Getting Ready to Blog: Four Pre-Writing Ideas
After reading this post “Getting Ready to Blog: Staying in Focus,” I thought it would be nice to add a few more tips to ways to get ready to blog. If you follow Warner’s advice, then you’ve prepared your workspace and your attitude to blog; now, you need to do some preparation in your own writing that will help those posts come easier to you, especially if you’re someone who is susceptible to writer’s block.
So how can you prepare your own writing? Well, you can use various writing exercises and pre-writing strategies to get into the blogging state of mind. Here are a few that I’ve always found to be helpful to my blogging. Please add your own in the comment section!
Bookmark Inspirational Posts
When you’re browsing the internet, and especially other sites in your blogging community, you should always be ready to bookmark something that strikes you as inspirational or controversial; that way, when it’s time for you to do your own writing, you can revisit you list of bookmarked web pages and directly respond to the content produced by another blogger or writer. You can use your blog article as a way to respond to an argument, thus creating an interesting discussion for your readers to engage in.
Keep a Research File
In addition to bookmarking inspirational posts, you should also keep a research file going on your computer in which you can save odd videos, pictures, images, lists of data, quotes by famous people, or anything else that is unique and worth your time. When you’re trying to write a post, all you have to do is pull out one of these files and use it as a writing prompt.
Do a Timed-Write
Another exercise you can do is a timed-write, which is basically a non-stop writing session that you do each day for a certain amount of time. You have no guidelines; you have no limitations. In fact, all you have to do is keep your fingers moving. You don’t have to worry about grammar or sentence coherence or anything like that. The idea here is to simply get out everything in your head; once you do that, you can pick through the crazy writing you’ve done to see if you find something that could serve as the topic of a post.
Draw an Idea Map
If you’re more of a visual person, then you can consider sketching out your post by drawing an idea map. An idea map is basically a scribbled set of words and phrases that all relate through lines and other marks to a central idea. Usually you see idea maps that start with the main concept or idea in a circle in the middle of the paper, and subtopics then branch out from that main idea. Beneath these subtopics you could write a phrase or two to help you figure out what exactly you want to say in the post, but the real key is to try to visualize how your post will look once you’re finished.
Author:
Katheryn Rivas is a freelance writer and blog junkie, who blogs about online universities. She can be contacted at: katherynrivas87@gmail.com.
Category: Writing Tips
About the Author (Author Profile)
Shiva Chettri is the editor and owner of Netchunks, a premier blog about Webmaster and Blogging Tips. He intends to make the web a friendlier place by sharing stuffs and articles which will help other webmasters and bloggers to becomes successful. His other interests includes Web Designing, Wordpress and Music of almost every genre. Send +Shiva an email at admin@netchunks.comSubscribe
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- How to Get 1000s of Blog Writing Ideas Easily | Freelance Blog Writing | October 2, 2011
Nice informations about good writing skills. Sketching out the article by drawing an idea map is really very beneficial to write a unique and attractive post…………..Thanks!
John recently posted..Car for Blind People
You are right John, Mind Mapping can be a great way of getting new ideas.
Thanks for the comment
Shiva Chettri recently posted..Social Media Sites And Their Marketing Outcomes
Idea mapping! I love that exercise, and I’ve been doing that one since I was very little. I’m extremely visual, and sometimes things connect in my mind and I can see it in front of me much better than just thinking out loud.
Although I do still keep a tape recorder with me (it’s old old old!) because I can’t always whip out paper and a pen (like when I’m driving).
Delena
Delena Silverfox recently posted..GoDaddy Coupon Code
Ha! I’ve tried writing while driving. That means I don’t look at what I’m writing and that, in turn, means I can’t read it later. But just the act of writing it cements it in my memory. The recorder is a good idea!
Peggy
Peggy Baron recently posted..What About PLR Graphics
Okay, this made me laugh out loud (really, it did). Writing while driving? Oi! I can only imagine how your handwriting looked on the notepad!
I had tried that once. Luckily it was in bumper-to-bumper traffic, and I was driving a manual. So it was a matter of madly scribbling a few letters here, a few there, as I shifted back into gear and inched my car forward.
That was nerve-wracking enough! I couldn’t imagine doing it again, lol.
Delena
Delena Silverfox recently posted..epc Belfast
Writing while driving…lol…it really does sound funny…I am just trying to imagine..practically it will be impossible unless yes, you are stopping at the red light and writing or if there is a huge traffic jam and snail speed traffic but then again, that way one is certainly going to get a lot of yelling from the people in the back.
Shiva Chettri recently posted..Top 7 Electronic Signature Services and Their Unique Qualities
Well I wasn’t on the freeway and I had the little notebook at the top of the steering wheel. However, I do not recommend it! You cannot read your writing because you’re not looking at what you’re writing.
I can’t imagine adding the complication of doing it while driving a manual!
Peggy Baron recently posted..Internet Marketing Milestones – My Results Writing and Selling PLR
Okay, now I’m just about dying laughing. I hope nobody reads these comments and thinks that we’re actually *advocating* writing while driving!
If anything, we’re saying the exact opposite. We’re all really lucky that we were able to do this and walk away instead of, like, careening into the center divider or something.
