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Writing your first blog post can be overwhelming and super stressful. And sometimes even writing your next blog post can be tough but don't fret! This post is for you!
What the Heck Do I Write About?
This is a big question and I still struggle with this sometimes. Here are a couple of ways to think about this:
What do you see asked a lot? Or if you have clients already, what are they always asking you about? Can you turn that into a blog post?
What kind of topics do you want to write about? You might be blogging about cooking for example, but within that major topic, you might want to come up with different categories. Like recipes, prepping your food, shopping for ingredients, etc.
What would you want to write just for fun? Don’t think about who will read it. Don’t think about what people will think. At least not yet. Just think about what would be fun for you to write. I took a mixology class once, wanted to blog about it, and came up with this.
Yay! I got the topic down, but what about the actual writing part?
We talked about setting aside time to work on your business right? Pick one of those time slots to write your blog post. Mark it on the calendar, grab some coffee (or wine) and set a timer to go.
But remember this is your first draft. What me and my friend call the Give No F***s (or GNF) Draft. This draft is about getting the words on the paper. No overthinkery. No censoring. Just set a timer for 20 minutes and write. Your goal here is to get everything down that you want to get down in this post. You can always review it later.
Another big part of the GNF Draft is the writing app you use. For me, I love to use something super simple that's not so distracting to write my posts in. Sometimes trying to write posts directly in WordPress can be hard. There are so many toolbars and so many formatting options that take attention away from the writing. That comes later. Find an app that you like that's not distracting to get the words down.
Then go away, sip some champagne to celebrate and come back to it the next day, format it, edit and get it ready for publishing.
Yeah Jess, that's awesome but what if I just can't write?
Heavy sigh right? If you still find yourself staring at a blank screen with that evil cursor blink, blink, blinking at you, then its time for the secret weapon: The Voice Memo.
I've found that when I'm struggling a lot with writing, it's because I’m overthinking, editing in my head and I can't even shut my mind off enough to work on the GNF draft.
When this happens, you need to get away from the computer, grab your phone and go for a walk. Then open your Voice Memo app (it's under Utilities on an iPhone) and start talking. Just start talking as if you were explaining your blog post to a friend. Or if you were doing a monologue just for yourself. Just hit record and start talking.
Audios are your friend for situations like this. (I do this all the time especially during my lunchtime lakefront walks). Once you're done with the audio, you can listen to it and start transcribing it yourself or pay a service to do it for you. A lot of times you can use the audio to get all of your main points down and then it's much easier for you to sit down, organize your thoughts and write.
OR if you love the post as an audio, upload the track to Soundcloud and have an audio blog post. Audio posts are fun and then you can give your peeps another way to listen to your awesome updates while they are in the car or out for their own lakefront walk.