Around the Blogathon: good reads from May 8-14, 2010

I’m devoting Saturdays in May to sharing interesting posts from other bloggers in the 2010 WordCount Blogathon, where 110+ of us are posting every day during the month of May.

Here are some of this week’s more engaging entries:

Why stagnation is worse than writers block and what to do about it – Writers tend to believe any work is better than no work – especially when there’s not a lot of it coming in. But freelancer Meredith Resnick takes issue with that. She argues that “make work” – assignments that keep you occupied and help pay the bills but don’t stretch your abilities – can block real creativity and learning. Think about that for a minute. If you’re busy taking assignments that don’t require much brain power just for the money you may never get around to the writing you really want to do. Smart advice. Maybe the answer is taking enough assignments to pay the bills but leaving a block of time every day or week for those dream projects.

Drink from the fountain of youth – Freelancers need to have young souls, says writer and poet Brandi-Ann Uyemura. You don’t have to be young to have a young soul, Uyemura says, but you do have to be willing to greet the world “with arms and hearts wide open.” She writes:

Before you take that next job think about how much you really want it, then step forth open-hearted and express the kind of excitement and passionate that can only come from a young soul. Then, just see how far you go!

Ditch what’s dead – Christa Avampato was a blog-post-a-day writer even before joining this year’s WordCount blogathon. This year, the New York City writer, innovation and product development expert and yoga aficianado is using her blog, Christa in New York, to list 365 steps she’s taking to build an extraordinary life. Step no. 132 – ditch what’s dead. Picking the dead leaves off impatiens plants brought home how many other dead-end things Avampato let hang around, and why passions, like plants, can come back to life with a little careful pruning.

10 tools to back up your social media – As someone who uses and writes about social media, I’m always interesting in hearing about new apps. This list from writer/blogger Tracy Doerr includes a bunch for backing up a blog, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and other online social networks.

Here comes the groom – Finally, props to Andrew Nielsen over at A Green Mushroom, his blog about gaming. Nielsen managed to stick to the blogathon grind despite a little date he had at the altar last weekend. Yes, he got married and his blog didn’t miss a beat. How’s that for dedication?

Related posts:

• Around the Blogathon: good reads from May 1-7
• Good reads on changes in online news business
• They’re off: The 2010 WordCount Blogathon is here