“How to Write a Year’s Worth of Posts in 30 Days” plus 1 more

How to Write a Year’s Worth of Posts in 30 Days

Posted: 28 Oct 2011 01:01 PM PDT

This guest post is by Kelly Kingman of eBook Evolution.

Last year, I took part in a writing challenge called National Novel Writing Month, which is also known as NaNoWriMo. The challenge? Write 50,000 words—all during the 30 days of November. Until then, my personal length record hovered around 10,000 words for a single project.

Amazingly, I did it. And instead of fiction, I wrote a memoir. Which is why this all matters to you, dear bloggers.

On the NaNoWriMo forum, there's a section just for the "NaNo Rebels"—those of us whose work doesn't qualify as lengthy fiction. On the site's FAQ, the party line is it doesn’t technically matter what you write: "We just want you to be excited about writing."

If I could use NaNoWriMo to write anything, why not blog posts?

If you average 1,000 words per post, you could write 50—just two shy of a post per week for an entire year. Of course, you can't anticipate everything you'll want to blog about—but core content? Sure. Write shorter posts and add ebooks, guest posts, sales pages to the mix—the possibilities are endless.

So I decided to use this November to generate 50,000 words of raw, unpolished content in 30 days. I've started calling my parallel challenge Contentpalooza. Friends and readers have enthusiastically chimed in with support and their own content-creation goals.

38,000 people completed NaNoWriMo's challenge last year. There are two primary reasons the structure works so well. First, it's a sprint. We can push ourselves harder, writing far more than we're used to (1,666 words per day, including Thanksgiving) because we know it's temporary. Second, it's a crazy goal, and sometimes they are more effective than "sensible" ones, they excite us and motivate us to go beyond our comfort zone.

Should you also choose to hack NaNoWriMo this year in order to boost your blogging, I offer the following advice to help ensure your success.

Find your formula and tracking tool

50,000 words is a lot of written content, but what if you want to create podcasts, videos or graphics? My goal formula this year is: 50 blog posts (about 700 words = 35,000) plus an ebook (approx. 15,000 words) and then the balance of words with guest posts. You don't have to decide on everything in advance, but I suggest you decide what your equivalencies are if you’ll be venturing into other media.

It's also important to have a way to keep track of your word count from day to day. This helps you stay motivated, see your progress and plan. This could be a simple word processing document that you pile everything into, or a website like 750Words.com. If you want to recalculate the daily minimum you must write, try WriteTrack and yes, there's also an app for that.

Stock up on idea seeds

So many of us get hung up on coming up with high quality ideas before they begin writing, when really you just need idea seeds. Half-formed thoughts, hunches and questions are all seeds that you can grow by exploring them through writing itself. You don't need to know exactly what you're going to say or the point you're going to make. In fact, writing is a great way to figure out what you think.

Capturing your idea seeds is critical—in a notebook, on your smartphone, wherever. Just don’t let them get away and keep them in the same place so you can grab them during November as needed. I love Evernote for this. I have clipped over 150 items—other posts, articles, and other content that I can use to seed my own thoughts and opinions.

Remember to write, not edit

We often forge that writing and editing are distinct activities, a lot of us write and polish as we go. But the lesson of NaNoWriMo is that to achieve the sheer quantity necessary, you must bind and gag your inner perfectionist. Don’t tempt yourself into fixing spelling and grammar, finding images, brushing up the formatting. Embrace mistakes and false starts (don’t delete them — they count towards your goal) and press on. Polishing is for December or later.

Find a buddy or two (or more)

Our chances of success at anything go up dramatically when we find others who share our goals. Writing, especially blogging, is too often seen as a solitary pursuit. But we absolutely need other people—to bounce ideas off of, to cheer us on, to convince us we don’t need that much sleep anyway. Trust me, this is crucial. Do not go alone. Find others in your area via the NaNoWriMo forum, get on Twitter, and find people who are participating (search #contentpalooza) or recruit them yourself.

What could you create for your blog in 30 days? Why not start now?

