I started blogging seriously when I was a senior in high school. Over the summer after being on twitter for so long just endless retweeting pictures of moodboards, outfits of the day, reading about fashion related news and more, I decided that I wanted to create my own platform where it’s not just retweeting and limited character space. A place where I could write down my thoughts on any topic I wanted, whenever I wanted. So my first blog ever was fashion related BUT it was not this one I am writing on right now. It had a completely different name and I had this running from September 2019 up until January 2020. I was going through a lot with the college application process and felt so overwhelmed to keep up with the blog, my school work, college essays, revision on the essays more times than I can count, studying, and countless other things.
When we were told in March 2020 that we were going to be leaving school for 2 weeks, but little did we know we would never return was when I started to go through a low and upsetting point in my life. After so many years of having a set routine since I was in pre-kindergarten where I’d wake up, get ready for school, change into my uniform, eat, and then head to school, to now being home for months and stuck inside doing nothing was what made want to start the blog which I am writing on right now. I am someone who always has to be something productive in my free time or I just feel as if I’m wasting time and I definitely struggle with trying to fix this.
Since starting this blog, I have had so many amazing opportunities such as interviewing influencers big and small that are inside and outside the fashion industry. I’ve received hundreds of dollars worth of products from brands and companies to try out for my blog and my instagram content, and have learned so much from starting up this blog from scratch. Here are my tips for finding inspiration to get out of a writing block, my schedule for content creation, how to not reach burnout, and my calendar for keeping track of everything on top of my life.
Where To Find Inspiration For Blogging
PINTEREST… This is the one area where I am sure to always find inspiration. And I don’t mean by typing in the search bar “blog topics to write about” or “popular blog prompts.” I simply scroll through dozens of pins, and just see anything that I like and simply want to talk about.
It’s that easy.
I don’t ever spend too much time thinking about a topic or finding the perfect pin to give me inspiration. I’m a creative person and just need to scroll through pictures of my mood board or aesthetic to see what is something I can go into more depth about and not make it basic or like everyone else who has a fashion blog.
For example, if I am going through my home feed where it is personalized to things I pin so it’s completely random, I just scroll through and pin a couple of pictures here and there and just spend time doing that. One time I came across myself pinning a lot of brown colored clothing and seeing so many people on TikTok post “outfit ideas for the color brown” in their videos and then instantly got my idea from there. Then, my blog post down below was officially born!
Ultimate Brown Color Palette Takeover: Why Everyone Is Styling This
The color brown made a comeback in fashion towards the end of 2020 and we are here for it. It is a color that not a lot would typically go towards when you’re out shopping, but after seeing everyone style it on TikTok, I’ve got to buy that Brown North Face Jacket.
Pinterest is one of the main sources that I use when it comes to finding inspiration for content but as I just mentioned, TikTok is another great way because I already follow a bunch of fashion related accounts that do outfits of the day. So, if there’s one particular outfit that speaks to me and I really love, I will try my best to come up with a creative way to turn it into a blog post.
Creating a Calendar For My Content
Having a calendar, a planner, and post-it’s or a journal is something that I seriously LIVE by. I can’t go about anything in my life if I don’t have a place to write it down or know how my week is going to look. I just recently launched a Social Media Management Agency last week called Valdez Agency and now that I just started my second semester of college last week too, I have a lot on my plate.
This is where the calendar and planners come in. So I have a planner specifically just for my school work, a notebook for writing down information regarding anything that is about my blog, my business, social media tips, blog post ideas to not forget, a business to-do list, and more is all so useful for getting my thoughts and ideas together. When I write down a bunch of things I want to do for the week on a Sunday or Saturday, I then organize it into how I will go about it for the week.
For example, my posting schedule is every Monday and Friday for a blog post. I also like to push in 6 instagram posts on my blog for both of those days too. If you’d like to follow our blog instagram it’s @glamourandguide! I will post 6 instagram posts on Monday for the first post, then 6 more on Friday when that post goes live.
It makes this easier for me to focus on content for the rest of my accounts on the other days of the week so I can do school work, my podcast, freelancing, and anything else life throws at me!
When I have a calendar visually in front of me where I can write in, “okay I need to post this blog up on Monday and this one up on Friday. Influencer interview has to go up Thursday, and get a ‘Wear or Tear’ in on insta stories Friday after the 6 posts.” Writing all that down is smarter than trying to memorize how you can fit everything into your week.
Scheduling and Publishing Content
Having a set routine of days during the week where you know you have to post no matter what allows you to organize how you will do other things for the week. For example, I run this blog but I also have a personal Instagram where I like to shoot content creation for brands and myself. If you’d like to follow me below my user is @pamelamvaldez!
