So I am someone who finds it hard to write consistently on my blog. Posts come in spurts. It often feels like I open up the editor, don’t know what to write about, & close the editor.
Just wanted to ask everyone how they choose their subjects/topics to write about on their blogs. Is it more spontaneous or do you have a particular method of collecting ideas? Maybe having a specific theme helps?
Thanks!
I keep a bullet journal. I use it more like a diary or what people call long-form journaling nowadays. I write down whatever interesting thoughts I come up with. I write down notable things that I did during the day, or notable events that happened during the day. Almost all of my posts on my site, were inspired by entries in my bullet journal.
My journal entry series for one, is me just going through my bullet journal entries for a specific day. I pick and choose entries that are safe to share online. Then at times, I use them as cues to trigger more writing or further explanations. Sometimes I will find entries that are big enough to warrant their own post, if so, I will list it down as a task in my monthly log so I don’t forget to write about it later.
My music log series is similar in that whenever I listen to music that I really like, or listen to music that gives me frisson, I will write it down on my bullet journal. I will then find the entries later to share them in a post. I used to write them down in my daily log, but I found it was hard to find them easily. I’ve now taken to creating a Music Log collection/page on my bullet journal and list down the songs in there.
Same thing for my gaming logs and experiment logs. They all start out as entries in my bullet journal that later get shared on my site. So yeah, I keep a bullet journal and use it as source material for posts.
I tend to go with everyday topics that I want to explore a bit farther, so I look for events in my everyday life. For me the challenge has been with collecting and organizing ideas. Like dino, I keep a bullet journal and I jot down little notes and ideas as they pop up. I find the bullet journal to be better for creativity while a laptop or mobile device is better for production (typing and formatting).
Thanks @dino and @jakelacaze! Interesting that you two are both into Bullet Journals. They’ve always been in the back of my mind as a worthwhile investment. What is it about them that helps you compared to normal journals or planners?
Plus I love the idea of laptops being better for typing/formatting while journaling as more of the creative side. It always seems like I open up the editor first rather than writing on paper. Maybe that does more harm than good. I should try to write on paper first more!
I think it is the structure and workflow of a bullet journal that makes it work for me. The bullet journal is an organizer, diary/journal and a planner, all in one notebook. As some have said, with the bullet journal system, you only need one notebook to rule them all.
I’ve looked at planners but found them to be too rigid. Specifically, if I want to write down lots of stuff on a certain day, I will quickly run out of pages. With the bullet journal’s system, you’ll never run out of pages to write, unless of course you reach the end of the notebook, in which case, just get a new one.
The migration of tasks is the killer feature for me, as it forces me to evaluate how important a certain task is. Typically I will write down a task on my daily log. If it doesn’t get finished today, it will be re-evaluated on the next day when I start a new entry on the daily log. If the task is not important enough, it will not get migrated and I just move on. However, if it is important enough, I will end up migrating it every day until such time that I finish it. I once had a task that I kept putting off, so I ended up migrating it for 5 days straight. On the fifth day, I got tired of writing it down, I went ahead and just finished the task so I can mark it complete haha.
I could do the same thing on my phone, track tasks and use a to-do list, but I find that they don’t give me the same kind of satisfaction compared to tracking tasks on my bullet journal. It is weird, I know.
hey, all. TMO here (logged in w/ GH). I certainly blog on a spontaneous basis. Usually I feel like making a regular journal entry and will do so on w.a over an offline journal because I appreciate the “writing for an audience” aspect to blogging.
My blog is geared towards that, though - an online journal (or diary). Maintaining a theme, or an overall subject matter to address definitely limits my creative process and “confines” me to one certain area, and then I resent having to always write about the same subject again and again and again.
The broader a range of subjects that you, or I, or anyone are willing to write about will definitely increase the amount of posts you do during a a week (or a day).
Just my take 
There’s no reason you can’t use a regular notebook. I just appreciate that a bullet journal is pretty much a blank slate with some guiding dots. When I originally got into bullet journaling, I was putting effort into making weekly and monthly spreads. Now I keep it pretty barebones and minimalist. But I appreciate that a bullet journal allows for flexibility if I decide I want to make something more elaborate.
It’s more straightforward for me. I make a mental note and keep chewing on my subject, open the editor and let it flow. I do a few rewrites and in the writing process I discover further points to connect. Too much pre-structuring destroys my motive to write and in this aspect I treat writing similar to talking, think and let go.
Whether I write on Write or elswhere or for myself, I dont have a strict method, but usually it looks like that:
1. Usually, ideas pop up as a result of two different ideas suddenly associated in my mind. Once I have the main idea(s) in mind, I start “unfolding” them and write write write without thinking much about it (it’s almost like writing happens before thinking).
Then I take a look, delete stuff, organize etc.
So the first thing is association of ideas. I read/hear X and suddenly :“oh this makes me think of Y”, resulting in Z.
2. The second point: the more personal/individual it gets, the easier it flows. This parable (no need to be religious) comes to mind:
(the link below doesnt work but there are plenty of stuff online)
Another link
I am terrible at writing consistently (as it is clearly shown in my blog), so I don’t think I can offer any suggestion.
I am mostly chiming in to say I am the opposite, @cjeller1592: I have a digital notebook (I use Joplin, it syncs with a database so I can use it on my laptops and phone) with tons of subjects I want to write about, but when I try to do it, I very often give up because I can’t find the right words, and I am never happy with half-assing something, so I end up with nothing to publish.