I do a lot of writing. If there is one thing I’ve learned is that you have to be inspired and motivated in order to write your best stuff. You know, that state of mind where the words and ideas come so quickly that your fingers have a hard time keeping up on the keyboard?

I call it my ‘writing muse’. And lots of times I can simply put some soothing music on in the background (or the crackling fireplace on Ambient.tv) and poof, the muse arrives and its off to the races, so to speak.

But since writing my new e-book last month, something has gone haywire. Suddenly my muse is a night owl. Which would be great if I could sleep past 7 am in the morning. When I’m ready to pack it in for the night, my eyelids drooping, suddenly the best ideas pop into my head. And during the day, when I’m desperate to get some blogging done? You’ve got it, nothing. My muse is silent.

Why am I sharing this here at Blog for Profit? How is this going to help you with your blogging? It’s not, but the steps I’ve taken to overcome it just may.

If you find yourself getting great ideas for your blog posts at inconvenient times, the following steps can help you to get your blogging done even when your muse isn’t on the same schedule as you are.

1. Record the ideas when they come. You can do this as simply as writing it down in a notebook that you keep with you all the time. I have 3 mini notebooks, one in my purse (a small moleskine notebook can fit easily into a mans pocket), one by my bed and one at my desk. I also have a magnetic note pad on my refrigerator in the kitchen for both the grocery list and ideas that spring to life while cooking.
2. You can also voice record them. Did you know that most cell phones have a voice recorder capability? It’s often called voice memo, and will allow you to record a short message. If yours doesn’t have it and you’re without pen and paper, call your own voice mail and leave a message. Oh and check and see if your cell phone has a note taking capability too. There are even services like Jott that allow you to call, leave a message and it will e-mail the information to you. You can choose the method that works best for you, or like me, use what works best during any given situation.
3. Get detailed. When taking or making your notes, be as detailed as possible. This means going a bit beyond the title or main idea. Try to at least include the key points you want to cover. For example, when making notes for this blog post, I included these points that I’m covering right now. It will help you when you’re sitting down to write and your muse is sleeping. Or whatever it is that they do when you can’t invoke them.
4. Include references. Your muse might have been inspired by something you saw or read. If so, make sure you include that information in your note. You’d be surprised how easy it is to forget just where you saw that article or video the next day. Give web addresses in your notes to self so that you don’t end up frantically searching the entire web trying to find it the next day or whenever it is you sit down to actually write.
5. If you write for several blogs as I do, be sure to specify which one this particular idea fits or is for. Believe it or not, I have made notes regarding posts that I meant for one site and ended up writing it for another…but not on purpose.

Although it may be frustrating to have your muse on a different schedule than you are, as you can see there are ways to work with it. You might even find the elusive little fellow (or gal as the case may be) shows up when it realizes you can write without them.

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