Nature is usually very inspiring, but on my worst days, even taking a trip to the forest preserve doesn't help my productivity, so I often rely on fallback plans to stay consistent . . . 


Before I started blogging, I often wondered how hard it would be and now I’m here to tell others with the same question that, well, it depends. Helpful, I know. But some days, the ideas come one after another. Even while I’m writing a post, I start to think of other angles of the post I could explore, which leads me to write even more posts. Other days, however, I feel about as creative as a doorknob and can’t squeeze more than a few words out of my brain. Since I have these ups and downs, I’ve learned a few ways to help make blogging—and writing under deadlines in general—easier, and I’ll share them with you here in case you experience similar difficulties.

Because I have days that I don’t feel creative at all, I try to write as much as I can on the good days. I started doing this when I was on my newspaper's Write Team. This way, on a bad day, I can go through my list of pre-written posts and select one. It helps me post more consistently, and it also takes a lot of the pressure off of me to write something new when the time comes for me to add another post. With less pressure, I feel more creative, making me even more productive.

Another advantage to writing posts in advance is that I have more time to edit them and revise them to my liking. I do all my own editing, so this is very important to me. I usually always find something I want to change in my work even after the first few revisions. I talked in my last post ("Need a break?") about letting my work sit for a time when I felt burned out on it, and this feeds into that idea. When I allow my work to sit, I can come back to it with fresh eyes and find any mistakes I made or change what I decide needs changing.

In school, I was that kid who finished their homework in class, at recess, or during homeroom just so I didn’t have to worry about it when I got home. That mentality continued when I started homeschooling myself in junior high and high school. “Finish the work as soon as you can so you can have more peace later.” That is what I told myself then, and it’s what I tell myself now. I always try to get things done in advance because rushing encourages mistakes and can make writing stressful. Stress kills my creativity.

If you have a blog yourself and you’re finding it hard to keep up with the deadlines you set for yourself, try to pay attention to what days you feel most creative and use that time to write as much as you can. I’m not saying to limit yourself just to those days, and there may even be some days that you don’t feel inspired until you finally sit down and start writing. If you’re doing something that you can’t walk away from and suddenly get a rush of ideas, jot them down to revisit later and go as far as you can with them. Record ideas from brainstorming sessions, too. I found writing in general to be much easier when I started keeping a list of article and blog ideas to revisit later and flesh out.

Hopefully some of this advice helps you out, and maybe you’ve already found other ways to plow through the slow days and stay consistent in your writing. If you have other methods of working that help you, please feel free to share them in the comments!