How to get ‘Blooming Content’ on those ‘Gloomy Days’?

There’s no doubt, in my couple years of blogging – there were definitely days when I couldn’t write. No matter how much I tried or how much I forced myself either the content I produced was not good enough or I couldn’t produce anything at all.

Then about a year ago, I came across an article that suggested you keep a “Journal” to help spark your imagination when in doubt or “writing despair”. I mean I had nothing to lose, maybe except 10 minutes a day or so, and I knew what the article was talking about because I could personally relate to it.

I would just like to take the time now and be thankful for that article. Ever since I’ve started using my Writing Journal which by the way no-one is allowed to read – I’ve been writing content that I think is above-par. It has really been one of the better things I’ve done for my blogging and I want to share it with you.

Your writing journal can be on an online private server or even a diary hidden under your pillow – it doesn’t really matter, but I wouldn’t recommend the online idea because you want to keep these findings, ramblings and thoughts to just yourself… at least till you blog about it!

You most likely saying “Well, Janith that’s a great idea but what the hell do I put in there?” I believe that’s a fair question, so here’s a quick breakdown of both primary and secondary sources that make up my writing journal;

Keeping a written AND pictorial scrapbook; pasting in articles you read anywhere and your thoughts about what you have read. If you’re going to take the online method, you can always scan useful pieces of information.

Jot down notes on what you see and hear; this has been one of the biggest pointers for me, I wrote down pretty much everything I heard and saw that I redeemed useful and it had its benefits later on.

Cut out illustrations, prints and cartoons of things that you like; Make sure you annotate these pictures with some notes that indicate what you liked about each picture and any random note you would like to keep with it. Many of the pictures I’ve used so far in this blog have been from those cut-outs.

Increase your vocabulary by building a word banks that relates to the theme or niche of your articles. It has really helped me expand the words I use from the English language.

Build up references and thoughts around the central niche or theme you are working on as it will be extremely useful in the future. Try to separate fact from opinion and place them in different section.

Just write – It doesn’t matter sometimes how you write or what you write – just keep going for 15-30mins a day, that’s all that is needed. What-ever comes to mind just write it down and if the ball starts rolling, just keep at it till you think you have accomplished enough for one day. Sometimes you’ll find you have struck gold when you least expected it.

I find it sometimes just enjoying the experience of getting your ideas down on paper is more than motivational on many levels.