Running out of things to blog about?

This post is in response to the following questions posted on the site A Bit Backwards: "Can one person really produce creative/thought-provoking/worthwhile/carefully edited content every single day - or even every other day for that matter? Am I cut out for this? So much thinking...to be a successful blogger...you need to write something - anything -as often and consistently as you can."

My response:
I say yes to all your questions. First of all, the secret to coming up with compelling copy is to be compelling and interesting yourself and to focus on interesting things. How do you do that? By reading magazines, books, newspapers, other peoples blogs, on line articles, etc. There's a wealth of information out there...the world is full of it. Also, traveling, engaging in conversations, watching TV and listening to the radio will generate ideas. Another place to look is at yourself: Do you have hobbies and talents? Are you a good mom? a good cook? and so on.

You absolutely do not have to come up with something thought provoking every single day. You can post a recipe and talk about how your baby would or wouldn't eat it. Or post a video. Or do a book review or review a TV Show or movie or a new CD just out and why you think it's awful.

Try this: Just start writing about the things that interest you...the thought provoking stuff will come later after you get used to blogging.

BTW, I have four blogs of my own, maintain a blog for the Louisville Bed and Breakfast Association, blog at SheWrites, Hub Pages, Examiner.com, Salon, and will soon start blogging at BlogHer. The more you write, the easier it gets. Jot down ideas for blogs as soon as they pop into your head. Good luck! I'll be looking for your posts..


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Blogging Challenge

To give my self a little boost in the blogging direction I've joined a blogging challenge. Details of the challenge and information on the originator can be found at: Blog.Writing Spirit.Com/ the site of Julie Isaac who is initiating the second of these challenges. She has challenged anyone who can commit to a given number of posts on their blogs within 100 days from today (September 20, 2011). I have decided to post one blog per week on each of three of my blogs every week. And this is the first one...starting the ball rolling on the site. Hope you will come back each week and check up on me to see if I am living up to my commitment.

I blog as often as I can right now, but it's really not on a regular basis. I'm not the kind of person who is very structured. I do have some structure in my life otherwise I wouldn't be able to run a small business and blog and write a memoir all at the same time. But that structure is quite loose and I'm very flexible so if I have to make changes I can do it in a New York minute. I always have a plan A, B and C and I am an excellent problem solver, having been a mother, a teacher, a business owner and an enthusiastic liver of life with all it's unexpected twists and turns. I just dive right in and if something goes wrong and presents a problem, I solve it. No questions asked.

I have recently committed to exchanging pages, as a Beta reader, with another memoir writer as a way to try to learn from her and do some heavy re-writing on my own manuscript. I want to get it ready for a final professional editing and polishing before I look for an agent and attempt to have it published. In the past three years, writing has become a big part of my life. I can see the more I do,  the better my writing becomes. It is a never ending cycle that I am totally happy with.

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SW Radio Show: How to grab an agent's attention

Today at 4:00 pm the following radio show,  How To Grab Them In Your First 2000 Words, was broadcast on She Writes Radio to help writers thinking about publishing and contemplating the all important query letter, synopsis, and proposal. Kamy Wicoff, founder and CEO of  She Writes, interviews agents Sally Wofford Girard, and Elinor Jackson along with editor Sara Weiss in a  discussion of one important part of the publishing  phenomenon.

I listened to the show and found it incredibly enlightening and useful.  Although, they were directing most of their comments to literary and commercial fiction, all three accept non-fiction as well and many of their comments were apropos to both categories. I thought I'd share this with my readers, who are mostly writers, and may be in the midst of or thinking about publishing themselves. If you are a She Writes member and missed this show, I really think you'll be interested.
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Listen to internet radio with She Writes on Blog Talk Radio

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