Stuck for ideas for your blog?

by Sandra Makaresz

How’s your blogging going? Do you have a blog? Think you might want to start one? Had one for so long you’ve forgotten the password and your words are gathering dust in a quiet corner of the internet.  

Whether you’re an established, emerging or amateur writer, maintaining a blog can be as much work as getting a novel to completion. So why do we do it? 

Blogging can be a great way for established writers to connect with their audience. It might be a source of information on upcoming books, tours and events. For others it can be a place to talk about writing progress, swap tips and tricks. Whatever your blog represents to you, it’s nothing without regular(ish) content. But how do you keep producing content on a regular basis? 

Sometimes you need some go to topics to help you out. Here are a few to get you started.

Write about your own experience.

• What do you wish you’d been told before you started?

• What are the common mistakes you’ve made and how did you learn from them?

• 3 habits that help you with your writing (3, 5 or 10 – the number doesn’t matter if it’s valuable information).

• Events or conferences that you found helpful.

Write about your process.

• What’s your writing routine?

• What are the things you couldn’t write without (but only if it’s more interesting than coffee or chocolate).

• 5 skills/techniques you think are important for any working writer.

• A small change that can make a massive difference.

Inspire your readers.

• 5 authors/bloggers/podcasts I read/listen to every week.

• Who are the authors you’d like to meet and why?

• How do you deal with rejection?

• 10 great examples of writing techniques you think are important or interesting

These are just a few starters to get you writing and you won’t always need them. But when inspiration is low it can be useful to have a list like this on file to get your thoughts flowing. Writing a blog shouldn’t be onerous and shouldn’t take you away from your own writing, but rather an opportunity for you to reflect on your writing and connect with other writers and readers.