When it comes to writing blog articles, one of the biggest struggles I’ve had at times is not necessarily coming up with topics to write about, those are relatively easy. What I struggle with is getting the blog started. After working with a friend of mine to help him write his book, I found a great remedy to that problem – don’t start at the beginning.
When writing his book, Tim started with chapter two, not chapter one. When you think about it, many books, especially technical books such as his (“Implementing Responsive Design”, Tim Kadlec), don’t really get into the meat and potatoes of the book until chapter two. Chapter one is just a basic introduction. A blog follows the same basic format with an introduction paragraph (chapter one) and then getting into the meat and potatoes of the article (chapter two).
Like Tim did with his book, don’t start with that introduction paragraph, especially if you have a great idea but just can’t get the writing started or can’t find the right words. Focus instead on the middle section of the blog, the main content of the article, and what you’re really working to articulate in the article. Once you have that main section the opening and closing will many times write themselves.
Next time you can’t find the perfect opening for a blog article don’t spend a lot of time fretting over it. Just move to the next section of the blog and then come back to the introduction at the end.
