Keith Goodrum

Conventional wisdom says you shouldn’t explain long absences from your blog…

Conventional wisdom says you shouldn’t blog about things like your spouse or kids…

Conventional wisdom says you shouldn’t blog about your dog…

Sorry… Gypsy!

Well, being conventional & wise are two things I’ve been accused of lacking a few times in my life… I’ve been anything but conventional at times… and I’ve certainly lacked wisdom every now & then!

The truth is this past month I haven’t felt like blogging much. The motivation to sit down & write was missing. So, I skipped a couple of days, then it turned into a week and each day I skipped it became easier to skip the next day… Before I knew it a month had passed.

Wow, that flew by quick!

I’ve been thinking about blogging again for the past week. But, boy it sure was tough to get back in the saddle again. You know we it’s easy to take the path of least resistance. And I can tell you not writing sure has been an easy path.

Momentum is a funny concept. Once you have it… it’s easy to keep it going. But once you stop, it’s a bear to get going again.

So, I’ve decided to get the momentum back, and I have a plan. I’ve read many times that you can make or break a habit in 21 days. It’s pretty simple to explain, and tougher to follow through till the end.

Here it is in a nutshell: Any good habit you want to start, you just do it for 21 straight days. At the end of those 21 days you will have added that new habit to your life. Likewise for a bad habit. Just cut it out for 21 days & will be gone from your life.

So, I’m going to blog for 21 days & get back into the habit of writing. Not going to make this overly complicated with a bunch of rules. Just going to write a post & publish it… simple.

Ok, I’ve made this goal public, so the pressure is really on. As a side note making your goals public is a great way to help your motivation. It adds a high level of accountability.

Here we go… one day down, twenty more to go!

Now is the time to start a blog. Many people have discovered that they are a great tool to get your ideas out to promote you and your business; it builds a relationship with your readers, and the platform simpler than ever to get your message out. For this reason they are more popular than ever.

Here are three reasons why you should start a blog.

1. It’s the best form of marketing and branding you can do for your online business - One of the easiest ways to market your business is to build trust with your market. Relationships and trust build a sense of community. And when you have a sense of community there is no need to use hardcore marketing to make sales.

2. You can use a blog as a direct line of communication - Ryan Healy in his post titled Copywriting Is Not the Most Important Skill said: “It’s my belief that communication is the most important skill you could ever learn.” A blog opens a direct line of communication between you and your readers. This is a great platform for communication. In fact many times you start getting feedback within hours of posting… priceless information.

3. A blog is easier than ever to start - The tools to start a blog are easy to learn & use. You can have a blog started within minutes if you choose to use one of the free services like blogger.com, wordpress.com, or typepad.com. If you wish to host the blog on your own domain, you can be up and running within a couple hours. Where else can you start a business so fast, or so inexpensive?

One of the complaints I hear is people hesitate to start blogging because they believe it would take huge amounts of time to write a blog post everyday. Many people abandon their blogs because they cannot find the time to write blog posts. They are caught up in a busy life, and it tough to carve out the time.

It would take me hours to write a simple blog post…

I had the same problem. It use to take me hours to write a simple 300-word post. It was agonizing, slow and frankly became a drag. I would go through spurts of writing several posts at a time…. then go weeks, even months without posting. My blog looked like it was abandoned at times.

I finally made the decision to figure out how to write faster. After trying many methods without much success… I finally figured it out. I found a speed writing technique, and modified it to make writing blog posts. I can now write a regular blog post in 10 minutes or less. It has been working great, and producing great results.

I’ve recorded this technique, and will be releasing it as a new product called “10 Minute Blog Post”. In it I show you how to write a blog post in 10 minutes. You get to see how I prepare, write and edit a blog post. You get to look over my shoulder as I write one of the posts I wrote for this blog.

Tomorrow Thursday May 1st “10 Minute Blog Post” will be released…

Of course there will be special pricing. Now, I have to warn you these recordings are not pretty. I’m not a professional presenter, and my Camtasia skills suck. It ain’t going to win any awards… it ain’t even going to be nominated.

So, if you are looking for pretty, flashy recordings with fancy graphics… save your money. This is not the product for you. But the information is valuable, and that’s what’s important… how to write a blog post in 10 minutes.

Stress! Writers block can bring on stress like few other things in life. Many bloggers experience this at one time or another. I know I’ve experience my share of writers block. Stress, frustrations and panic are some of the emotions that seem to go hand in hand with writers block.

Now, there are people who claim they’ve never experience writers block. This post is not for them… but for us mere mortals who have an occasional bout of writers block here are a few tips I’ve found useful:

1. Take a break - Sometimes I’ll reach a point of frustration, and have to get up and take a break. I just need some time away from the computer. I’ll take the dog for a walk, or do some reading. Any distraction will do to that lets me escape for an hour or so. Find something you enjoy, and go do it.

2. Have Posts Ready To Go In Reserve - Having a few posts ready to go is a great safety net, just in case you can’t get one done. A post in your back will help maintain your publishing schedule.

One thing I’ve found is if I know there is one in the bullpen, I’ll relax and find it easier to write. Just having it there makes me feel better, and that will often get the writing juices flowing.

3. Switch Projects - Another way is to be working on several projects at once. If I get stuck, I’ll switch and work on a sales letter, or an article or another blog post. A change of perspective can many times spark new ideas. And that is usually all I’ll need to rekindle my writing.

4. Just Start Typing - I learned this one from Gary Halbert. He said to just start typing. If you have nothing to say just type the words… blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I thought this was the stupid, and resisted it for a while. Then one day I was desperate and shut the door, unhooked the phone and disconnected from online. I started typing blah, blah, blah… and after a while I started writing! It was weird… it worked.

5. Do More Research - Sometimes I’ll get stuck because I’m not sure what to write about. This is a sure indication that I’ve not learned enough about the subject. At this point I’ll know its time to learn more about my subject. Remember you can write when you have information flowing out your ears.

6. Write in small chunks - This one is good. Break your writing down into smaller chunks. I’ll make a goal to just write one paragraph, or one point. When I’m done I’ll move on to the next one, and the next… before you know it you’re done.

7. Schedule your writing time - Scheduling a regular time for writing gets your brain into the habit of writing. We are creatures of habit, and like to have routines. Get your brain use to writing at a certain time… and it will comply.

I hope you find these helpful, and put them into action. What are some of your favorite ways to cure writers block?