1. Watch Your environment

Keep the room you work in reasonably quiet.  If you like music while you blog or the radio keep the volume down or, as an alternative, keep the remote in easy reach and turn it up only when you need to.

2. Comfort produces results

A good chair with proper back support is important as is the height of your arms on the desk and the distance of the monitor from your eyes.  Make a point of experimenting to find what is comfortable for you.  This isn’t only important for blogging – it’s also vital for your health so don’t neglect it!  Unless you can help it, don’t use a laptop for serious computer writing.

3. Friends and family

Keep visitors to a minimum by telling people that they are welcome to call and see you but not during the day when you are working.  Likewise, tell your spouse and children that, however much you love them, you don’t want them disturbing you during work time.  This is one rule that you should enforce absolutely.

4. Lighting

Don’t work in half-light and, particularly, don’t work looking at a bright monitor against a dark wall behind.  Keep the lighting in your room bright and at about the same level that you would have in an office and keep the lighting even in brightness.  Particularly, light the wall behind your computer.

5. Pause for thought

An important part of writing is the creative pause when your ideas take shape.  Make sure you have something nice and, preferably, moving to look at when you stop to think.  A window with a view onto a busy street is good or perhaps a second computer with a screensaver showing a selection of photos to inspire you.  If you must have a TV, make sure it shows something that you won’t be distracted to watch – and make sure you turn the sound down!

6. The internet

If you work and use the internet for research at the same time, consider having another old computer to access the net so that you don’t have to keep switching from word processor to browser and thus breaking your workflow.  The specification for an internet-only computer can be modest and you only need a small monitor or you can use a laptop or netbook.  Alternatively, use a second monitor connected to your main computer.

7. Messages, messages, messages…

You can’t get away without having messenger running but don’t stop to check it every few seconds and make sure that it doesn’t alert you every time a message arrives.  Develop the habit of checking messages and email every 15 minutes or whatever interval suits your work.

8. Get a routine and keep to it

Set aside certain days when you update your blog, or other online content, so you know in advance what you will be doing each day.  Similarly, set aside time to research and at the end of the time stop what you are doing.  Sticking to a schedule is vital if you want to be productive and get new posts out on time.

9. Take a break

Don’t sit working for hours on end, make it a routine that you start and finish at definite times.  Also make sure that you take a break every half hour and spend five minutes reading a magazine or talking to someone. Remember that taking a break to allow your mind to refresh is as important as sitting down to write.

10 Where the ideas come from

Few professional writers start with a blank sheet of paper so there if no reason for you to do so either.  Collect snippets from the internet, from old work that you have done and from any other written sources.  In particular, keep a few old magazines on your subject around and from time to time spend fifteen minutes writing out ideas or jottings some beginnings to give you a start when you need a new post.