Blogger and Writer’s Block. What can you do if your mind goes blank?

I am one of those people who always has more to say online than there is time to say it.

I don’t stop furiously writing and making content because it might be too much to read, but I do often draft, rewrite and then rewrite again.  If I didn’t, my readers would be in danger of finding themselves reading thousands of words that actually have no message to give out at all.  That does not help anyone know how to blog though.

I would say that I am often an ideas person, but there are different methods of generating ideas for different people in our business and personal worlds.  The ideas person is not always the best person to carry the ideas through, and others can find their strengths in leading from the idea generation.

I am often asked what I do when I run out of ideas for blogging.   I haven’t yet, but I can understand those who do struggle for content.

There are several ways you can get yourself noticed with content generation, even if you can’t think up content for yourself.  It is, however, important that you do not publish someone else’s content as your own.

If I were stuck for content, I would go down some of the following routes to get my blogging mojo kickstarted again.

1. Brainstorming – with family, friends or colleagues.
2. Take inspiration from the things that you come into contact with day-to-day, and open your eyes to see the world around you.
3. Take a break and go and do something positive.  Play with your children, take the dog out for a walk, or just watch a  movie.   Inspiration can hit you in the funniest of places.
4. I have on occasion, asked my Twitter followers to give me a topic to blog about for fun, and I have always had fantastic ideas from it.
5. As your children if you have any.  They love to be included in any work their parents do.
6. If you are blogging for business and can’t think if anything to blog about, have a re-think.  Are you in the right niche if you cannot generate content for it?
7. Ask some clients, suppliers, or business contacts for their opinion on issues they would like to see addressed.   We all know the ones who are approachable, and who are good at idea generation.
8. Offer to guest blog for someone else on a topic of their choosing.
9. Pay someone else to generate your content for you.   Freelance bloggers are a-plenty, but make sure you know how to check the copyright on the material they give you.
10. Don’t worry about it.   The more you put pressure on yourself to come up with fresh content, the more you are likely to keep facing the writer’s block syndrome of staring into space, hitting your forehead with the palm of your hand, or pacing the floor talking to yourself.

So, in short, it is either chill out, re-evaluate where your blog is going, or get someone else in to do it for you.