Yes, this is MY blog and I will blog or write about whatever I want, thank you very much. I almost titled this post, “Telling It Like It Is is Not For the Faint of Heart”, which on some levels is very true.

Over the last several months there have been an increasing number of what I refer to as lurkers, spammers, trolls, haters, naysayers and perverts emailing me and attempting to leave pathetic comments on posts.

Some of the worst offenders are those arriving from those pesky “DoFollow blog lists”, where newbie bloggers show up like a bat out of hell, dive-bombing this site in hopes of getting a link back to their site by leaving a pathetic “great blog, keep it up” sort of comment. If you have a blog of your own, you are likely well aware of these pests.

Telling It Like It Is has a comment policy and privacy policy like all/most other blogs and websites have, including a “mark as spam” button and a “delete” button, which I use quite frequently. If “DoFollow” dive bombers wish to continue wasting their time targeting this site for a backlink, knock yourselves out…but if you ever decide to check back to see if your “comment” was approved…you’ll be sadly mistaken.

Running a close second behind the dive bombers are those who are none too happy that I continue to write about child sexual abuse, especially the articles that tell kids and victims to tell they are being sexually abused now or were sexually abused by someone in the past.

I have received emails and attempted comments from people who are not happy at all that the Protect Our Children Act was passed. Now, readers, you tell me…what kind of person would NOT want me or anyone else having the “audacity” to be telling kids to tell someone they are or were sexually abused? Think about that for a minute, then come to your own conclusions.

Blog Post Ideas – Being Audacious

Blog post ideas for Telling It Like It Is come from a large number of sources, which I will get to in a minute. I rarely if ever experience writer’s block (so far), and I write blog posts with audacity and I’m proud of it. My blog is not a “feel good blog”, nor is it a “beat around the bush” blog, and it is certainly not a “tiptoe through the tulips” kind of blog.

I work hard at being an audacious blogger, and the articles about sexual abuse, abusive relationships and the numerous helping vs. enabling posts are emotionally difficult for me to write. I write them anyway and will continue to do so. I am passionate about the topics I write on this blog, even though there are thousands of bloggers who write better than I do, with perfect spelling, grammar, sentence structure and phrasing on every single blog post published.

“If you’re not afraid to be rejected, you keep putting your hand up. If you’re not afraid to be ignored, you keep putting yourself out there. If you’re not afraid to be criticized, you do exactly what you want. If you’re not afraid to make contact with someone more successful than you, you’ll create your own opportunities.”

I am not afraid. I will not be deterred.

I am not a social networking know-it-all, but I put myself out there anyway, meeting and making connections with fellow writers and bloggers in an out of my own “niche”. I am not a “Pro Blogger” by any stretch of the imagination, nor do I feel the need or pressure to become one. I make mistakes while writing and creating blog posts (especially when trying a new and unfamiliar html-type code thingamagig), such as I did on the how to plan a wedding article, turning it into a complete fiasco until I was able to fix it. Oh well…, live and learn as I go.

Okay, blog post ideas…, where I get mine. Aside from the fact that I read a lot, be it books, magazines, news articles online or offline etc, there are a variety of places I go to get my blog post ideas to avoid writer’s block. Here is a short list of those places, in no particular order.

Woopra – If you have a blog or are considering starting a blog, you MUST get Woopra. Woopra, by far, is the most comprehensive, information rich, easy to use, real-time, LIVE Web tracking and analysis application I have ever seen. Woopra provides so much unique information about visitors to your blog/website and how they arrive at your site, it will blow your mind. And it’s free! Woopra’s ability to track keywords/search terms (amongst other things) people have used to arrive at my blog or specific blog posts has already provided me MANY ideas for blog posts, and it’s only getting better by the day.

Google Alerts – Google Alerts are email updates received in your inbox of the latest relevant Google results (web, news, blogs, video, etc.) based on your interests or topics. Email updates from Google alerts can be received “as it happens”, “once a day” or “once a week”, whichever you prefer. I currently have two blogs and am in process of building a third, and receiving email alert messages based on my keywords of choice has brought about more blog post ideas than I could ever have imagined.

StumbleUpon – Wikipedia describes StumbleUpon as an “internet community that allows its users to discover and rate Web pages, photos, and videos”. Basically, StumbleUpon users choose to rate (or not rate) a web page, blog post, pictures or video by way of the “thumbs up” or “thumbs down” feature from the StumbleUpon toolbar, which can result in massive amounts of web traffic from online friends or peers. StumbleUpon is sort of like word-of-mouth advertising from referrals. Online friends and peers have sent me links to articles with messages suggesting I do a blog post on that subject, but in my own “Tell It Like It Is” writing style. One such post was the Miley Cyrus Going Topless “rant” that caught the attention of the New York Times and LA Times, because I was being audacious and bold!

Twitter, Facebook, Google Adwords Keyword Tool,  Google Trends and Blogs I’m subscribed to by RSS Feed or email have also brought numerous blog post ideas already found on this site, and still more to come. With the numerous categories and topics I can cover within my blog niche, I would be hard-pressed to run out of things to write about and I have no intention of ever doing so. That’s how I roll.

If you enjoyed this article, you can subscribe to Telling It Like It Is FREE updates by email or RSS Feed, comment or ask questions on posts of interest to you.

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I received an email from a reader asking me, “Lin, do you ever experience Writer’s Block? How do you come up with so many creative writing ideas? I find myself getting stuck pretty often, and I’m afraid my blog is suffering because of it.”

I responded to the reader with my answer, but thought it would be good to include it in a post here. Have YOU ever experienced Writer’s Block? Do you sometimes find you just can’t come up with anything to write about on your blog, feeling “stuck” as this reader has?

When I received the reader’s question, it took me a few minutes to put my response together in a way that would not only be informative but also encouraging, because I realize that Writer’s Block can sometimes be troublesome even for Novel Writer’s and Magazine Writer’s. Personally, I have yet to experience a time of feeling stuck, where I don’t have some ideas of what I intend to write about in coming posts.

I don’t mean that in an egotistical way, it simply is true that I have not yet found myself feeling out of sorts desperately seeking something creative to say. YET. Maybe I’m just a blabber-mouth, or plain and simple opinionated, but if you could see what my desk looks like on any given day, you would probably understand that there is just no way for me to run out of things to write about.

At this very moment, I have at least 20 topics written in outline form on a large steno pad, sitting next to about 10 magazines and 2 newspapers with pages turned down as my reminder to create posts on those topics. I keep a steno pad in my truck for making quick notes, another one on the coffee table in the den, and one more on the bathroom vanity.

It is my personal experience and belief that, in order to avoid Writer’s Block or to consistently come up with creative writing ideas takes some organization and planning, and can be very easy to accomplish. The biggest problem for me is finding the time needed to write, not just throwing something garbled into a post and hit “publish”, but to actually take the time to write something of value for my readers.

You don’t have to be a professional magazine writer, book author, or “ProBlogger” for that matter, to develop and publish a great read, but there ARE some easy-to-follow steps to overcoming writer’s block or avoiding it altogether. Do you have a pen and paper handy? Jot down some notes as you read these tips on improving your writing skills, and be sure to come back and let me know if you have any other suggestions to avoiding or overcoming writer’s block.

5 Tips To Inspiring and Creative Writing

10 Tips To Become A ProBlogger

Last but definitely not least, Liz Strauss provides 7 Incredibly Intelligent Ideas for Blogging More Efficiently. I’ve done some of these myself, but found a couple I have yet to implement, but will from now on.

Do you have some tips that work well for you? What do you do to continue being creative in your writings, or avoiding the frustration of Writer’s Block?

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