I don’t have to tell you that motivation is a fickle thing or that creativity doesn’t churn out 24/7. What happens when you’re tasked to produce an article or blog post and you find yourself staring at a blank screen and a blinking cursor suffering from writer’s block?

What would curing writers block mean to you? You’d probably find yourself writing more often or at least more productively right?

Over the past few months I’ve developed somewhat of a pattern for writing my blog posts. Only recently have I discovered that my process can be sped up by performing one simple trick: gathering and placing my images first.

While that might not sound like much to you, this trick grants me an extra 30-60 minutes to help around the house, check the kids homework and play outside with them until it gets dark. What would that time mean to you?

Admittedly everyone’s process is different, but if you don’t have a blogging checklist perhaps you should draft one for yourself. Using a checklist can help serve as a constant reminder while you’re writing your post and can ensure your blog maintains its focus.

dailybloggingchecklist

Image via thesunnypatch.ca

Here’s what I gain from adding pictures to a blog post before I even write one word:

  1. It solves the whole writer’s block stigma by eliminating white space.
  2. I get to strategize my post in a logical fashion without missing any of my key elements or going off topic.
  3. Creating graphics, taking screenshots and adding annotations takes a decent amount of time which means getting them done first leaves one less thing to do at the end.
  4. Pictures are worth 1,000 words right? Good imagery will help drive the post. Imagery will also serve your writing because you should logically have a beginning, middle and end to the structure of your post regardless of the topic.
  5. The gift of time; peace of mind; a safety net.

This is what works for me. What works for you? I don’t have a hard copy blogging checklist, but it’s on my to-do list. While I’d like to believe I’m not going misplace the virtual rolodex in my head, I realize it would benefit me greatly to have something where I could simply cross things off a list.

If you’re looking for some blogging checklists you can find a great one at HubSpot and another one over at Social Media Fuze. Don’t suffer from writer’s block again — best of luck with your next post!