A Ghost Writers Blog

Much space has been given in the blogosphere to the topic of writer’s block. So many bloggers with so many blogs and they just can’t think of anything to write (or so it would appear).

And they see this as a problem.

So do I, but in a different way.

The bloggers see this as a problem, because they want to write something but can’t think of anything to say. The problem with this, as I see it, is that so many people who have nothing to say, want to speak.

This is generally a great way to create trash.

Speak just to hear your own voice.

Write just to see your own typing.

Hold meetings just to say you have met.

Watch TV just to do something with your time.

Drink because you are bored.

All the most wasteful uses of our time and energy are the things we do without having a good reason to do them. When you write just for the sake of writing, I can almost guarantee that your writing will not be worth reading.

Let me ask you about two blogs.

Blog A publishes occasionally. Every week, every month, irregularly – whatever. Every post is meaty and meaningful. Every post inspires or provides useful information or gives something of real value.

Blog B publishes regularly – every week or even every day. Regularly. The writer follows all the advice of how to overcome writer’s block, and writes lots of articles even though he has nothing of import or useful – or inspired! – to say. Sure, occasionally he does, but most of his posts are already written in different ways on other blogs and don’t really add much to anybody’s knowledge or inspiration.

Which blog will you choose to read?

On our SEO blog we began a tradition of presenting blog commenting carnivals, and we’ll be carrying that tradition over here. I comment on a lot of blogs about writing, and often the comments are quite substantial. Why let those comments go to waste, when I can share them with our readers, too?

Over at Common Excuses For Not Starting A Blog, I tackled the five excuses, one by one…

1. Everyone is a writer.

2. There is no such thing as writer’s block. When you have something to say, there is no block. When you have nothing to say, you should not be blogging.

3. You don’t have to be creative; just write what comes to your mind during a normal “day at the office”.

4. OK, it is true – blogging is too time consuming. But if it is worth doing for your business model, then it is no more time consuming than all the other time-consuming things you do.

5. All the good ideas have been taken…yeah but “so what?” All the best music has been written, and they keep writing more. All the best books have been written, but they keep writing more. Just write what you think and you will find elements of originality in your blog posts.

I expanded on point #2 above at How to Blog for your Business – 4 helpful tips!…

Generally some good advice, but I disagree on keeping to a schedule. I have never heard of someone removing a blog from their RSS reader for not having received a post in a while. I can see why someone would remove a blog that posts too often and they are inundated with posts in their RSS reader (making it hard to find posts from other blogs), but there is no reason to remove something for not bothering them. I believe a schedule is a very poor way to decide when to blog. A much better way is to blog when you have something to say. A single really good post is worth more than a hundred on time posts.

And on the fun side, I planted my tongue firmly in my cheek and added to Time Management For Freelance Writers…

Oh, not just for freelance writers. Anybody who works from home will be tempted to surf, tempted to keep marketing, tempted to just hang loose and avoid timing himself or handling the bookkeeping. My personal temptation is blog commenting…and…uh…oops, I guess I should be getting back to work.

I was not bored when Martha Griffin told us Why Most Blogs Bore Me. So I responded…

Nothing new is being said. That is the one that makes me cringe. When you spend as much time as I do in social media, reading, partially reading or just suffering through the same repetitive headlines over and over (Do I really want to read yet another blogger’s review of the same plugg-in?), you start to wonder where is the imagination, where is the passion, are they people really enjoying blogging, or are they just trying to fill their page and keep to an arbitrary publishing schedule. Which brings us to the second one that makes me cringe, “The blogger didn’t show up. ” and “Lacks passion”, which really are the same thing in my eyes.

Jane writes at BlogEngage about Why Should You Blog About What You Know .  Apparently, I agree…

Yes, yes, yes. About what you know AND about what you are passionate about. You should never have to worry about writers block or not knowing what to write about. You should only be writing when there is something inside you, something just bursting to get out!

Martha Giffen writes that Keyword stuffing is not a blogging tool.

I am afraid that using common sense is highly under appreciated. Best to write your post for the readers and for yourself – just because you have something to say. Then add in your keywords a couple times where it makes sense …if it makes sense. Then choose a title for your post. If possible, include your keywords in your title – but if the title didn’t attractive and doesn’t draw readers and (ultimately) linkers, there is really no point to the keywords in the first place.