Even on my personal instagram I have a schedule as well of how I like to post and how often! Every 2-3 days I like to make sure I get a post up and I stay active on stories and I’m still getting use to creating reels but I absolutely love them! I also take advantage of when I go out to shoot content and do at least a week worth in just under an hour of taking pictures. I’ve been making this work for several months now and it has been doing amazing! This is the same method I incorporate into my blog.
I like to batch up content for my blog at the same time and have it scheduled ready to go so I don’t have to worry about it. Once it’s out of sight, it’s out of mind so I create blog posts before Monday and Friday and once they’re scheduled with the WordPress scheduling feature which is a life saver, I then go and start creating the graphics for my instagram that go with my blog.
I use Facebook Creator Studio to upload all of my instagram content and have it scheduled to be posted right when my blog goes live so everything is up at the same time. I have done this for so many months and once again, it’s a huge life saver. I also don’t have to sit down and write a caption, put the hashtags, and create the graphics the day of. It’s all done for me and goes up by itself!
Getting Out Of A Writing Block
As a blogger, you know what you’re getting yourself into. You are going to have to sit down and write blog posts but the best part about this is what it’s your blog! You can write about anything you want from any topic unless your blog follows a specific niche which I would recommend so it’s easier to stick to one audience.
So how do you get out of a writing block when you have absolutely no idea what to write about? I have felt this way multiple times obviously where I don’t know where to go. What do I write about when I feel I have wrote about every topic in my head? This is why it’s so important for you to write down any idea you get, no matter where you are and you have to put it in the notes app on your phone. When you get ideas, write them down so later you can come back to them.
There are moments where I’m out with my friends and randomly look at something and will get a blog idea and put in my phone. Then when I sit down to write about it later, I have nothing. But a month later, I’ll come back to the draft and have a million different ideas. This is why you have to write anything down you can.
But what if you have nothing to write down? Try going to platforms you wouldn’t normally think to go to where you can find ideas. I love Pinterest and TikTok, as well as Instagram for ideas, but I don’t typically choose Youtube or Twitter for finding ideas. These may sound like platforms that probably won’t give you the best ideas but if you haven’t thought of checking them out and have never tried, then there’s no harm! You never know what you can find.
You can also post a poll on your instagram or have your audience tell you what they want to hear. Although it is your blog, you have an audience that is reading what you write so the importance of knowing what they want to read is essential to keep them! Post something on an Instagram story if you have one for your blog, or even on your personal and see what friends or family or people from your blog that follow you want to see next.
Searching through hashtags you use can also be super helpful! If you use hashtags in your post or you know one you can look up and you’re a fashion blogger as well, go to the #ootd and see the millions of posts where people post an outfit of the day or #fashionblogger and look at these outfits. Is there anything you can write about with a specific look that spoke out to you and how can you turn it into something creative which others haven’t seen another blogger do yet?
It’s all about going to places you haven’t tried before and seeing what you can squeeze from that as well as asking your audience!
How To Not Reach Burnout
Writing blog posts, engaging with your audience, constantly trying to stay on top of everything in your personal life as well can lead you to reach a point of where you just want to quit everything. This is why I stressed earlier in this post that having a schedule where you know this day content is going up, you can get it ready before hand instead of trying to force yourself to sit down and write something that just has no creativity coming to it.
Everyone will reach burnout eventually and the craziness of life itself stopped me from continuing my other blog that I talked about in the very beginning of this blog post. I started a blog for several months and then quit it due to the stress of college applications and my college essay.
After starting my second blog, it is safe to say I learned from all my previous mistakes and have not reached a point that has made me want to stop writing every week. I do have some weeks where I won’t post and it is truly because of the stress of life and just not being able to which I give myself a break because it is hard and I juggle a lot.
So what I learned from my previous blog after quitting it to not reach burn out is to:
- Have better time management NOT just for business relations but for your personal life as well
- Don’t force yourself to write blogs when you can’t. If you ever find yourself in those random moods where you feel extremely productive and can take on the whole world, DO AS MUCH WORK as you can. Do everything and anything you can especially if those moments come very rarely. You will be surprised how much you can do and this always works for me too when I am botching content for the week.
- Give yourself certain days where it’s self-care or you treat yourself to a coffee, snack, or brunch, or anything you like to do. You are a human at the end of the day and don’t need to be working 24/7!!! Spend time with friends and family, and more importantly yourself. Read a book, listen to music, dance, and give yourself all the time you need on these days. Spend the whole day in pajamas if you want. Do it all for you.
Thank you so much for reading!
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Disclaimer: All photos not mine are given credit to their owner/source. Photos which are mine will be included in a caption.
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