Blogging Truths Be Told: 3 Tips for JUST STARTing Your Blog Post

In my latest discussion with you, here at Degrees of Maternity, I addressed the act of JUST STARTing to get you on a path toward making your dreams and goals a reality. And if you have absolutely no context as to how that brief little blog talk went, then I want you to stop reading this post and go directly to Action-Driven Inspiration to Get Your Week STARTED to help today’s blog post become even more beneficial than it dares to be all by its little lonesome. And once you’ve read the previous blog post, I’d love for you to join me back here in the next paragraph, where I’ll move on into 3 tried-and-true tips that are sure to help you with JUST STARTing when it comes to creating content for your blog posts.

So, let me just start by saying that this post isn’t going to be one of conceptualizing or theorizing or philosophizing. It’s going to be one of getting into some matter-of-fact steps on how to just start writing your blog post. And if you’re like me, then you know it’s helpful to get information on concepts to create a framework for understanding the reasoning behind a subject matter like JUST START. But after understanding the concept, theory, or mindset state behind something, then you want some practical steps on how to apply that worthy concept in your actual life.

It’s called putting the knowledge to work for you — letting that knowledge seed fall on fertile ground so it can sprout up and produce something rather than fall on fallow ground and shrivel up and die. And, we definitely don’t benefit from the latter option.

So, let’s see how we can get some action going on in that fertile ground, shall we?

Tip #1 – You Should Have Knowledge and/or Experience in Your Blog Post Topic

This tip might seem like a no-brainer, right? Well of course, you have to have knowledge or experience in your blog post’s topic in order to rattle out the content to match. But, easier said than done, my friend. Believe it or not, there are many-an-individual who try to wing it when it comes to writing blog post articles. And sometimes, that “winging it” even goes so far as to plagiarize someone else’s persona and work.

Here’s what I say to that. No one gets to take credit for someone else’s hard-earned blogging work. So, get your eyes on your own blog and stop copying off of others’. 

Seriously! I mean it’s expected that if you want to be successful as a blogger, you must authentically (a discussion point for a future blog post) do the necessary research, whether it’s through book knowledge, Internet research, or plain old living life to bring your blog post’s content to life.

Human beings relate and connect to authenticity and can tell when someone is pulling something out of their mind, their hearts, their feelings and emotions, or, quite frankly, out of somewhere else (and you know what I’m referring to).

And depending on the topic, some of the JUST STARTing episodes are best served from real-life experience. Like . . . there’s no amount of book smarts you can have that will trump good old-fashioned living life, taking notes from it, and learning “real” life-impacting lessons. You know what I mean?

So, I’d say that the topic at hand drives whether or not your blog post’s content can ride with spouting out the knowledge you gain through your “second-hand and so on” research or can live with the wisdom you’ve garnered through the lessons you’ve experienced in life. Regardless, you have to have at least one of these content-generating methods working in order to start your blog post.

And you know what would be even better? Well, I’d say having both the knowledge and experience working for you simultaneously. Now, that’s what a masterpiece blog post is made of!

Simply stated, just make sure your audience sees YOU in the information that you put out here in these blogging highways.

Tip #2 – Don’t Force Yourself to Write Your Blog Post. Let Your Blog Post Come to You.

Blogging is very much a mental process, but it’s also a very physical process as well. Here’s what I mean: your blog post starts out with an idea or topic that formulates in your mind, right? Yes. But, it also requires you to eventually put that idea or topic to a blogging platform, which requires fingers-to-keyboard action, correct?

So, where you may not get hung up with the JUST START at the mental part of the process, your blockage might be even stronger at the physical part of the process, when it’s time to sit down at the keyboard and start typing. 

Let me ask you this — are you forcing the physical part of the blogging process before you’re really ready to go for it? For example, do you make yourself sit down in a specific place at a specific time and tell yourself that you’re going to write a specific amount on your idea or topic for a certain length of time at each setting? No ifs, ands, or buts about it?

Well then, maybe that’s the reason you’re experiencing hang-ups with JUST STARTing your blog post. Maybe, just maybe you need to be more organic with the physical part of the blogging process and flow with what helps you BEST get those words on the screen.

Now, I’m not knocking the set schedule for writing/blogging that I just laid out for you. It works for some people. But if you’re one of those bloggers it doesn’t work for, then I want you to try the following:

• Be in whatever position works best for you when it comes to creating your blog post content.
  • You can sit down at a desk or table, lie in the bed or on the couch, walk around the house or outside (works well for audio recording your blog content), etc.
  • Just be comfortable. Content flows better when you’re comfortable. (Caution ahead: be careful not to be too comfortable, though. Find a balance that allows a relaxed state for work to take place. I want you to be productive not lulled to sleep.)
• Be flexible with the time of day and the amount of time you allow yourself to work on your blog content.
  • If sticking to a schedule suits you well, then your flexibility is best kept in that timeframe you set aside for yourself. However, be willing to work outside of that set timeframe if inspiration strikes.
  • In general, just work whenever a good idea, topic, paragraph, and full-blown blog article come to your mind. Jot down notes on a piece of paper, sticky note, or napkin if you’re not close to a computer to type things out. Use an audio recording device to capture a thought when you’re in transit and you don’t have paper or anything to write with. Or, use your note-taking app to record your thoughts on your phone. (You can always flesh out your notes later and transcribe your content from paper, phone, or audio device to your blog site at a more convenient time.)
  • If awesome content comes to your mind at a time when you can’t jot it down or type it out (like when you’re in the shower or driving in your car – happens to me all the time), then try to hang on to that precious Intel and capture it just as soon as you get finished with the activity that’s delaying your content-recording progress. Remember: do this PRONTO or you can find yourself bad-mouthing your memory for not holding that valuable content in place when you’re ready to pick it up hours or even days later.

Tip #3 – Don’t Be Afraid to Use Unconventional Methods to Writing Your Blog Post

Sometimes, the act of writing/blogging by plopping yourself down at the keyboard and having at it just doesn’t work. Sometimes, you’ve got to come a different way to get the JUST START started. Here are some suggestions I have for figuring out work-arounds for the finger-to-keyboard freeze:

• Brainstorm ideas by writing them down on a dry erase board and then whittle those ideas down to discussion points/topics that you connect with and can drum up some meaty content from. (By doing this method, you’ve done your JUST START by formulating a list of viable blog post topics you can expound on later.)
• If you’re more of a pen/pencil writer, utilize your writing apparatus of choice and write your little heart out on paper. It may just feel more natural to you to write your blog posts this way initially and then you can transfer your hand-written work to your computer screen later.
• If you’re a conversationalist. (Hey, you just like talking — A LOT!) Well, it might be to your advantage to talk your way through your blog post — just like you’re having a conversation with another person or group of people. Talking out something (verbally) can be easier for some individuals rather than talking out something (in written form). So, I say go for it. Use your handy-dandy audio device to record yourself having a discussion with your blogging community. (Again, you can always take your audio recording and transcribe it to your blog site later.) And, I know from first-hand experience that the audio-recording method is a stellar assistant in the JUST START arena, when formulating your blog post. In fact, I used this method for this very blog post you’re reading right now.

So, what do you think about the 3 tips I’ve laid out for you? Doable — “Yes?” . . . “No?” Let me know what you think. Also, I would love to hear any unconventional methods of blogging that you use in your nook of the blogosphere.