Have you ever sat down to write a blog post and just had absolutely no idea what you wanted to write? Yeah, we’ve all been there. Whether you plan ahead or write the day of, sometimes our brains just don’t give us any good ideas. When this happens to me, I have a few tricks up my sleeve to help get my creative juices flowing and some that attempt to prevent this from happening. I wanted to share these tips with you along with a few ideas!
Preventive measures
I try my best to avoid this from happening to me. I find it easier to do this than to struggle for an idea the day of. So, here are a few preventive measures you can take that will help you avoid these little brain farts.
1. TAKE NOTES
Where ever you are, whatever you are doing, take notes. Sometimes ideas just hit you during a conversation or while you’re out – when this happens make sure to write it down! Whether you carry an actual notebook or use your phone, just get it down somewhere you’ll remember to look. Also, keep all of these notes together (sometimes ideas can be paired up or inspire a whole other idea).
2. LET OTHERS INSPIRE YOU
While reading other blogs, sometimes their content will inspire you. I use Bloglovin’ collections to make the most of this. Basically, after I read a post and think it might be useful for future topics on my blog, I save it into a “Reference/Inspiration” collection. When I’m planning out my posts, I look through there to get ideas.
Important note: I say inspiration. There is nothing wrong with building from someone else’s topic. However, do not copy their post. Also, if it’s extremely similar, give them credit for inspiring your post.
3. SCHEDULE AHEAD
I plan my posts ahead for about a month to two months. I don’t actually write the posts that far in advance but I use my calendar within the WordPress dashboard to plan out what I want to write about. If you do this, you’ll only spend one day of planning/trying to figure out what to write about instead of doing that process every time to sit down to write.
SAME DAY MADNESS
Those preventive measures don’t always work. For me, I either forget to do the planning before the previously planned posts run out, or I’m just not in the mood to write about what I have scheduled for a specific day. When this happens, I use this tips
4. DON’T WRITE ANYTHING
Seriously. I know this post is about helping you think of ideas, but I think this is a really important tip. If you can’t think of anything, if you don’t want to write, just don’t do it. This is for two reasons: If you aren’t feeling it, that might translate into your writing and just going out and living life that day may trigger some new ideas! (Ps; even if you’re just watching Netflix all day, shows can totally trigger some ideas as well!)
5. GOOGLE IT
Google is your friend. There have been several times that I have just searched “blog post ideas” when I’m in a slump and it works wonders. Tons of people have made lists of hundreds of ideas.
6. TWITTER POLLS
Seriously. This one is helpful. You have to already have a few ideas to do this one. Come up with 2-4 ideas and post a poll on Twitter asking your friends which one they’d rather read at the moment. Whichever one wins, you write! Simple.
7. CHECK YOUR COMMENTS
You guys inspire me all the time. I’ve had conversations with you in my comments that have inspired entire posts. If you don’t let your readers inspire you, you’re missing out. I know this one can be hard if the conversations don’t keep rolling in your comments, but just find one that has at least 10 comments on it and read them. See if it sparks some creativity in you.
8. RE-USE OLD STUFF
Did a post do really well in the past? Have your thoughts changed over time? Do you have something to add? Take an older post and expand on it. For example, two years ago I wrote a list of the Disney live-action remakes I was looking forward to. Since then, several new ones were announced. So, I took that old list and expanded on it. It was basically half done because some were still unreleased, so I just had to add a few new films. Perfect.
9. MIX IT UP
I’ve seen a lot of people around saying they’re afraid to write something out of their normal topics. Have you always wanted to write about tv? About movies? About your journaling? About anything else other than books? Just do it! You’ll find that most people just don’t care if you always write about books. Most of us readers just want to read your content, and if it’s beyond books, that just means we’re learning more about you as a person – which is awesome!
10 post Ideas to get you started
- Write about your story. How did you start blogging? What book turned you into an obsessive reader?
- How-to’s / tips. Do you have any tricks to help make blogging easier for you? Share them! People love learning new ways to make their life easier.
- Discussions. This is broad because you then have to come up with ideas. However, if you use any of the above tips (especially notes!) then ideas should come to you.
- Interviews. Reach out to authors, bloggers, or people in the industry that inspire you and interview them! (It’s okay, it’s not as scary as it sounds)
- If you like X, then do Y. You can do this with books, movies, tv shows, video games, or anything. I did this recently for books and video games!
