What excuses are you making today?

I was a bit cross with myself last week – I’ve been blogging reasonably regularly for about a year and a half now and I moved from monthly to fortnightly a few months ago, so I was annoyed that I’d used the school holidays as an excuse not to get my regular post done.

The kids have been off for nearly three weeks already! I remember really struggling to keep things afloat this time last year, but this year I have reached a happy medium where I have been spending a lot of time doing stuff with them, but also spending time getting work done, even if it means a few early starts and late finishes. I feel I missed a trick with regards to not getting something scheduled in advance for my blog, mind you.

Better late than never…

I realise though that I have made a LOT of progress from where I was in the early days and I enjoy the writing process very much even though I’m far from perfect. It’s a relatively straightforward process for me to catch up, even if it is a week later than I anticipated!

But what about you? Is writing something that you struggle with? Are you making a lot of excuses about why you can’t start that blog or carry on with it once you have started? Is the writing process in general something that makes you want to run and hide?

Writing isn’t something that comes easily to everyone. I believe that a lot of people are more comfortable talking about what they do, hence the rising popularity of podcasting, although for me, that would be a huge step out of my comfort zone! I was interviewed for a podcast earlier this year despite really not liking the sound of my voice on recordings, and I’ve also managed to record a number of short videos, but I know I will always feel more comfortable with the written process.

Do you prefer to talk?

Everybody (apart from my mum!) has a handheld recording device these days – a smartphone! If you do feel more comfortable articulating your thoughts verbally, I would suggest recording your thoughts into your phone. You might find it easier either to dictate a blog post word for word, or to express the gist of what it is you want to say verbally. You can then get the results transcribed and edited into either a completed blog post, or a piece of written text that you can then edit yourself, thus taking out the fear and pain of the actual written process. The process of intelligent transcription gets recorded words ‘book ready’, if you like, by taking out the ums and ers, and tidying up the text so it’s ready to go.

So, what’s stopping you from blogging? I’d love to know what you’re struggling with, and if you think intelligent transcription might help you with the writing process, so please comment below and let me know.