We’ve all been there many times before – the dreaded blogging slump. Just like in reading, we can sometimes burn ourselves out on something and suddenly it starts to feel like a chore. The first time I experienced blogger burnout I was so upset! I ended up doing some soul searching and figured out why it happened and how I can prevent it. Like the other advice i’ve given, this is also a personal thing to each blogger and some of these may not work for you. Also please remember – I am not a blogging professional! So take this advice at your own risk!
WRITE DOWN IDEAS!
Whether you write down your ideas in a notebook, on a spreadsheet, or on your phone, point is – write it down! There are so many times where I’ve thought of a post topic while busy doing something else thinking to myself “I don’t need to write that down, I’ll remember it.” NOPE! I’ve lost so many great topics because I didn’t write it down. Now I’ll write down all my ideas in my bullet journal or my notes app on my phone. That way, when you’re stuck for something to talk about, just look at your notes and you’ve got tons of ideas at your fingertips!
SCHEDULE, SCHEDULE, SCHEDULE!!!!!
For your sanity, I can’t stress this one enough!!!! For this one, I have a two step process:
- At the end of the month, and then again at the beginning, I sit down with a calendar and jot down what posts I’ll be doing. I first write down the things set in stone (T5T, and weekly wrap ups) then I fill in the holes with other ideas. I know I do 1-2 reviews so I leave a day or two open, then I fill in the days with pencil. That way I can erase and move things around when I need to.
- A few days after I’ve written a loose schedule, I start writing!!! It cuts down on my reading time for a day or two BUT it’s so worth it in the end. I take a day and write all of my scheduled posts (except for my reviews obviously), set them to post on a certain day, and then I get to relax for a week or two! The more you schedule, the less you’re leaving things to the last minute and scrambling to put up a post.
- Anything that can’t be finished (if I’m waiting for the link or pictures) stays in my drafts. When it comes time to finish it, the post maybe takes a minute or two!
I’m not even kidding – this one has been an absolute lifesaver! Yes it takes away from reading time for a day or two but, if I set it up for a week or two it’s so much more relaxed!! Do this on your free time so there’s a lesser chance of feeling like writing is work. And after you write a post or two, reward yourself with a couple chapters!
PREP YOUR POSTS IN ADVANCE 🙂
This one kind of goes along with the scheduling tip. When I know that i’m going to finish a book soon, I will actually prep the post in advance. I get the pictures uploaded, book information and synopsis written, so that when i’m finished and it’s time to write the review, all I have to do is add my thoughts. This makes writing reviews feel like it takes a lot less time in the end. Also, since this is a post that can’t be scheduled until you’ve read the book, you can prep the post at least and have it sitting in your drafts waiting for you.
You could also do this with tags! When you see a tag you want to do, start writing the post by writing down all the questions, then save it. The questions will sit in your drafts until you’re ready to finish it. Then, when you’re looking for a tag to do, all you need to do is answer the questions and upload your pictures!
That’s it for my advice series! Please keep all of your pieces of advice coming. I will be putting up the post with your comments and additions next week. I hope that these helped at least one person feel better and more comfortable about blogging. It’s not easy, and it’s not always sunshine and rainbows, but it’s the best decision i’ve ever made!
Until next time, happy reading!
I put up “skeleton” drafts all the time, but I’ve never thought of doing most of the writing for the month over 1 or 2 days. I was going to scale back my other blogging as I start to promote my book, but I’ll give this a try and maybe I can keep both up. Thanks for posting, as always!
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This could absolutely help you with both! If you take just a day or two over the month to focus on one, you can take the rest of the month to focus on the one that takes more time and attention!
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Oh my goodness, I am a scheduling fiend!! It’s one if my favorite features!
Another thing that helps me, particularly with things like discussion posts, is to have a few already mostly written out and saved as unscheduled drafts. That way, if my writing days get a little crazy or something unexpected comes up, I don’t have to stress because I can just grab one of those, add a few words and put it in the schedule!
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Exactly!! When life gets busy there’s always something there and waiting that requires little to no effort. Scheduling and pre writing is a god send!
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I also end up doing a lot of unscheduled drafts! Especially if I see a tag, or get an idea about something I want to do, but don’t have time to actually put it together. I will title it (so I know what I wanted to do) and if it has questions, ill include those, and then go back later on when I have more time.
I really need to work on scheduling more posts though. I feel like that would help my blog out a bit more.
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I have a whole bunch of drafts like that, too. They only have a title or a link to the tag!
And scheduling is such a huge stress reducer! It makes blogging so much easier!
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This is actually super helpful advice, thank you!
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Great advice which I really must take on board. I do a lot of spontaneous posts but I can see if I was more organised it would definitely free up more reading time!
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Great advice Shanah. This will definitely help me a lot. I am really bad at planning out things. I am really bad at doing things before hand because I have this attitude where I only do things which are going to help me tne next day. It’s hard to put it in words tho…
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The same things don’t work for everyone! The rest of my life is chaos. This is the only thing I can control 😂
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😂😂
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Great advice. Thanks. Amazing how I keep telling myself I won’t forget this or that ideas and sure enough it just flies right out my head.
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Lol! you think it’s such a great idea so there’s no way you could forget. Yet every time – poof!
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Lol. Yup.
