Sometimes I sit for an hour staring at a blank screen wondering what I should talk about for my next blog post. Does this happen to you too? Maybe just having a general idea, but not really knowing exactly how you want to approach it?
Riffing is a good way to flesh out your thoughts – get your ideas down on paper (or text editor) and see where it takes you. Sure, maybe you’ll end up going off on a tangent… but that may not necessarily be a bad thing! It’s possible that a whole onslaught of interesting and informative things come out of these branches of thought. So don’t fight it!
Just pick a topic. Anything whatsoever. Possibly not even related to your niche.
Then just write. Don’t think. Just write.
Don’t worry about formatting, sentence structure or any outline at all.
Just write whatever comes to your mind.
Once you’ve reached a point where you cannot write any further, go back and read it. Highlight anything that sparks the thought “this would be great to expand on!” and focus in on it. Maybe even riff yet again starting with that idea in mind.
Your first few attempts at riffing may not yield a great deal of usable information. It’s possible that absolutely nothing comes out of it. Now, if you practice enough and hone this skill, it may prove to be a very effective way to inspire new and innovative posts. It can ignite your creative side and open yourself up to sharing unique viewpoints about your niche – then passing this on to your blog readers.
For your information: this post was actually written this exact way – in one stream of thought with no editing. Why don’t you try to do the same for your next blog post? Come back an link it up in the comment section, let’s see how everyone else does!