Comments on: Blogger’s Block

By: opolhmpt

opolhmpt — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 09:30:03 +0000

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By: wkfuon

wkfuon — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 07:11:29 +0000

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By: Patty

Patty — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 17:24:07 +0000

So that’s the case? Quite a reveltoian that is.

By: Norma

Norma — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 00:10:16 +0000

I wish I'd get writer's block, then maybe I'd get other things done.

By: Janie L. Hermann

Janie L. Hermann — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 21:32:37 +0000

Thanks for sharing your stories with me Horst and Ammie. It is the sharing aspect that I like most about being a part of the library blogger community.

Thank you for the words of encouragement Cynthia. Your comments really made my day.

I have had a few other people respond on Facebook and other places to say that my post has spurred them on to get a blog post finished or get blogging again. Sometimes the grind of blogging can wear you down, but it always feels good to get going again.

By: Cynthia

Cynthia — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 12:31:30 +0000

I think you have a point about the 'it has already been said'.
There are a lot of library blogs, even more tech blogs, and a lot of web 2.0 has indeed been said. I find it hard and I am a new blogger.

That said, when I speak with you, there is never a shortage of ideas, topics, insights, and humor. I think your block comes from the insane amount of work you do (don't forget on top of the full-time gig, you created, organized, and attended a library camp).

I think we all need to find a new way to speak of library topics--there is a bit of heard it all before. I think posts like Amy's about Twitter are a very real way to move the discussion forward. It wasn't just a look at this great application post, but a post about a tool that is used, misunderstood, and in general still in the Beta phase for libraries.

Your voice is very important to this discussion. Keep posting, if only from time to time. You have stuff to say. Some day, you will have the time to say it in this format...

By: Ammie E. Harrison

Ammie E. Harrison — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 15:47:41 +0000

When ever I have blogger's block, I rely on my students. Since I am a reference librarian, I am supposed to be writing for my students; however, as most librarians know, we tend to forget our students are not research experts. If I have a block, I listen to my students, especially those in my area, and find out what they are having difficulty with, what frustrates them, or what they love. It usually takes about 48 hours before I have a great topic that I know people will actually use.

By: Horst

Horst — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 09:41:24 +0000

Sounds like a pretty normal thing to happen. If you started your blog in 2006 as your archives indicate, it makes sense that this would happen now. It has happened to me various times, with exactly the symptoms you described, particularly the symptom of "I start writing and suddenly I feel as if it has already been said before".

It has nothing to do with blogging Library 2.0 to death -- it has to do with the fact that you as a writer don't want to be going on and on about the same things all the time, regardless of what you are writing about. I tried to reinvent my blog a couple of times, trying to refocus what I was writing about, but this problem just kept reappearing after a while.

I guess it's related to the reason why Bill Watterson stopped drawing Calvin and Hobbes, and why Garfield stopped being funny a long time ago. Repetition is a writer's worst enemy.

I guess it shouldn't even be called "block" because you actually have things that you want to write about -- it's just that you realize it doesn't satisfy you as a writer. My blog went quasi-dead (one post per month or so) for most of 2008 because of that very reason, and I lost hundreds of readers that way.

My solution? I accepted the obvious and sent the blog on a hiatus. Instead I used the web space to write a crime novel in blog form, thus proving it wasn't writer's blog at all, but more a dissatisfaction with my previous blog content.

In mid-June, after the crime novel was finished, I resurrected my blog with a slight change in focus. So far I find that I have no trouble coming up with ideas for entries that I find blogworthy, but after less than two weeks it's hard to say how long it will last.