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Writing for Inspiration Versus Inspired Writing

There are two kinds of writers: those who write when they are inspired and those who write for inspiration. They are two very different approaches.

The one who writes when they are inspired will drop what they’re doing to ride the wave of inspiration to the end. I’ve found some of my best ideas and posts have happened this way. I’ve literally gotten out of bed in the middle of the night to write a post or two. When you catch the muse, you want to keep her as long as possible.

The other kind of writer is more systematic. They make time to write whether they feel like it or not. They make themselves write until inspiration happens. It’s a disciplined approach that I wish I personally embraced more than I do.

Depending upon what you want your blog to accomplish it may not matter which kind of writer you are but most organizations that want to have a person or a team blogging don’t have the luxury of waiting for inspiration to strike. If you find yourself in that situation, try these tips help you push ahead with your blogging efforts.

1. Have a means for catching (and keeping) ideas. Some of your best blog post topics will come to mind when you’re not in front of your computer or don’t have the time to write a post at that moment. Have a plan in place to capture that idea for the future.

2. Read more. This may seem counterintuitive but the more you read the more ideas you’ll get. You may want to react to something you read or an example you read may spark a whole series of ideas you can build upon. Reading seems to unlock a piece of your brain that doesn’t work when you’re thinking intently or brainstorming. Sometimes the best way to get motivated to write is to read for a few minutes.

3. Recruit a team. In some organizations there are multiple contributors to a blog and this is the ideal situation for sharing the burden of creating content on a regular basis. Find people who have a lot of personality or seem to have a unique perspective and help them communicate that in their blog posts. This will be a different kind of effort at first but if you’re investing in the right kind of people you’ll find that it won’t take long to really feel the weight of blogging shared by the team. This will give you more flexibility and should give your blog a bit more flavor at the same time.