Is there such thing as bloggers block?
February 13th, 2008 posted by Lorena CrowleyWhen our agency kicked off its blog last May, it seemed like anything and everything inspired me to blog. Current events, other blogs, articles and even just having conversations with my colleagues all made me feel like the forces of the universe were crying out for me to blog … and so I did my best to please them by participating on this blog and others. But for some reason, at the drop of a hat, I lost that momentum and electrifying urge to type away. I felt that way for several months. It begged me to wonder why I went from being so compelled to blog to feeling like there really wasn’t anything I had to say. And for people who know me… it’s very unusual for me to have nothing to say! Could it be bloggers fatigue? Nah. I think I’m too young for that …
Then I thought back to one of my earlier posts in which I analyzed David Gammel’s four levels of engagement in the blogosphere. At the time, I strongly agreed with the hierarchical value of moving from 0: unengaged to 4: fully engaged. On this sale, listening falls in the mere position of level 1. That seems appropriate, right?
Now, I beg to differ. During my hiatus from blog writing, I still considered myself very entrenched in the blogosphere. I just needed to spend some time taking in information, seeing how the blogs I liked to read were evolving and just listening to my peers in the communication world. I didn’t feel any less connected or less engaged either. I was content being an active blog-reader. Then, last week I suddenly got the itch again!
This makes me feel like blogging really does have staying power. Most creative thinking has chasms. Painters look outside for inspiration, novelists struggle to bring life to their stories and musicians strum many chords to find the right melody. Why should blogging be any different?
I officially recognize bloggers block. And simply listening doesn’t mean you are digressing down through the levels of engagement. In fact, stepping away from the active blogger position may actually be just the refresher we need. So those of you suffering — don’t worry. There is hope.
March 7th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
This is an interesting concept. Thankfully with our blog, it’s a company thing. A lot of times inspiration can come from something one of the co-workers has written. It especially helps when contributors are diverse people who enjoy sharing opinions.