Delena
Yup Silver…Mind Mapping is a great exercise…A great way of getting new and hidden ideas. And yes, keeping a tape recorder is a great idea to record your ideas which come up when you are on the move.
Thanks for passing by and commenting
Shiva
Shiva Chettri recently posted..Social Media Sites And Their Marketing Outcomes
Twitter: swamykant
says:
I maintain a dairy every month. It helps me to write more and effectively too.
Nice post.
Swamykant recently posted..20 Best Android Apps For Photography Lovers
Yes Swamy, Keeping a dairy is a great idea to note down your ideas. It helps a lot for any blogger.
Thanks for the comment.
Shiva
Shiva Chettri recently posted..Social Media and SEO
These are good prompts. Probably the one I use the most is a research file. I have one on my computer and a physical one on my desk. The one on my desk is for magazine or periodical articles, etc. that can help jumpstart my brain when it’s time to write.
Thanks,
Peggy
That is great Peggy, keeping research files like those can help a lot in getting new ideas.
Thanks a lot for taking time to comment,
Shiva
Shiva Chettri recently posted..Social Media and SEO
Sometimes need inspiration for writing, but most of the times, I follow Google trends as I know that this way I am going to get more traffic to my blog and of course there is higher possibility to make more money.
Hmm…Ken…Writing about the current trends is a great way of getting more traffic. Google trends and Google Alerts helps a lot to know what is trending currently.
Thanks a lot for the comment Ken
Shiva Chettri recently posted..The Wonderful Argument on Paid Links
Researching is really important and every one will learn a lot if they are doing research. Great Post. Thanks for sharing.
Pankaj Gupta recently posted..Firefox 4 RC is Now Available for Download Enjoy Better Performance
You are right Pankaj, Researching is really a very important aspect of blogging, without it one cannot right a good article
Shiva Chettri recently posted..Basic Ways Of Making Money Online Through Blogging
I have many times set out with good intentions to keep my idea maps going. This post has inspired me to keep brainstorming with fellow associates.
I am glad you found the post useful. Thanks for the comment
Shiva Chettri recently posted..Compatibility of PHP and MySQL With Leading Web Hosting Companies
Good tips indeed. I do bookmark sites or blog posts which are good and inspirational. These are good for reference in the future.
Jasmine recently posted..CS-Cart Shopping Cart Software and ECommerce Software Solutions
Same here Jasmine, actually I have a heck lot of bookmarks right now in my browser, Seems I need to organize this thing. Thanks for reminding
Shiva Chettri recently posted..Social Media Sites And Their Marketing Outcomes
This are really professional writing tips, usually I bypass some of those stages, as it take a lot of time and sometimes I just outsource the writing.
Jonas recently posted..Outsource SEO Services
Oh, well outsourcing is great too, if you are engaged in other stuffs too then that is the best thing to do
Shiva Chettri recently posted..The Wonderful Argument on Paid Links
Really good article.Searching is actually all important and everybody will learn a lot if they’re doing search.
1skyliner recently posted..Are You Making Common SEO Mistakes
I think you meant researching, yes researching is really important part of writing. Thanks for the comment
Shiva Chettri recently posted..Social Media and SEO
I read your post and it’s great. I am very interested about time management and writing quality posts. I also agree upon the research folder idea. I have kept a folder for all these kind of things and what I did in addition for that was I keep a tumblr blog related to this. Then posterous is also a great place to store excerpts and links to posts.
About the bookmarking. Browser bookmarking is something that I disagree. I have a dozens of bookmarks which have been bookmarked for about year and finding something out of them is like finding a need froma haystack. What I do recommend is social bookmarking. Diigo is great solution and Digg too is great. They are easily searchable and quick to organize. Then again this is my personal preference. Evernote is also another great companion for any blogger.
Your post is so good that I am going to add it to Digg and Tweet it too. Cheers You can find me on twitter at @dulitharw.
Hi Dulitha,
Thanks for your wonderful addition to the posts. You are right social bookmarking sites work better than normal bookmarking in browser. I too do the same but well sometimes it is basic instinct that you bookmark in the browser too. I have bookmarks in the web as well as the browser.
Thanks a lot for the comment and visit.
Shiva
Shiva Chettri recently posted..Some Basic Tips For Webmasters
You have got some great piece of information in this post. I think i need read this over again as I can’t help but appreciate the information. Great work.
Hey Katheryn,
Great Post !
Really agree with you on this. I think keeping a research file is important. I also like Mind mapping (I try to practice it, btw). These techniques will surely help us to get good ideas, that are related to blogging
Thank you,
Jeevan Jacob John
Twitter: CyberGanesh
says:
Thanks for sharing this interesting and valuable post. This post really help me to start my blogging life. This four simple steps will defiantly help me to write some useful posts…!
Thanks
Ganesh Maharjan recently posted..C++ Programming Language – Set 3
Nice Post, thanks for sharing these Tips.
I love bookmarking/Saving inspirational posts, it helps a lot.
J.J recently posted..Who Else Is Lying To Us About SEO Copywriting ?
Twitter: trungpc81
says:
Nice guide to help new blogger writing better, I total agree with this post, draw an idea map is necessary to write an awesome post.
Trung Nguyen recently posted..How to Start a Blog: The Ultimate Guide for The Beginner