There are several authors who I was once a huge fan of, but no longer rush to buy their latest book.  It's not that I don't believe that they are not still immensely talented writers, or doubt that the book will be just as good as earlier ones.  It's just that after the first three of four books in a series the pattern of the plot seems to become more apparent than the story itself. 

As if the colorful weave threads of the tapestry have become so thin that the structural warp threads are more and more apparent. You know the seemingly innocent but over friendly neighbour will turn into a psycho; that clifftop path that is introduced in the second chapter is just bound to become the scene of disaster later on; that the perfect husband and that old friend who is suddenly in town are sure to have either had an affair or embark on one. 

Sure, it's the nature of the beast when you are writing multiple novels based on the same characters, or within the same genre, and there are millions of fans who are quite happy to lap up the same old mothers milk of each new bestseller.  However, there is a warning here that applies to all writers: that it is too easy to succumb to the easy, the rote, the path well trodden.  And unless your last name is King, Hoag, Vincenzi or Tremain your readers' attention span is bound to wear out long before their loyalty.

Nowhere is this more true than on a blog.  Under the pressure to come up with regular (if not daily) content, it can be tough to come up with fresh ideas.  The easiest way to combat this fatigue is to make sure that you are writing your blog with your own unique, natural and original voice.  If you have to get yourself into a different mindset to blog you are going to have a hard time creating interesting copy on days when you don't feel your best. 

One of my favourite bloggers whose personality comes through to make their writing come to life is the marvellously amusing and bitingly inciteful Naomi Dunford [warning: explicit].  My guess is that you rarely have a day when you are too burnt out to talk for at least 20 seconds on an interesting site, a piece of news or an idea you had.  Writing your blog in your natural voice just lets you type out those thoughts and hit Post without the rigmarole of getting into the character that you think you have to be as "responsible blog author".

If your writing juice is really low, be frugal with your words.  You know the old saying "If you don't have anything interesting to say, don't say anything at all", well that doesn't work so well for the hungry blogosphere audience.  Something is better than an extended period of nothing, during which your readers stop visiting and Google shoves you further and further down to the basement of it's search listings. 

Many bloggers stop posting because they feel pressured to write a lengthy dissertation exploring every aspect of their idea.  Don't be afraid to toss aside the commonly advocated 250 word count and let your readers think on their own for a while!  Keeping it short and sweet will let you shore up your energy for longer posts, and might provide a refreshing change for your readers too.  Check out Seth Godin's personal blog for some good examples of truncated but thought provoking postings.

Do you have a blog?  Why not share the link on our Facebook page Wall and ask for feedback from other fans?