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This is once again a great advice post, Shanah, I love it 🙂 I always write any idea I have, even if it’s just a sentence, in order not to forget it, you never know when it might be of use. Scheduling is a life saver for me as well, I couldn’t do it without scheduling, only I do it week by week. Scheduling a whole month’s worth of ideas would take me DAYS I don’t have ahah, already scheduling a week’s worth of content takes a whole lot of my weekend. But in the end it’s so worth it, I feel much better knowing everything is planned out ahah 😛
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I absolutely love scheduling my posts. I actually just wrote up and scheduled 4 posts yesterday! All I have to do now is take and add in the pictures. Scheduling one of the best blogging tools out there!
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I use a calendar and plan too Shanah but I can’t say that in one or two days I have written everything but my reviews! I’m slower than you are and wish I could be as efficient 😉
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It’s more stubborn determination than efficiency 😂
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I would like to second all the advice given here. I get asked fairly often how I manage a post a day and the answer is all right here – I’m organized! It really helps, and I advised a little planning calendar and pre-writing to ANY blogger. Great ideas, Shanah!
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Exactly. If I didn’t schedule there would be no way to post daily!
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Hello Shanah! These are wonderful tips. Sounds like you are super organized in that you schedule posts and prep reviews in advance. I can see how it takes the stress out of blogging, when you have some blog posts scheduled. This is something that I want to get into the habit of doing 🙂 The hard part, for me, is to find the time to write the blog posts all at once. However, I can imagine that this saves time in the long run.
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It really does save time in the long run. If you can’t write a bunch of posts on one day, try writing 2! Even if you do that you would be amazed how fast you catch up 🙂
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Hmm I might just give that a try! I really don’t like the feeling of not knowing what I am going to a write for a blog post that needs to be posted the same day. Thanks for the tip 🙂
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I hope it works for you!!
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Such awesome advice! I always schedule, but I never thought about spending a few hours a day working on posts for the upcoming month. It will be better than me writing them each week considering I write for 2 other places haha. That’s some great advice, I think I might start with next month. 🙂
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Omg I couldn’t imagine having to write for 3 blogs!!! You’re crazy 😂 when do you find time to read?
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At night when I get home from work haha or my days off!
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Scheduling really is such a time saver! I love all the tips. Awesome post!!!
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This advice is spot on Shanah!! ❤ Write ideas down, check! Prep posts, check! Schedule posts, check!
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I definitely do that with tags! I try to pre-schedule my posts but since most of mine end up being reviews sometimes it’s tough. Great advice though!
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Oh ya that would be tough. I usually only review 1-2 books a week so I know I’ve got a lot to fill in lol
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Reblogged this on CRYSTAL'S PHOTO-BLOGGING SITE and commented:
Very good post. A must read for everyone.
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I saw that! Thanks! I really hope these tips can help others as it has for me!
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I hope so too. Hope you don’t mind me putting these on my sites.
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No of course not! I wrote them so that it could help people. I jumped into everything head first and there were some things I wish i would have known or prepared for 🙂
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Write from your heart
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I’m fairly new to blogging but like to see other people’s ideas. Thought I would share this information with others so I pressed it on https://daisymae2017.wordpress.com and reblogged it on https://crystalsphotobloggingsite.wordpress.com . Both blogs are connected to LinkedIn so it will be shared twice there.
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Thanks so much!
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You’re welcome
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Thanks for sharing! I also consider myself a “Not so professional blogger”. This information is always good for anyone. Although some may do what works for them, I always encourage and welcome tips. Love the part about scheduling!🙂👍🏾 keep tipping!!😆
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Lol I really like the “not so professional blogger” title 🙂 I may need to put it on a t shirt one of these days
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Yes! It will definitely get attention!🙂
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I totally agree with the scheduling concept. I don’t know if you include any posts in blog hops (don’t actually know what blog hops may or may not be available for any given blog theme). Purrseidon and Mr. M (purrseidon.wordpress.com) are involved with pet bloggers, so they have several options and these are on a specific day/schedule, I begin by setting those up, then I ‘fill in the blanks’.
Doing blog hops not only makes scheduling/ideas easier, it also increases potential exposure.
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Great advice here, for someone who also likes to think of themselves as very organised this puts me to shame! I’ll most definitely be taking some of this advice forward
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Great post! I looove your blogging advices. They’re very helpful, especially for an amateur blogger like me. 🙂
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Yay! It makes me so happy to hear that!
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Great post! I know what you mean about writing down your ideas! 🙂
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Great post and tips, I am actually starting to schedule posts as a my new year resolution. I have decided to get at least one post a week, just trying what works best for me at minute if I can increase with the time I will. Have a lovely day
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I hope it helps you keep your blogging life a little less stressful 🙂
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Hi! Thanks for the “prep your posts” idea. I know I should but I hardly do it. It’s a clearly well organised idea. By the way, what do you do to make your content SEO friendly? Does it resonate with the Google Hummingbird, Panda and Penguin algorithms? I hadn’t thought about it until someone asked me.
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SEO friendly? Algorithms?? You just went way over my head 😂 I’m technologically challenged here and have no clue lol
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Hi Shanah. I’m confounded by all of that myself! But it seems you have to know a little bit of how to move the traffic to your website. I’m still learning, honestly.
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It’s takes A LOT of hard work, patience, and dedication, and trial and error to figure out what works for you. You’ll get it all figured out before you know it 🙂
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