Agencies, Freelancers, Design, Copywriting & more.: [Copyblogger] How Cross-Dressing Makes You a Better Blogger

How Cross-Dressing Makes You a Better Blogger

How Cross-Dressing Makes You a Better Blogger

image of boot and feather boa

If you're anything like most bloggers, there comes a certain point when you simply run out of inspiration for your blog.

You've been writing blog posts about web design, or cooking, or whale-watching off the coast of Norway for way too long.

You’ve exhausted the topic, and yourself.

You just don’t know what to write anymore.

Not that you're one to give up easily. You work on unblocking your creativity. You start going back over old topics, reworking them, trying to find new angles and new ways of talking about the same old thing.

We all know it. There’s nothing new under the sun. Every story in the world has been told a thousand times before you got to it. There's nothing wrong with making what's old new again.

Until the day that well runs dry too.

You've talked about everything you know how to talk about four times over, from every conceivable angle. You’ve reworked all the posts you can. You are done. Finished. Finito. Really freakin' tired.

Time to hang up your blogging hat and become a Starbucks barista, right?

Wrong.

It's time to start cross-dressing

Now, you may think this post comes from a man going through a mid-life crisis. You would be dead wrong. I am not advocating cross-dressing because I can’t think of anything more exciting to do with my Friday evening. I’m not even suggesting it because I have a secret curiosity about high-heeled shoes.

I’m suggesting it because it will make you a better blogger.

Let's go back to those high-heeled shoes for a minute. Try walking a mile in them. (Ladies, go find yourselves some nice wing-tips and do the same.)

If you were a woman, or a man, whichever you currently aren’t, how would you write about your favorite topic?

Don't get stereotypical here

I’m not suggesting that you'd suddenly start blogging with your pinky in the air (if you're a guy) or with a beer at your elbow (if you're a woman).

I’m offering the theory that maybe, just maybe, the opposite sex knows something you don't.

The opposite sex knows how to revamp that topic you're trying to write about.

A thousand relationship self-help books tell us that men and women think differently. Recent studies suggest a discovery that male and female brains aren’t even built the same. That's a good thing when you're stuck for blogging ideas, because thinking differently gives you insight into a new angle.

Try it for yourself

Go ahead. Pretend you're the opposite sex. Toss around that topic of yours. How would you write it if you weren’t who you are?

If your imagination doesn't stretch that far, talk to some members of the opposite sex. See what they're interested in. See what they talk about.

Ask people of the opposite sex their opinion on your worn-out topic. "When you think of writing or marketing or design, what's the first thing that crosses your mind?"

Don't try to drive the conversation. Just listen. And for Pete's sake, take notes. These people are giving you gold.

When the cross-dressing well runs dry, you can try this tactic in all sorts of ways.

Go talk to someone older or younger than you are. Go talk to someone who isn't as cool as you are, or who is way cooler. Go talk to someone who has a completely different lifestyle, who lives in the city if you live in the country, who has more or less money than you do, who has a dog or a parakeet.

Long story short? When you run out of new ways to look at your world, go steal someone else's eyes.

Don't steal their shoes, though. Women hate that.

About the Author: James Chartrand is the man who embraces his feminine side over at Men with Pens (go figure). Check out his book, The Unlimited Freelancer. It's your ticket to unleashing your freelance business.