Blogger’s Block

Yes, I have such terrible blogger’s block right now. I can’t think of any good posts. Well, I did for the rest of the week, but today I came up blank. So instead, I’ll post ideas of what to do when you have blogger’s block.

Sure, that’ll work.

Things to do when you can’t think of what to post, in order from most to least effort.

1. Write a book review. You actually have to do some writing, but there’s also reading, which is almost no work. As my friend Zoe Whitten said, “I’m riffing off of someone else’s creativity in the absence of my own.”

2. Find an excuse, no matter how flimsy, to repost an old post. There is some effort involved with coming up with the excuse. “I can’t believe what’s going on in Europe. This reminds me of the time I came up with a list of words you should avoid while writing.” (Note, this example might need work.)

3. Convince someone to do a guest post. Again, you may have to put some work into the convincing. It depends on how many followers you have. For the number I have, I’ll have to resort to kidnapping.

4. CAT PICTURES!!! As long as you can get the cats to sit still for a picture. I recommend during nap time.

5. Post a list of what to do when you have blogger’s block.

And to finish us off, here’s a number 4.

This is the post-afternoon pre-evening nap.

Content

Sometimes I forget that the cardinal rule of blogging is that it’s about the reader, not the writer, otherwise it’s little more than a diary open for everyone to read, which makes it no fun.

1. Engage the reader. This doesn’t have to be by asking questions at the end of the post. If the post is evocative enough, people will leave comments. For example, when I spoke about objectivity, I had comments because having things deemed good or bad was a subject people could relate to. They had opinions on it. It was interesting.

2. While the subject should be interesting (obviously) to the reader, it should also be interesting to you as you’ll write more passionately if it’s something you like. This is probably why I have quite a few posts about writing and etymology (of course, I may be the only one interested in the latter…)

3. Posts in list form are often easier and more engaging to read. Short, succinct items are popular with the generation raised with Twitter and Facebook. Tangentially, what I’m doing right here is being self-referential.

4. Continuing with item two’s line of thought, don’t post etymology posts unless you’re okay with low numbers. But for me, I’d say worth it.

5. Add a picture to attract attention. If you can’t find one that’s relevant, use a cat picture. It works every time.

And that’s five tips on being popular from someone who has no idea what being popular entails.

Welcome to the internet.