Tag: imagination

5 Easy Steps to Writing a Great Blog Post

~ Cristian Mihai ~ 62 Comments

People think that writing is a magic skill, mostly because it seems you’re creating something out of nothing.

It’s not.

It’s not magic, it’s not a genuine act of creation.

It’s part art, part craft. It’s a lot more perspiration than inspiration.

You start with a given set of resources (ideas and a little time), learn the right way to put those resources together, and you’ll write a blog post.

That being said, here’s how to write a great blog post in five easy steps. Continue reading “5 Easy Steps to Writing a Great Blog Post” →

Do You Want to Be a Prolific Blogger? Here’s How

~ Cristian Mihai ~ 24 Comments

I did a bit of counting today: this year I wrote 318 blog posts on this blog, 234 blog posts on my main blog,  plus 373 posts on irevuo, for a total of 925 posts.

Granted, let’s say half of those are reposts, advertising, or not that long to be considered actual writing, like Quote of the Day on irevuo.

Still, I wrote over three hundred and fifty blog posts across eleven months. On average, that’s more than one blog posts per day. I also wrote and released a book on blogging, wrote a few chapters from some of my fiction projects, and a couple of short stories.

Oh, and the emails and comments. Never underestimate the amount of keys one has to punch in other to reply to thousands of e-mails and comments every week.

The stats say I’m prolific, but this doesn’t mean I spend most of my time writing posts.

Actually, I think you’d be surprised by how much time I actually spend writing. It’s just not as much as you’d think.

This is why I am writing this post. Because there are a few strategies that I employ to write as fast as possible.

Because the truth is that writing blog posts is something you can do with ease, as long as you approach the process in a certain way. Continue reading “Do You Want to Be a Prolific Blogger? Here’s How” →

[Blogging Mindset] If You Stand for Nothing, You’ll Fall for Anything

~ Cristian Mihai ~ 7 Comments

Truth be told, I could sum up this post with a simple sentence: Fight for your ideas!

We can get technical, we can list dozens of rules of writing, blogging, curating online content, sharing it on social media, we can talk about properly formatting your blog posts, or writing captivating introductions, but the truth is that if you do not believe in what you are writing, if you are not in this with all your heart, then it’s all for nothing.

Like those books on body language that teach you various trick on how to feel confident… well, it’s more like how to display confidence. The truth that they cannot admit because no one would buy such books is that if you are confident, truly feel at ease with yourself, then it does not matter how you stand, how you hold your hands, and all that. Continue reading “[Blogging Mindset] If You Stand for Nothing, You’ll Fall for Anything” →

A Glimpse Behind the Scenes of a Successful Blog

~ Cristian Mihai ~ 32 Comments

Believe it or not, being successful as a blogger does not mean blogging is somehow easy. Sometimes it can be fun, while other times it can feel like a daunting chore.

The truth is that we often focus obsessively on failure, but don’t realize that success has its own cons as well.

Curious to know how it feels to be a successful blogger? Read on. Continue reading “A Glimpse Behind the Scenes of a Successful Blog” →

Are You a Hoarder (of Ideas)?

~ Jordan Peters ~ 27 Comments

Imagine this, if you will.

An old woman, near the end of her life. Shivering in a fleabag apartment without heat in the winter. Walking four miles each way to the food bank, to carry home unmarked cans of mystery meat. Not even a cat to keep her company, because cat food is expensive.

Then one day she dies, and the neighbors find $2.7 million wadded up in her mattress.

It’s a natural human impulse to hold on to what we have. We figure we can handle whatever discomforts we might be facing now, and who knows how bad it could get down the line? So we hoard, saving up our riches for some mythical later time.

What does this have to do with writing?

Everyone who writes faces this at some point. We come up with a powerful idea, something we think will capture a lot of attention. This is the kind of content we know we need to grow our blog and our business.

So of course we can’t waste it on our measly 300 subscribers (or 100, or 12). We scribble our great idea on a Post-it so we remember to write it up when we hit some magic number of subscribers–500 or 1000 or 10,000.

The Post-it gets dusty. We never hit that magic number. Because we took our best content ideas and stuffed them into a mattress. We didn’t think our small audience was good enough for amazing content, so we never got a larger audience. Continue reading “Are You a Hoarder (of Ideas)?” →

Struggling with Writer’s Block? Here are 3 Simple Steps to Beat it

~ Cristian Mihai ~ 44 Comments

Personally, I like the term creative bankruptcy more, but no matter how we’d name it, not being able to do something you love, that normally works like a dream, is incredibly frustrating.

This is your passion we’re talking about, not some boring, mindless chore that must be done.

And then, if you’re a professional blogger or author, you’ve got deadlines, you’ve got to earn a living.

And if words have abandoned you, who are you going to be? You’re a writer, right? Writers write, right?

So who are you if you can’t write?

A nobody?

Deep inside,  you know that’s nonsense.

Once a writer, always a writer. There’s no going back. Like being pulled from the Matrix.

But try telling yourself that late at night when all you managed to write for the day would fit comfortably inside a Tweet.

Now, there are many different types of creative block, and plenty of ways to tackle them and get back to writing.

But your time is limited, so we need to address this issue in a little less than a thousand words, so here are three critically important things for you to remember about being creatively blocked.
Continue reading “Struggling with Writer’s Block? Here are 3 Simple Steps to Beat it” →

50 Ways to Become a Better Blogger

~ Jordan Peters ~ 116 Comments

Do you want to become a better blogger? Silly question, eh.

In that case, I’ve got some great news. The best way to become a better blogger is to blog. And to keep blogging.

If this blogging thing is difficult and frustrating, then you must force yourself to do it, and do it, and do it, until you get better at it.

As bloggers, we have to produce words daily – even when we don’t feel like it. Even replying to comments or e-mails is a good way to enhance one’s creativity.

Then there are a number of thing we can do to become better at this blogging thing. Quite a few of them… Continue reading “50 Ways to Become a Better Blogger” →

This is YOUR Wake-Up Call

~ Cristian Mihai ~ 54 Comments

Stop lying. To yourself. To others. In the comments section of your blog. On other people’s blogs. In your about page. Stop lying.

“I don’t care if people read my stuff or not.”

“I blog for me, myself, and I.”

Lies.

If that were true, you’d be writing in a notepad. Or several. Hiding them away under your bed or in a closet. But you’re on the world wide web for a reason, and that reason is to be read.

But no one reads your blogs, so you have to lie. And I’d use that terrible, terrible cliche that the road to hell is paved with lies and good intentions and adverbs, but the truth is that lies are the bricks that help build hell here on earth. A kind of hell that you have to live with for the rest of your life.

So, yeah, stop lying to yourself.

The first step in solving any problem is recognizing you have one.

You have no readers. So what? I didn’t have any readers when I first started blogging.

But you have to admit that you are writing in the hopes of someone reading your words.

We all do.

And it’s okay.

Continue reading “This is YOUR Wake-Up Call” →

How Not to be Boring (as a Blogger)

~ Cristian Mihai ~ 59 Comments

There’s something you need to know, and I’m afraid you’re not going to like it.

Your blog is putting me to sleep.

I gave it about three seconds of my attention…

Nothing grabbed my eye. No headline inspired me to read. No images drew me in.

And here’s the thing: it was easy for me to rid myself of your insipid writing, your bland blog. Closed my Internet Browser and that was it.

It doesn’t have to be that way. A few tweaks here, a little more effort there, and your website will stop me in my tracks.

Here’s four ways not to be boring for you to try out this week. This will not be boring… Continue reading “How Not to be Boring (as a Blogger)” →