Time to Kill the Blogging Kudzu
Kudzu. It creeping and invasive. It’s a slow moving pest that overtakes our most creative thoughts. It’s not writer’s block. It’s not procrastination either. I call it The Blogging Kudzu.
Blogging Kudzu is debilitating. Like its vegetative counterpart, left uncontrolled it obliterates new ideas. It covers them right over. The nasty creeper wraps around our brain, cuts off our creativity. It leaves us dead in the water, wondering whether we even want to blog at all again, ever.
BUT unlike the green, leafy version, we can clear out the kudzu in our heads without much trouble. We can get our mojo back. In fact, we can come back stronger than ever, if that’s the goal we set our minds to, and why wouldn’t we? A blog’s quite an investment to let wither and die.
Here’s how to kill Blogging Kudzu and come back better than ever.
10 Ways to Kill the Kudzu and Get Your Blogging Mojo Back
The first thing to know is Blogging Kudzu needs two conditions to flourish — a tired blogger, who takes blogging a bit too seriously. With that in mind, here are 10 Ways to Get Your Blogging Mojo Back.
- Peel off your blog. Get out from behind the dashboard. Turn off the computer. Stay away a day. Watch what happens. Nothing. The blogosphere doesn’t need us to make sure it survives.
- Have a heart-to-heart conversation with yourself. Point out that the lasting links you’ve made are with people, not bits of code. Those links will still be there when you get back from recharging and refueling.
- Make plans. Have an experience. It hard to blog your experience, if you never have one. If you’re out of practice, ask a friend to plan something for you to do together. Then, for blog’s sake, go do it!
- Do something spontaneous. Go to a farm, a city, a movie, a concert, a planetarium, a museum, a place you’ve never been, a place you’ve been a 1000 times, a place you grew up, a place a famous person lived, a place you don’t know where it is until you get there.
- Have a real conversation. Call a friend you haven’t spoken with in too long. Catch up on all of the details of life.
- Sit in the sunshine and watch the sky. Do your best to think about nothing. When your mind gets busy, read your favorite book or make up stories about the people who walk by.
- Tell people you’re a web publisher. Ask them to tell you a story. Listen to every detail. Watch how they tell it. Capture every gesture and expression in your memory. Ask questions until you feel you are a part of their experience.
- Ask advice from a child under the age of 7. Listen carefully. Repeat back what you are told to be sure you understand. Then do your best to follow it, if you possibly can.
- Spend some quality time with yourself, your favorite music, and your favorite food. Make an appointment to do that. You deserve to be the center of your own time once in a while.
- Read your favorite blog posts in your archives — the ones that you love, those that show your best self in action. Now go do what you do so well just one more time.
Once in my publishing career, I told a friend I couldn’t get my head to think about what I needed to write. She gave me this advice.
Go take a day off, take two, take three. On the day you come back, you’ll do 5 days work 10 times better than if you keep going now. You’ll find yourself miles ahead, and everyone else will be trying their best just to keep up.
She was right.
That’s how to get your blogging mojo back.
–ME “Liz” Strauss
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Hi Liz,
I’m going to co-opt the kudzu concept for all kinds of things! 😉
All great suggestions, especially number 10.
Cheers,
Mike
Hi Mike!
I so remember when I saw kudzu for the first time. It was impressive. It’s been in my imagination every since. The pictures are wonderful, aren’t they?!!!
Do enjoy the metaphor all you can!!
Hi Liz,
I never worried about the Borg on Star Trek, because I knew that someone would come up with the bright idea of teleporting a few kudzu saplings onto it and in no time it would become a slow-moving chia-leviathan!
Mike
. . . a slow-moving chia-leviathan!
Now why didn’t I think of that . . . why didn’t they use kudzu to take care of the tribbles?
I love it – I seem to find that my favorite inspirations hit when I’m mowing the lawn, playing with a kid, doing something totally un-blog-related. What great advice to come back from a holiday weekend to.
Hi Tiffany!
Yep! That’s the way our brains work — they are independent little creatures despite what we might “think.” 🙂
Hi Liz,
These are all great ideas, thanks!
Hi Liz!
You’re welcome!
Liz, it’s too scary…read my post today…
http://www.susancartierliebel.typepad.com
I’m escaping the creeping vine…for a short while.
Hi Susan!
I just read your post. You kill that vine with some great time away from your blog. 🙂
Liz, #8 is my favorite. Children at that age always tell the truth. They have not been jaded yet.
I love these ideas. In fact I have been known to do most of them at one time or another. Thanks for reminding us all to remember to recharge ourselves.
Hi Carma!
I like #8 too. 🙂
Children that age are wise.
Thanks for coming by. It’s great to see you! I bet you’ve used all of these ideas in wonderful ways. 🙂
I haven’t seen kudzu before, but I get the idea. Great ideas. Thanks for reminding me to put good things into my head so I have great things to write about.
Hi Angela!
That’s it. Let great ideas in and great ideas will come out for sure! 🙂
Liz, I’m still trying to kill that blogging kudzu, definitely not easy, but I’m getting there 😉
Thank you so much for such a great post! wow!
Jonathan!
No worries! Take the weekend and go rockin’!!
You are one wow! yourself! 🙂
Hi Liz,
Great post and all good tips. Last month I was sitting in front of the computer and thinking what to write about. For a change I started going through the junk lot of forwarded emails. One of them gave me an idea and I made a post, http://www.fortunewatch.com/how-a-millionaires-brain-works/ this one got me a lot of traffic too. Always a pleasure visiting your blog.
Take care and cheers.
Hi Robin!
Welcome. Great to meet you!
That’s a wonderful tip. Thanks for it and the link! What fun!
You’re not a stranger anymore! 🙂
These are great suggestions. I’ve been having blogging–and writing–kudzu for the last several weeks now. This weekend a good friend of mine came to town and we spent days hanging out, sightseeing, and just having fun. All of a sudden, I’m rejuvenated and ready to go again!
Hi Debra!
Welcome!
That kudzu was creeping through my brain too. A good friend seems to be the right answer in so many ways! 🙂
YEA for you! YEA for all of us!
You’re not a stranger anymore!
Thinking back, I believe every time I decided it was time to quit is when I wasn’t getting out, when I was sick, etc. But when I do get out and about, my mind is on autoblog throughout the time I’m away 😉
Hi Angela,
Yeah. It doesn’t seem like the blog is the problem, does it? 🙂
Thanks for the post on getting back to blogging. It was helpful to me and allowed me to see a place to start and the words to start.
Hi D.W.!
Welcome!
We all need a breather sometimes. I’m heartened to think that something I wrote was there when you needed it. 🙂
great post! Love your blog. I’m adding it to my blogroll here: http://eknano.blogspot.com