Kelly Kingman is a content visionary and the co-creator of eBook Evolution. If you want to join her in the quest for 50,000 words, follow @kellykingman on Twitter or connect with her on Facebook where she'll be providing daily pep talks and tips.

Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger

How to Write a Year's Worth of Posts in 30 Days

How to Blog Reactively … and Why You Should

Posted: 28 Oct 2011 07:05 AM PDT

This guest post is by Alex of ToMakeALiving.com.

The word “proactive” is tossed around a lot these days, and you could easily be forgiven for thinking that being proactive is pretty much the only way to blog or do anything else.

Certainly in your blogging life there are times when being proactive is important; but it's not always the answer!

The problem with being proactive

Image copyright FikMik - Fotolia.com

Being proactive essentially means doing things unprompted—typically, you set a schedule and you work to it. This is a great way to ensure you get things done. The problem is that to be proactive in this way, sometimes you have to write blog posts at times when you don't feel all that inspired; this can result in posts that are less than perfect, which is never a good thing.

Reasons to be reactive

There is a lot that you have to do to build a successful blog, but the one vital ingredient you cannot miss is writing top-quality blog posts. Like it or not, the best posts are not the ones you force out—they’re the ones written from seeds of ideas which spring into your head at three in the morning, on the way to work, or when you’re out with your friends.

Inspiration is not something that can be forced, and as such the best blog posts will always be the ones written in response to the inspiration we get when we are not even seeking it. This is the beauty of writing reactively.

The problem with being reactive

On the other hand of course, if you only ever write when inspiration hits you, you might find that you just don't write often enough, or that your posts are inconsistent—which, again, is bad news for your blog.

So how can you get the best of both worlds? Write reactively inspired blog posts which flow and read like poetry, but do it proactively and in a structured way so as to build a reliable blog that gathers a consistent following of dedicated readers.

How to blog reactively-proactively

The key to successful reactive blogging is to be proactive in every other area of your work flow, support the elements which encourage inspiration, and grab it when it comes. Here's how.

Have a schedule for posts

For best results you should have posts going out consistently, so decide on a schedule and stick to it. Write it down or even publish it so your readers know the deal (this makes you accountable, so you are less likely to let it slide). From now on, no matter when you actually write your posts, this is when they will be published.

Keep a bank of posts

On some weeks, you’ll be visited by inspiration, and some you won't. Try to get ahead so that you always have at least two or three weeks' worth of content ready to go live. This way, on the weeks where you can't string together a decent post, you don't have to force out something that isn't up to scratch.

Schedule your inspiration

Just because you are waiting to be inspired before you write doesn't mean you can't be proactive about what inspires you. Make a list of the websites, newsletters, and bloggers who inspire you and utilize your favourite RSS reader, iPad app, or simply subscribe to have their content delivered to you each week.

My personal schedule

Just to help put the process into context, here's the blog schedule I use for one of my blogs.

I use the time-release WordPress plugin to ensure that a post is published every Wednesday at 6:30pm. All I need to do is ensure that there is always at least one post written and ready to go live; the plugin makes sure I stick to my schedule.

I use Google reader to aggregate my favorite sites, then every Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday around lunch time I check my reader and have a look at what's new in my niche.

So when do I write my blog posts? Whenever I get a good idea or otherwise feel inspired to write! By following this proactive schedule I never fail to have at least one good idea each week, but by keeping four or five posts in the bank (this is what I aim for), I never feel any pressure to write.

All the same, if I find that I have more posts than I need and my bank of posts is full, I will skim a couple off the top and use them for guest posting and link building purposes. I have a separate schedule for link building, but that's another post altogether…

Summary

So hopefully you can see how this strategy allows you to get all of the benefits of being proactive without having to smother your creativity. The result? You get inspired, very topical posts, published consistently and to a timely schedule—and hopefully an altogether better blog. Neat, huh?

My name is Alex from ToMakeALiving.com where I blog about how to earn money online in all manner of different ways. I also offer a quality link building service for bloggers and affiliate marketers. Please check out my site for more info and lots of great tips.

Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger

How to Blog Reactively … and Why You Should