The Voices Within

What is Writer’s block?

You might have heard many people mention the term and there are chances you might have experienced it many of the times.Now, to put it simply, writer’s block is that which occurs when you type half the post or say, two or three paragraphs and delete the post just like that when you know you are getting nowhere or when you do not simply know what to write  or when your mind goes totally blank. Personally that has occurred to me a lot of times and i used to get frustrated.But not now. Well, These may occur due to stress or the need to come up with best posts. We all are aware of the fact that blogs are springing up all of a sudden and the market is increasingly becoming over-populated. So, what do you do to save yourself from the frustration and stress levels?One can’t refuse the fact that only the fittest shall survive in the world and that’s applicable to even the blogging world. If you want to be a success in every way, follow the steps.

Read A Lot:

The first and the foremost way to succeed in conquering writer’s block is to read a lot. Read as many blogs as you can and comment on them. When you read, you generally have the tendency to exhibit things better.

The important thing is when you leave comments on other blogs, don’t say things like “Great post” or leave spam comments. Make genuine comments that exhibit your interest. That might drive more traffic to your blog. Make long, interesting comments. Go controversial at times, but don’t overdo it.

How can you expect other bloggers to leave comments on your blog when you do nothing but always expect other people to be good to you? One significant thing most people fail to understand is that. Actively participate in commenting. Your blog might become a social blog network too!:)

Save posts for later:

The title says it all. When you are in a drive and feel all exuberant or happy , go ahead write. Now, you may also type your thoughts in notepad or wordpad and then copy-publish them to your blog. Or you may save the posts in your drafts section.

Make sure the topic you keep in queue is not out of date. You of course can’t post things that happened many months ago especially if it’s a news item.

You may also use the technique of keeping the readers in anticipation over what you’ll post next. You may do this if you have a strong fan base. Give them hints and make them listen to you. You might get weird ideas from that as well.

One mistake many people do is stuffing all the posts and publishing them on the same day. Save them in your drafts and publish them later. After all, there’s no need to be pessimistic. You’ll be alive tomorrow;)

Stumble, Stumble and Stumble:

Stumble upon is a blessing in disguise for bloggers. Make the most of it. I personally am a prolific user of Stumble Upon and would strongly suggest bloggers use them. It’s a knowledge tank and frankly speaking, if i am asked about the one site i can’t live without, it would be SU.

Well, what makes Stumble Upon that resourceful?First of all, it’s user-generated and when people like what they see, they stumble stuff. So, all websites there provide useful information. There’s not a day that goes without my stumbling news items. I have bookmarked many such news items i intend to write about , in the near future. And yes, they are general. Not time-prone. I would strongly suggest writers and other bloggers to join SU and overcome writer’s block.

Conduct Polls

You read it right. Conduct polls and ask for user opinion. Interact with them and make them understand that their opinions matter. Who knows, you might even get new, innovative ideas while you do this. If you want this to be effective, do it on microblogging sites and you’ll know the difference it makes. Brainstorming is the best way to produce ideas and surprisingly, you tend to do the best when you share your ideas with others and finally, a new idea booms. To make people actively participate you must learn the art of networking. Believe me, it isn’t very difficult.Join Microblogging sites like Twitter, Kwippy and Plurk. (There are a lot out there.I am just mentioning a few).Plurk is the best out there when it comes to asking opinions. Read one of my previous posts 5 reasons why you should plurk, to know what it’s all about.

While you are at it, link to the person’s blog that gave you ideas or if it’s a team involved, link to everyone of their blogs. It helps. Many pro bloggers ask people to suggest what to write about. Actually, Skribit helps bloggers in this aspect.

Write ‘lists’:

Lists usually come as blessings when you are out of ideas. Write how-to posts and make them sound interesting. I got a lot of traffic and acclaim for my post ” How to lose a guy in 5 days“. This is just an example. Use humour and satire: bring out the best in you.People love humour!Well, if you still don’t get the idea, I am giving you some examples:

7 reasons why you should rob a bank,

10 reasons why you should not blog,

How not to become popular in 3 easy steps

How to lose confidence without losing hope

Oh yeah, something stupid and innovatory like this, without hurting anyone. Make the post more interesting by adding pictures and anecdotes.

Use your Blog as a Photoblog:

Use your blog as a photoblog and ask people to tell you what they think about a particular picture. You can have a weekly column asking people to create taglines or by asking them to comment about what the person in the picture is thinking about and hey, get creative. I can just give you the central idea. Go wild. Have fun!

You may also use Videos on your blog and do the same. In the case of videos, try being original. Catch yourself in action: do crazy stuff and upload them. People love crazy, weird stuff.

Now, If you have any ideas, please feel free to let me know by commenting so that i will include your ideas here ! Voice out your opinions now!

Image Credits: Flickr