Years ago, when I was just starting to blog, I often found myself staring at the computer until I was cross-eyed, constantly struggling to write a new blog post. I felt like I was trying to write the next great american novel, and it didn’t matter how much pressure I put on myself, I kept getting lots of coal and very few diamonds.
I found myself forced to hardwire my mind into finding new ways to write. If I expected to continue as a real estate blogger, I knew I would need to be more consistent, but how? The most important thing I ever did for my blogging habits was to take a step back and critically assess the style in which I wrote. I decided to take that great american novel, set it on fire, and threw it off a cliff. I stopped putting the pressure on myself to write, and instead just DID IT.
Why was it so hard?
In the past, my writing method consisted of forcing myself to think of a blog topic, writing an outline and then writing the content. From there I proceeded to rework and edit my posts until all the life had been wrung out of them and they were both highly informative and completely boring. When I realized that blogging was hard because I was making it hard, writing blog posts and developing original content became worlds easier. I stopped trying to plan blog posts and instead just started writing. I adopted a stream of consciousness style of writing, getting the words out first and worrying about structure and flow later.
No more struggles
Nowadays It’s not unusual to sit down with a topic in mind and finding out afterwards that I wrote about something completely unrelated. I’m okay with that, and my readers are too. I still go back and edit to ensure that what I wrote makes sense to more than just myself, but the overall quality of my content has improved. Instead of struggling to write, I’ve been able to start scheduling my blog posts as much as a week in advance! I also find that I can write several posts that I decide not to publish at all. Instead I keep them saved, and go back to them from time to time to work into other posts or use as a springboard for new ideas.
The secret to writing well and writing consistently is to find a method that works for you. Some people seem to be naturally brilliant when it comes to blogging. I’m not one of those people, but that doesn’t mean I can’t churn out some great content myself. All I had to do was find a way to write that made sense for me personally.
