t be easy. You might look at your list of future post ideas and think, Can I really write about that? Can I really say that out loud?
Honestly, it will probably take you a while to get to the point where you truly feel comfortable with it. But conquering your writing fears is critical for digging yourself out of a blogging rut.
Implement Simple Changes
While you have this heart-felt reckoning with your own reasons for blogging, you may also want to make some simple changes to the blog itself. Not a complete overhaul, per se, but more of renewed commitment to making your space more reader-friendly.
You may find that taking a step back from your own writing and viewing it through the eyes of a reader can be very useful—and motivating—when you feel like you’re in a rut.
I have implemented a couple of minor adjustments recently that I think have helped. You may want to start by asking yourself: Am I doing everything I can to make my writing as clear as possible for my readers?
Here are some specific things you can do. Again these are not major changes, but simple pick-me-ups when you feel that your blog could use a little spark.
- Keep your theme and layout simple. This may mean letting go of some elements you love, but that simply weigh down your blog. Make sure your site is clean and crisp and easy to navigate. Do you really need all that stuff in your sidebar?
- Narrow down your categories. You have undoubtedly heard the suggestion to niche down. And this is generally good advice—jack of all trades and whatnot. That doesn’t mean your blog has to center on just one topic; it’s fine if you have a few key things you want to write about. But maybe not a dozen? For me the magic number was three.
- Add contents {but keep them neat}. One of my most favorite things that I discovered when I was trying to improve the layout of my blog posts was a plug-in that allows you to set up a table of contents at the beginning of each post. The one I use is called Easy Table of Contents and it is free and super simple to use. I have it set up to automatically insert itself before the first main header, and I have chosen not to use any type of numbering system, because I think it looks more streamlined that way.
- Check your page speed. There are many websites where you can do this—some free and some paid. I recommend you try several, then just choose one and stick with it, otherwise you will drive yourself crazy with all the different scores and recommendations.
- Use the microphone for drafts. This one was a game-changer for me. I can type pretty fast, but sometimes my thoughts sputter around my brain even faster than that. This is an excellent way to get a draft down quickly, even if you have to go back and do tons of editing—which, trust me—you will. It also helps to give your writing a more conversational tone.
Have you had to pull yourself out of a blogging rut? Did you try any of these steps? Anything else you would share to help other writers discover how to love blogging again?
Thanks so much for stopping by today. If you enjoyed this post, I would love to connect with you on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or Pinterest.