Repurposing content

At times like the one I had this past week, one of the things I still dismiss, while busy dealing with everyday life, was that I have posts from previous blogs from which I can drink when time gets scarce. There is so much potential in revisiting old posts. I have quite a few that I posted that I took down because either these didn’t have any interest or that I just didn’t publish because I didn’t find it ticked the boxes.

Repurposing content is very much a reviewing and editing exercise. try and ensure I check in every possible Sunday, will be to review those posts, find their new potential and re-write. You cannot force a writer to write but believe me, it will come. All a writer can do is put him/herself in a comfortable position and environment that invites creativity. This looks different to everyone. What is comfortable for some can be the total opposite for others. Our daily life and routine can and will interfere with that (true fact).

We can be in the most paradisiac writing spot, but if one of our little ones constantly calls for us, our brain will just stop engaging. Our creativity is the most selfish part of the brain. It needs your undivided attention when it’s there for you, otherwise, it will leave you. Time and time again I had a good writing idea and thought: “I need to write this down”, “When I get home I’ll do it”, and “I’ll just spend some time after dinner to expand on that”. Then when that time comes, the idea is gone. Sometimes, you still will still a few vague thoughts but the spark of the artistic/philosophical moment on that one line of reasoning is then gone.

Immediately jotting down all those ideas when we have them is important. When we feel they are good ideas we should write them down then and there, while it’s still fresh in our mind. Ideas can expire and lose utility. They’re more valuable when they are still in their purest state, freshly squeezed.

Failing this, it can still be a good exercise to review some of the old posts and find the ones left as drafts or not so fulfiling and see how they fit into any current topic - I found many of these reviews actually ended up being more of a clear out than a recycle but that’s me and my OCD perfectionism. However, it can still give us some ideas of topics for the future or help to teach us what not to talk about (review and maybe research more), or that if I read that post as someone else I would not stick around for more. Yes, self-criticism takes up a lot of my human memory. Urgh!