Dr. Tanya, aka Salted Caramel, has a new series of posts she calls “Blogging Insights.” Tanya writes, “My writing inspiration often comes from other bloggers so I thought it would be a good idea to do a Blogging Insights post about this.” Her two most recent Blogging Insight posts, here and here, pose four questions for which she’d like to get answers from other bloggers. As one such “other bloggers,” I’m happy to oblige.

What do you think is the best way of dealing with writer’s block?

I rarely get writer’s block and, at the risk of potentially pissing off some other “other bloggers,” I don’t understand how any blogger can get writer’s block. Yeah, I know. Sometimes you’re tired or you’re not feeling well, you’re busy, or you’re just not in the mood to write. Fine, step away from your computer, your tablet, or your smartphone for a few hours or even a few days. Give it a rest.

Listen up people, we’re not talking about novels, here. Or long-form books of any genre. They’re blog posts. They range in size from six words to a few hundred words, or maybe even a thousand or so words. Come on. With all that is going on around us — from politics to religion to society to entertainment to your friends, family, pets, the stuff that you do with your life, or just whatever pops into your head — how can you not find something to write a blog post about? And with all of the word prompts, the photo prompts, the music prompts, prompts that are sentence starters, or topic prompts to consider, there is simply no excuse for coming up empty when it comes to things to write posts about.

So if you feel “blocked,” take a short break, jot down things that occur to you, that you see and hear and observe. Even the little, seemingly inconsequential things. And when you’re ready, take what you jotted down and use it as fodder for upcoming posts. Hey, if I can write a 300 word post about the size of a friggin’ breakfast cereal box, surely you can come up with something to post on your blog.

Do you follow a blogging schedule or do you post “freestyle”?

I schedule some of my posts in advance (e.g., my FOWC with Fandango prompts are usually scheduled for 7-10 days in advance), but other than that, I’m more “freestyle,” reacting to daily prompts or to things I see, hear, or read about.

Where do you do most of your writing/blogging?

Because I use my iPhone for blogging, I can do my writing/blogging from almost anywhere. I’m actually composing this post while in bed.

Have you dedicated a particular time for blogging?

It depends upon what else I’ve got going on a particular day. So whenever I can find the time to write, I do it. I usually spend an hour or so each morning reading any comments that came in overnight and I spend about an hour or two at night catching up with the posts that showed up in my reader during the day.