As I’m so often asked about how I stay motivated and creative in writing this blog, I thought I’d share a few tips and tricks to truly up your creativity game when it comes to crafting beautiful, not always polished blog posts. Like always, take all of this ‘advice’ with a pinch of salt and always write entirely from your heart and head in unison.
Practice makes perfect
No really, it does.How many times have you begun to write a blog post only to sit and compare it to others’ or berate yourself for the copy ‘not being good enough’? Comparison is the thief of joy, yes, but practice really does make perfect. The more you write, the better you’ll become.
I have been known to write three or four versions of posts before one ever goes live. I couldn’t even begin to tell you how many posts have been scrapped altogether. Sometimes a post idea just never comes to fruition and that’s fine too: continue to write it, take a step back and read it properly, decide whether and why you like or dislike it, and learn from it. Look back at your old posts and evaluate them for yourself. There are always lessons to be learned.
Read some more
And hand in hand with that, the more you read, the better you’ll become. I’m not talking blogs, although some are home to some of the most beautifully written, wittiest and progressive copy and prose I know. I mean literature that you love. Ease yourself in by having a look through Refinery 29 and The Cut for well-written features that have a voice too. I find these to be great sources of inspiration not only for opening my eyes to new writing styles but also feature ideas too. I love online magazines that feature a whole host of writers, because their individual opinions and copy styles stand out and it makes reading them a little more fun and almost challenging.Pick up books, old and new. Read your favorite book again and revisit the reasons why you loved it so. I’m not saying you should adopt an Austen tone of voice or center your beloved blog around the wizarding world of Hogwarts, but your own writing style is often a melting pot of the words you’ve personally consumed.
Go offline
I’m currently still in phone exile which means I’ve had an incredibly odd amount of offline time. Whilst I’m pretty much still glued to my MacBook, I have solely been working and tended to use my phone to scroll through Twitter and Instagram and all of that blogger goodness. It’s been refreshing to say the least! But more on that next week ;) Rooi have begun to stock Kate Spade’s oft-coveted range and I saw it as the perfect opportunity to pick up a new notebook and draft up some fresh ideas.This Kate Spade Birch Way Spiral Notebook is absolutely beautiful and features a concealed spiral-bind. The print is ridiculously sweet and oh so ‘Kate Spade’; it’s found a perfect place to the right of desk set-up, in easy reach for noting down ideas. I find planning posts offline to be much more conducive to a productive writing session because as much as it’s great to have the immediacy of spilling words onto Blogger or Wordpress or whichever platform you favour, a pencil and pad will allow you to draft everything down. I like to mindmap some of my lengthier posts and have branches for my references, for incomplete sentences, for points of interest to write about, etc. It also means I can write down those odd great phrases and/or words that so often jump into my mind whilst I’m on my 6th episode of whichever series I’m Netflix marathon-ing without having to open up a writing program or my blog CMS platform.
Challenge yourself
Why not challenge yourself to try a new writing style once in a while?I adore reworking Instagram round-ups into fairytales or using a little more emotive language in everyday posts to inject a little magic to the mundane. As a copywriter and editor by day, I use a few thousand words each day and enjoy challenging myself weekly to add a new word into my vocabulary to shake things up. I find learning so interesting and it’s a great way to work my brain and learn how to include a new word or phrase into my everyday witterings.
Little Ways to Up Your Writing Creativity Game
23.3.17 When it comes to keeping a blog and writing Daisybutter, I always say that my favorite part - that is, the part that comes easiest to me - is the writing part. For as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to be known and remembered for my love of words, for my love of books and for my words. Introversion and a creative mind are fine things when you’re little and I’m so grateful that I’ve able to pursue this path in my self-carved career.As I’m so often asked about how I stay motivated and creative in writing this blog, I thought I’d share a few tips and tricks to truly up your creativity game when it comes to crafting beautiful, not always polished blog posts. Like always, take all of this ‘advice’ with a pinch of salt and always write entirely from your heart and head in unison.
Practice makes perfect
No really, it does.How many times have you begun to write a blog post only to sit and compare it to others’ or berate yourself for the copy ‘not being good enough’? Comparison is the thief of joy, yes, but practice really does make perfect. The more you write, the better you’ll become.
I have been known to write three or four versions of posts before one ever goes live. I couldn’t even begin to tell you how many posts have been scrapped altogether. Sometimes a post idea just never comes to fruition and that’s fine too: continue to write it, take a step back and read it properly, decide whether and why you like or dislike it, and learn from it. Look back at your old posts and evaluate them for yourself. There are always lessons to be learned.
Read some more
And hand in hand with that, the more you read, the better you’ll become. I’m not talking blogs, although some are home to some of the most beautifully written, wittiest and progressive copy and prose I know. I mean literature that you love. Ease yourself in by having a look through Refinery 29 and The Cut for well-written features that have a voice too. I find these to be great sources of inspiration not only for opening my eyes to new writing styles but also feature ideas too. I love online magazines that feature a whole host of writers, because their individual opinions and copy styles stand out and it makes reading them a little more fun and almost challenging.Pick up books, old and new. Read your favorite book again and revisit the reasons why you loved it so. I’m not saying you should adopt an Austen tone of voice or center your beloved blog around the wizarding world of Hogwarts, but your own writing style is often a melting pot of the words you’ve personally consumed.
Go offline
I’m currently still in phone exile which means I’ve had an incredibly odd amount of offline time. Whilst I’m pretty much still glued to my MacBook, I have solely been working and tended to use my phone to scroll through Twitter and Instagram and all of that blogger goodness. It’s been refreshing to say the least! But more on that next week ;) Rooi have begun to stock Kate Spade’s oft-coveted range and I saw it as the perfect opportunity to pick up a new notebook and draft up some fresh ideas.This Kate Spade Birch Way Spiral Notebook is absolutely beautiful and features a concealed spiral-bind. The print is ridiculously sweet and oh so ‘Kate Spade’; it’s found a perfect place to the right of desk set-up, in easy reach for noting down ideas. I find planning posts offline to be much more conducive to a productive writing session because as much as it’s great to have the immediacy of spilling words onto Blogger or Wordpress or whichever platform you favour, a pencil and pad will allow you to draft everything down. I like to mindmap some of my lengthier posts and have branches for my references, for incomplete sentences, for points of interest to write about, etc. It also means I can write down those odd great phrases and/or words that so often jump into my mind whilst I’m on my 6th episode of whichever series I’m Netflix marathon-ing without having to open up a writing program or my blog CMS platform.
Challenge yourself
Why not challenge yourself to try a new writing style once in a while?I adore reworking Instagram round-ups into fairytales or using a little more emotive language in everyday posts to inject a little magic to the mundane. As a copywriter and editor by day, I use a few thousand words each day and enjoy challenging myself weekly to add a new word into my vocabulary to shake things up. I find learning so interesting and it’s a great way to work my brain and learn how to include a new word or phrase into my everyday witterings.
