General Discussions

**ForrestCroce** · 09-16-2007, 11:35 PM

I'd love to know how other people approach this problem, if you don't mind sharing your secrets? My latest blog post is kind of lousy; it's about winter coming to Seattle, which is by definition bleak and hopeless. Unsurprisingly, the post is short, really doesn't say much. And yet it has a profound effect on what's going to be showing up on my site for the next few months.

So, putting the blog format aside, how do you approach this problem? When you want/need to write about something blase? I don't want to complain throughout the post, but sometimes it makes sense to write about something you can't be enthusiastic or passionate about.

Has anyone else come up with a strategy to deal with writing you'd prefer to avoid?

**coolkbk585** · 09-16-2007, 11:49 PM

Hmm...

Well, when I want to approach a subject that's not that interesting to me, I Google it. I look at other people's writings about it if I can. I research it (to an extent, of course), and I try to find all of the best of it.

If you need to keep up interesting and somewhat cheerfull posts for a rather long period of time, I would look up all of the interesting information on the subject, and just make your posts a bit wordy. It might make your posts a little more difficult to read, but at least it's only for a short period of time.

Or, better yet, why not just write about something else? I don't ever write about something that doesn't interest me unless that really have to, because I know that what I write isn't going to be nearly as fun to read as something that I enjoy.

**ADAM Web Design** · 09-17-2007, 01:10 AM

I look at it like this: if it's uninteresting, I don't write about it at all. If I do, I won't write with the passion and effort required to put forth the best possible blog post I can; I end up cheating both myself and my users as a result.

**Learning Newbie** · 09-17-2007, 12:39 PM

Whenever I need to write about something sad or uninspiring, I just demonize the Republicans.

Works like a charm.

**fitnfree** · 09-17-2007, 09:30 PM

Well, you could write about it being bleak and hopeless and then go on to tell how you deal with it or what you do to chase away the winter "blahs" or something to that effect. (???)

**ForrestCroce** · 09-17-2007, 11:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ADAM Web Design

I look at it like this: if it's uninteresting, I don't write about it at all. If I do, I won't write with the passion and effort required to put forth the best possible blog post I can; I end up cheating both myself and my users as a result.

Well ... that's the problem. Imagining you had to write about something and faced all of these downsides, how would you approach that? I won't have much time except possibly the weekends for the next three weeks to devote to photography. I can't just let the site go empty that long, and it wouldn't be the best thing to focus on technical reviews for the next month. On top of that, I got a half decent photo this weekend

but it's very seasonal.

Quote:

Originally Posted by fitnfree

Well, you could write about it being bleak and hopeless and then go on to tell how you deal with it or what you do to chase away the winter "blahs" or something to that effect. (???)

Gore-Tex, getting above the snow line every chance I get - my snow shoes were stolen the last time I was in Canada! - then the problem is trying not to overheat. As long as you're out the door by the crack of 7 am...

That gives me a few ideas for a follow up post; thanks!

**Aadriyah** · 09-18-2007, 10:34 PM

it's hard you know, most people write when they are inspired, broken hearted, demented etc...To write uninspiring you should be blank....it's hard to say??

**vangogh** · 09-19-2007, 03:15 AM

Try to find something that inspires you in the topic. I get the feeling though it's less the topic right now and more you in general feeling uninspired to post. That will happen when you blog and it will happen again and again.

Usually I just fight through it and write anyway. The more I do the easier it becomes the next time. Some days I know that nothing at all is going to come and I allow myself not to write on those days.

Give yourself permission to write a little less the next few weeks, but fight through getting something written. Committing to a schedule helped me. Let's say you think two days a week is all you can maintain right now. Pick two days, say Sunday and Wednesday where you'll commit to posting. Make sure you post on those two days no matter what. And on those two days find something in your topic to inspire you.

It'll be winter here in Colorado in time too. Of course we still haven't even gotten to fall yet. But skipping that and thinking about winter I love how the snow looks when I wake up in the morning and don't see a single footprint in it. There's something pure and beautiful about that. I also like seeing animal tracks in the snow and trying to guess what animal left them.

I also love how the day after it snows here the skies are often as blue as can be with the sun shining.

I really like the jacket I have for when it's really cold. I don't care much for the cold, but I like wearing that jacket.

I'm not a big skier, but I know many, many people who can't wait for it to snow so they can get out on the slopes.

Winter means I don't have to feel guilty if I want to lock myself inside and watch football all day Sunday.

It's only bleak and hopeless if you see it that way. I actually can't stand winter either, but I can find moments in it that I enjoy. I can even find moments in winter that I can pretend to enjoy because I've seen other people enjoy those moments and I can imagine myself being them.

Bleak and hopeless can also be pretty interesting. Dostoevsky wasn't exactly the picture of sunshine in his writing, but his novels are still among the best every written.

It's all about how you look at it. Topics aren't good or bad, bleak or cheery. They just are. The bleak or cheery is what they are filtered through you. Change your perspective and see winter in a different way.

**fitnfree** · 09-19-2007, 09:55 AM

I think vangogh is onto something here -- a lot of people may feel exactly as you do regarding winter in your area. Writing your exact feelings, just the way you feel them, may be of interest to more than you realize. You could try a couple this way and see how it goes over.

(I hate winter, too ... yeesh). And if one day you find something you do to help get thru one of those bleak winter days, post about it! Look for inspiration and ideas in your everyday life, too. You never know sometimes when something someone says to you will inspire you, or something that "just happens" will be an inspiration, etc. Keep your mind alert to your surroundings and open to inspiration.

**ewomack** · 09-19-2007, 10:04 AM

As said above, if a topic doesn't inspire you, why should it inspire anyone else? If you're posting for the sake of posting you may want to reconsider and only post if you have something to say that's meaningful to you.

The above suggestions of rethinking the topic were good. Find some personal twist on the topic that gives you that spine-tingly feeling and then post.