- Any recommendation posts. Seriously. We like to torture ourselves by making our TBR pile literally impossible to ever get through. You can do themes recs or just a list of your favorite books. Whatever it is, we like recommendations.
- Movie reviews / TV show reviews.
- Holiday themes posts. Not just the regular holidays everyone knows about, but the wacky ones as well. For example, my birthday is Toasted Marshmallow Day so I could do a post themed around that like my favorite campfire reads or movies to watch for a movie night.
- Lists. Any list. All lists. We like lists.
- Book tags. I like using these when I’m really in a slump. I have a collection on Bloglovin’ called “Book Tags” in which I save all the…well, book tags I’m interested in.
Do you have any tips for coming up with ideas? Share them below!
17 Comments
This is a great post, and so helpful! I always have a notebook with me so I can write down ideas. I’ve also been inspired to write discussion posts based on a comment I received on another post. I’ve totally Googled “blog post ideas” and I keep a board on Pinterest related to that. I also like the idea of writing something non-book related – I talk about hiking on my blog, so that’s a great way to get something non-book related in there and talk about travel, which I think a lot of people like.
That’s awesome! I think it’s important to mix in some non-bookish things. I love movies & video games so I try to do a post about one of those about every other week or so.
Yeah, these are all such great ideas! I had this huge blogging brainstorm back in January and wrote so many ideas that I love writing about and can’t wait to share! I need to write more soon; I feel like I’m running out of posts for the last half of the year! ?
haha dang! Half a year of posts! GO YOU! I only do about a month or 2 ahead and then get sick of brainstorming lol
This is such a good post!! I definitely have to write down inspiration when it comes to me or I’ll draw a huge blank when I open up a new post. Some of those drafts I never even use, but it’s better to start 20 drafts and have my choice on which ones to finish than to have NOTHING and be like BLAH. This year I’m definitely wanting to do more with other bloggers, and hopefully that will take some pressure off always having to think of post ideas!
Exactly! I have a ton of drafts that I just keep pushing till a later date because I’m just not in the mood for it yet but I may be one day. It’s better to have that than nothing! Guest posts are always a good idea! I’ve never done them myself but I’ve been considering it for my blog as well. 🙂
Very timely post, as I’m sitting here in the time I’ve blocked off to get some writing done, with zero inspiration. Thank you!
hahah perfect! I hope it helped!
I always struggle coming up with post ideas, so thank you so much for these wonderful tips! I can’t wait to try them! 🙂
You’re welcome! I hope it helps <3
Ooooh lacking inspiration! This is my entire personal narrative at any given moment, so I feel a connection to this post bwhahah. I am usually just staring off into space, wondering what to post next… I do always write a note when I think of something, but the problem is, those moments have become to few and far between. A lot of times I will sit around and look at my books and think “something about covers!” or “my TBR!” but those aren’t post ideas at all, so I am back to square one. AND do you find that when you are MOST desperate is when you have the hardest time coming up with stuff? That is where I am- like the longer I go without a decent idea, the worse I feel, and the harder it seems. I will definitely have to try some of your tips, thanks for sharing them!
hahah I can relate, girl, I can RE-LATE. lol Sometimes I go through times when I literally cannot think of anything to write, or I do have a topic but no words are coming to me to put it together. Usually that is when I do a book tag or something. The prompt is already there and I just have to answer the questions lol
I’m currently trying to come up with more non-review posts. This post has been very helpful. Question on Book Tags…if you come across a book tag and its a few weeks or months old, can you still call it a book tag if you were never tagged? Also, do you have to tag other bloggers?
That’s so good to hear! Glad to be of help! As for your question, personally, I just do a tag that I like whether I’m tagged or not. I usually do one when I feel like I have nothing interesting to post that week so I do something more fun. I also don’t tag anyone specifically in mine, I just say “I tag anyone who feels like doing this”. But that may be just me 🙂
I’m glad that was your answer, because I would love to do them when I need something fun on the blog. I found some that I’d love to do but, they won’t go up for a couple of weeks. 😉
Lots of great ideas here! Sometimes I find that I just don’t feel like I have anything new to say, but there’s always room for inspiration to take hold!
That’s true. That’s happened to me before. I just won’t post anything >.< haha