Blog Writers Block: A Rewarding Alternative

Or Article, Journal, Book Writing Using A Blog Program

Edit, rewrite and re-post your existing work into a website of articles or future book.

First of all the frustrations of maintaining a blog on the internet.
There is a big difference in blogs that present articles rather than news stories. News items just keep on coming and are interesting to readers primarily when they are current, then they will lose interest rapidly, perhaps forever. These current announcements and opinions suit the normal blogging regimen very well.

A blog that publishes articles rather than simple posts is a place for readers to learn something of interest and perhaps gather up more information on the topic later. When posting the standard way there is a strict disadvantage to the aspiring writer. As substantial new ideas surface, information that will improve on the composition, the related post is way back in the posting sequence. It is of little or perhaps no value and lost for all time - if left stored there.

For the article writer who has chosen the blog platform for writing about a passionate topic some adjustments to standard posting procedures could be very useful. This is particularly so for the blogger who prefers to write with more content and detail, but less frequently, and also for the non-professional who has something to say but is concerned about writers block.

With a workable strategy, publishing much improved fresh updates can be very beneficial to the writer - and the new or returning reader.

Most writing topics have just so many sub-topics, and gradually the posts get watered down with repeated or similar words and paragraphs. Writers block sets in and production STOPS. The ability to produce continued quality output and avoid writers block is a common challenge.

You may have followed some excellent and captivating blogs for several years only to watch them weaken and finally stall. I have seen superb blogs do just that. But the projects could have continued to grow with not a whole lot of extra effort - with a re-posting plan.

Editing, extending and re-posting is a win-win routine.
Closing the blog to search engines and the public is an option that the writer might wish to consider if the only goal is a single publication for print or personal use. The existing open blog will likely remain open by choice.

Say an original, somewhat brief article was posted quite some time ago and no longer gets the attention you think it deserves. Meanwhile you have collected new topical content which would make it much better. A substantial rewrite is in order.

Some bloggers will post a statement of the update pointing to the rewrite which lies in storage. Others post a Most Popular Articles list occasionally; still they are not prominent.

A preferred upgrade and rewrite procedure for your articles can produce an all-round, better functioning and continuing blog. Let's say you have posted 150 times and new ideas are drying up. You have put a lot of work into your project and do not want to waste your efforts. You want to make it even better and perhaps have an e-book or manuscript in mind. With most of the hard work already done it can be easy.

Your set of, say 150-200 pretty good posts, can be culled, edited, extended, and combined to make up a blog or website of 60-100 in depth articles. A typical original post might go from 400-600 words to 1000-2000 in a first, second or perhaps third rewrite.

Re-posting advantages
Takes the pressure off the scheduled writing of entirely new content.
Each renewed post improves with increased pertinent quality material.
There is also a general improvement in wording, style, and images.
Your best articles do not fade away into nowhere land.
The entire site continues improving with solid content.
The continuing process begins to resemble book chapters.
Writer satisfaction increases and writers block is a non issue.
New and returning readers will have more reason to return again.

Suggested steps using Google Blogger
To start a rewrite create a new working text file containing the original text. Keep the title intact or improve on it if the blogging platform allows it. You can keep the first paragraph or two more or less as-is but some positive editing and improved key words are helpful. Then follow with the big improvements in content and style to the rest of the article.

When satisfied schedule the article for a re-post.

The article you are now reading is the #3 post of Article Blogs and Re-posting. The altered txt files list in my HD article directory look like this.

156-129-91article-blogs-reposting.txt http://social-fix.blogspot.com/2009/09/article-blogs-and-reposting.html
129-91article-blogs-reposting.txt http://social-fix.blogspot.com/2009/09/article-blogs-and-reposting.html
91article-blogs-reposting.txt http://social-fix.blogspot.com/2009/09/article-blogs-and-reposting.html

Personally I struggle and could never be a quality writer but I have things I want to say to those who might be interested. On my weekly blog and almost through year 3, I now re-post monthly. In preparing re-posts I gather new ideas and material in the new text file until a collection will be a solid improvement to the article. When satisfied and the time is right, I then replace the original Blogger post with the new text material. In Blogger I change the date to 'today' in Post Options, and then Publish. The post then rises to the top of the blog and shows the fresh date above the title, while the original date remains in the url. You can also turn the display date OFF as I have. If the title is in a sidebar listing it can be raised to the top manually.

The final result is a website of articles using blog software that is easy to maintain feel good about.

I find that completely redoing an article is a satisfying writing experience for this amateur and it has made the adventure more interesting, easier going and hopefully more readable.

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