Summer is a time when the number of vacations increase and the amount of days at work get a little bit smaller. If you are a part-time blogger, this makes writing a bit harder to get around to do because there’s another factor that gets in the way of being productive.
If you are a full-time writer, however, you may have to be more creative in your approach to stories because depending on the niche you write about, news may be slow to come during these summer months. So, with the Summer almost officially here, we will talk a little bit about how to gain the drive to write consistently and productively this summer and to prevent summer writer’s block.
1. Incorporate Summer Into Your Writing
A great way to have the drive and energy to write this summer is to bring a summer spirit to your writing. When planning articles, look into having articles that are on the subject of summer. This can work for just about any genre. If you are a fashion blogger, you will inherently write on summer fashions and how to dress for the warmer weather. But if you are someone like a finance blogger, you can write about how to keep your finances in check on a vacation or hot companies to invest in during the summer. Because it’s themed and current, you will bring in more interested readers.
2. Create a Writing Schedule
Creating a writing schedule will prevent you from feeling as if you are being swamped by writing. This will reduce the amount of time you are sitting behind the computer screen as well because you are on a writing regimen. It may seem a bit intense to use the word “regimen” when talking about writing, but if you feel that you are writing simply when you can or when close to a deadline, you aren’t writing correctly. A smart blogger is able to schedule a day to think of articles for the week, another day to gather images for the articles, and a third day to write, followed by an editing and publishing day. This will prevent having to rush in writing and allows you to take it a step at a time.
3. Give Yourself a Vacation
This is summer after all. If you find that you are writing in your free time, or looking to have some free open time to breath as a full-time writer, you will benefit from a nice vacation. We don’t necessarily mean booking a plane ticket to a private island for a week. A vacation can be in the form of just stepping away from your computer at least one day a week and enjoying the summer weather or giving yourself a week hiatus from your website to simply relax. You can bring on a guest writer if you have your own website, or you can simply have posts scheduled for your time off.
4. Make it a Point to Write Daily
You don’t have to have published work cranking out of your website every single day, that goes counter to what I’ve been saying this whole time. But, you should write in some form or another every day. This can be in the form of having a paper journal and just jotting down your thoughts of the day. If you feel that you want to stay productive and relate it to your work, you can write daily through jotting down post ideas as you go about your day.
This can include carrying a nice mini Moleskine notebook to keep ideas in, I linked the one that I make use of and carry around daily. Unlike other occupations, as a blogger, especially one that for the most part is freelance, you don’t necessarily have business hours. You may have planned blocks for actually sitting down and writing, but we are always working to either crank out ideas, research on topics, or gathering materials for posts.
5. Utilize the “Unplug” Method
It is easy to lolly-gag off to another task if you see that there isn’t anything directly preventing you from doing so. However, this isn’t the case with the “unplug” method I learned. Charge your laptop to full either while sleeping or write before writing. When you are about to go write your post, unplug your laptop and begin writing.
Your “stop” clock is the battery life of your laptop. Finishing before you hit 0% is the goal, and it’s a great way stay focused. If you follow the tip I mentioned above about spacing out your work with an editorial calendar, you’ll find that you won’t have to rush and that your laptop’s battery life is ample time to get your day’s work done.
I hope that you are able to stay cool this summer and enjoy the weather. Let me know in the comments below what your summer plans are.
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