Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Blogging Dryness

There occasionally comes a time in every bloggers life, when a dry spell is reached.

I certainly know that this has happened to me.

I get to a point where the inspiration on what to post about, suddenly takes a vacation and refuses to come back until it’s had some time to lie on the beach in Costa Rica.

It can be frustrating as all hell. And it seems like the harder I try and think about what to say…the more my brain tightens up like a severe case of constipation.

When I hit my first dry spell, it really bothered me. I mean, I had posted consistently for almost a year and now here I was without a single inspirational thought. I tried reading various blogging books in the hopes that they would jump-start my brain. I tried going back to older posts to see if there were things that I could post about that I hadn’t already said. I did everything except take a hammer to my head.

Something inside was telling me to stop for awhile and take a breather. And yet I worried that if I took a break, I would disappoint my readers and possibly lose readership. So, I thought about this for a while and decided that the best thing I could do for my readers, as well as myself, was to take some needed time off.

And ironically, during this time I became inspired to begin a new blog…Vent. When I came back after my little hiatus, I continued to post on my other blog for a while, but eventually disabled comments and made the choice to stop posting there for the time being.

I realized that I needed this break to refresh myself and get a better perspective on what I really wanted to write about, by giving inspiration the time to plant some new seeds. For me, inspiration cannot be forced - I have to feel it.

I’ve learned, that it’s important for me to honor and respect dry spells and to be ok with it.

I’ve set certain standards for myself when it comes to my blog. Standards that to this day, I stay with and believe in.

I will not post for the sake of posting. I owe it to my readers to always share a certain level of energy and contribution. Words are not only something that are typed out on a page. Words contain a tremendous amount of life force. And when I have a lack of energy and a loss of inspiration, I know that this can be felt by anyone who reads.

Also, my blog is like my home. I always want my readers to feel welcomed and comfortable - as if they were physically coming to visit. And when my energy is not up to par and I sense a void in conversation, I don’t make a very good host.

Sometimes all it takes to re-saturate a dry spell, is the water of a little time away.

So that the flower of inspiration...will grow!




Photo:OkayCityNate