Friday Speak Out!: How to Break a Blog Fever, Guest Post by Joanne DeMaio

How to Break a Blog Fever

by Joanne DeMaio

During these cold winter months, you might experience the virtual version of Cabin Fever. Symptoms include staring at a blank computer screen, fiddling with a pen and looking longingly at Blogger Scheduler. Are Blog post ideas as fleeting as a warm, sunny day? You’ve got a case of Blog Fever, friends.

But for writers, our blogs should consistently shine. Day after day, week after week, no matter what the blog theme, new posts must be written regularly, all while maintaining major writing projects. This is when writer angst raises its head. The cry “What can I blog about?” often rings across the blogosphere.

The answer lies in your camera. That’s right. A picture’s worth a thousand words, or a blog post at the very least. So grab that handy point-and-shoot and step outside. Take a walk through the winter wonderland of your neighborhood, or down Main Street, or along the windswept beach. Snap any images that catch your eye. A colorful window display. Waves crashing on the rocks. Ice skaters at a local pond. Look for whimsy, and charm, and nature.

As easy, and fun, as that, you’ve got several new posts in those images ready to keep your blog chugging along. Here’s how. Take your blog’s theme, whether it’s sharing a writing journey, finding happiness, or learning to cook, and project it onto the pictures. Then ask yourself how some aspect of writing, or happiness, or cooking, is paralleled in the images. When you look at a photograph closely, you’ll be amazed at the connections you can make.

My blog, Whole Latte Life, focuses on keeping our passions, or crafts, a central part of our own perfect blend of life. With that theme in mind, I have built an inventory of photographs to inspire relevant posts. Any subject is game. An overturned rowboat on a sandy beach becomes a post asking if my readers’ passions have ever been beached, and how they handled it. An ancient stone wall bordering a farm suggests that readers build their book, or song, or garden, one stone at a time in small, diligent efforts. A sunflower growing from a hollowed-out tree trunk reminds readers to give their creations a fresh spin.

So the next time you’re blogging and feeling the pressure to post, grab your camera and hit the road. A world of blog posts is poised and ready to be framed in your lens!

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 Joanne DeMaio is a Connecticut writer and founder of the inspirational blog Whole Latte Life. Grab a coffee and stop by for a visit at http://www.joannedemaio.blogspot.com/.

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Would you like to participate in Friday "Speak Out!"? Email your short posts (under 500 words) about women and writing to: marcia[at]wow-womenonwriting[dot]com for consideration. We look forward to hearing from you!

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