You might have noticed I added on an extra headline to the usual Amble title, and that’s because I want to start giving these blogs more of a direction. Which is a little bit of an oxymoron because they’re supposed to be a leisurely amble…
My business coach and I were chatting the other evening about my content plan going forward. I’d like them to help new and upcoming freelancers with these blogs, as well as those in the digital marketing sphere. If they see me share a post titled “Amble Through the Brambles”, well, they’re not exactly going to think that’s in any way set out to help them!
Hence the new title 🙂
Highlights of the Week
This past week I’ve learned a lot about consistently showing up. Like making time to get my website done.
Yes, it’s finally done! The blog page doesn’t look different but the rest of the website is changed around with new copy, photos (thank you Kerie!) and colour schemes
What I thought would take me a day or two took me a whole week, but I stuck at it and I’m proud of the finished piece (well, not quite finished. I’m getting my website photos taken today – thank you Kerie!).
Would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below on the new makeover!
Last weekend I went hiking (waaay more intense than any of my recent amblings!) with a school friend and a bunch of her work mates. We confidently took off from the Hydro Car Park in Kerry to hike the Coomloughra Horseshoe Loop; a crazy ridge hike in the Macgillycuddy Reeks.
What started out as a blissful, incredible hike unfortunately took a turn for the worse when one of our crew fell. The group had to split and the Kerry Mountain Rescue team were called, but due to the heavy cloud cover the helicopter couldn’t land.
12 hours later and everyone was down from the mountain… All thankfully safe and well, but I think it gave us all a big wake up call that in any moment things can take a turn for the worse up any mountain side.
But we remained consistent, and hiked Mount Brandon on Sunday! Rather than let the fear conquer us, we conquered more mountains instead. (While taking caution of course, we have our maps and compasses safely intact along with first aid kits and more food and layers.)
Freelancer Tool of the Week
I’m (still) reading the book The Gene, which is all about the history of genetics up to the present day. I honestly didn’t think I’d 1. enjoy the book or 2. actually take tips from it, but it’s such a good read! It’s definitely very “sciencey”, but you don’t need a degree to understand it all.
What I found interesting about the discovery of genes was that in the early days when Gregor Mendel and even Aristotle were trying to figure it all out, they mostly worked on their own. For years. Kind of going around in circles with their findings…
It wasn’t until the 1940s and 50s when scientists such as Rosalind Franklin, James Watson, Walter Gilbert and Frances Crick (and many more) came together in labs to make massive advancements in genes and DNA discoveries.
Now what does this have to do with staying consistent in your writing and content?!
Accountability!
Reaching out to other writers in your niche on LinkedIn or in Facebook groups is a great way to chat about all things writing. Discussing your struggles with other writers helps get over the writer’s block, or can allow you to develop new ideas!
I’ve mentioned it before in these blogs about finding a marketing or writing mastermind or accountability partner. They know exactly what you’re going through and will hold you accountable to your writing goals every week or month when you check in.
Yes, you might spend most of your time working on your own, but jumping on a call every week to discuss work and goals can be a huge leap for your writing career!
If you already work in a marketing team, perhaps set up weekly meetings that are specifically for answering the teams’ creativity questions, or the latest trends in the industry.Stuck for Content Ideas?
Stuck for Content Ideas?
This week’s productivity tip is a super easy and effective one to hit your writing goals every week.
Build a bank of blog post and content ideas. Everyday, grab your notebook and jot down ten content ideas; from basic headlines to a vague topic, just write down whatever comes to mind. In one week you’ll have 50 content ideas!
A lot of the time, us bloggers struggle to sit down and write something because we simply don’t know what to write about. If you have a bank of content to look through, you’ll surely pick something that tickles your fancy that day (once it’s relevant to your audience of course..).
Struggling to come up with content ideas? I’d recommend checking out Smart Blogger’s blog post headline ideas to fill in the blanks with your niche and audience!
Start With Writing Ten Words
I’m finishing this week’s blog with a motivational quote in image form. I received these School Of Life Calm cards from my sister years ago, and I whip them out every so often when I’m feeling a bit meh.
I came across this one and it struck me!
More often than not, we’re simply afraid to start because we’re living in fear of what that end goal could possibly be. How looming and overwhelming and gah, what-if-I-fail feelings?!!
That blank page with the blinking cursor can be daunting, but I promise if you start with the goal of writing just 10 words you’ll end up writing 500 (: And you can always edit later anyway!
What are you working on at the moment? Be it a piece of writing, or your studies or a new gardening project! I’d love to hear in the comments below.
Have a wonderful week 🙂
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