What Bloggers Can Learn
from Marathon Runners

I also find that the more I write, the easier it is to keep coming up with things to write about. My blog is a bit weird for me, because I didn't think it really had a theme, but writing every day has made me focus more on organization in various areas of my life. There are other things I want to right about, but for now, the organization is my key focus in my life in general, so that is what I am doing. There is always some thinking to do around that!

i love photography, so on my days off i take pics..upload and a story comes every time...SO FAR!! yeah! WOOT WOOT

http://drchoneydew.wordpress.com/2011/11/10/who-is...

I go through my day open to any ideas to write about and jot a title for the idea in my iphone.

Driving my son and his four teenage friends to basketball with the bass cranked up becomes a blog post.

Something on the Today Show becomes a blog post.

A phone call I get becomes a blog post.

A book I've just finished reading becomes a blog post.

An internet search becomes a blog.

A conversation with one of my three children becomes a blog post.

If you are open, the ideas are everywhere.

I tend to be topical with my four categories: personal development, inspiring women, family, and entrepreneurhip, but when I don't have an idea I grab one off my list.

I keep Evernote available for ideas I want to write about. I can get to it via my phone or if I'm at work. It's wonderful. If something is not forefront of my mind to write, I have a list to fall back on.

I'm actually training for a marathon and I use my running time to think about all the things I can write about. I put my ipod on "shuffle" and I create a scenario about two random songs that come on, or I see an interaction on the street, or I think about something I read. When I finish my run, I jot down the various ideas in a note on my phone and it is always at the ready when I hit that writer's block or exhaustion. Sometime's all it takes is a turn of a phrase overheard as I am walking or running by. Read more on http://redroom.com/member/kelly-tweeddale/blog

I've always had a collection of ideas in my drafts folder, so I've got those to turn to if I'm stumped. Sometimes it's just a title idea I had, or a photo I wanted to write about. But I really like having them there; like my own prompts, so I know they're really coming from me and I don't feel like I'm putting out half-a$$ed work for a prompt I don't really care about.

This is my first year attempting NaBloPoMo, so we'll see how I feel in a couple of weeks! LOL

Great post Mel! I really like the analogy to training for a marathon...

I am finding through participating in NaBloPoMo, though I have also noticed this in the past, that just as "sleep begets sleep," that "writing begets writing." The more often I write the more inspired and easier I am finding it to be inspired and have something to say.When I signed up for NaBloPoMo I originally plotted out the entire month including ideas/writing prompts for myself for each day. However, I have already found myself "bumping" some of my original ideas for given days, as I have come up with other, more timely, things that I have chosen to write about.This has been such a fascinating experience! Thank you for all you are doing to help cheer us on, as our NaBloPoMo (or in this analogy, marathon) coach/pace group leader! As with training for a race, it helps to have someone who has trained for and run the race before to give us tips and suggestions for ways to stay motivated and committed to our training and running/writing schedule! :)

I must be one of those fortunate people that never has a problem with creating a post. I more or less blog everyday really with the number of different ones I contribute to.

That said, recently I'd let it slip on a few fronts, but it was actually attending a @cdfblogs meeting recently that got me fired up for it again.

I agree with the poster below who said you have to know why your blog exists and what you want to communicate through it that is essential.

It makes it a lot easier when it comes to thinking of what to write and from what perspective.

Of course, writing something and writing something worth reading are two very different things and I'm sure I'm more guilty of the former than the latter :-)

I made a deal with myself before November started to get my NaNo writing done before I did anything else on the computer. Since I found out about the weekday NaBloPoMo prompts, I start a blog post for the day before I go to Facebook (yikes!). I like to participate in a couple of blog hops during the week and may finish up with that. But that has worked amazingly well for me. I've written more in the last 7 days than since I was in college.

This is great article. I work in social media and like you said, it is essential to have a calendar of what will be written and when it will be released. As we know, more and more people are putting up blogs and jumping in feet first; writing away and not thinking about the overall strategy or goal of the blog. Even though most people start blogs personally, people need to think about what their blog says about them and what they want it to convey about them. The blog represents them and their personal brand. A couple of key things to remember when starting a blog are:

Define your goal.

Develop a strategy

Define your target audience.

Establish a calendar.

Have three months of content before launching your blog.