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?

UPDATED ON SUNDAY, MAY 3: I added a number of additional participants and put my own name on the list, for those of you who’re copying this to your own blogs. – MVR

And they’re off.

For the next 31 days, a merry band of freelance writer are teaming up to take part in the second annual WordCount blogathon. We’ll be testing the limits of our blogging endurance to find out if we can successfully post every day in May.

How hard can it be, right? Well, pretty darn hard. Those of us who make our living writing have those pesky paid assignments to attend to in addition to hanging out on our much more fun blogs. And while some days ideas for blog posts are as bountiful as cherry blossoms in spring, other days the idea well is as barren as those same cherry boughs in winter. Then there are the weekends, when nobody in their right mind wants to be at a keyboard.

But we’re determined to persevere. As professional blogger have noted, the more you post, the better you get at it – and if you’re doing it right – the more traffic you’ll attract to your blog.

So here’s to blogging, here’s to May and here’s to us.

Speaking of us, here’s a list of writer-bloggers in this year’s blogathon, with links to their respective online homes:

• Vera Marie Badertscher – A Travelers Library – Books and movies that influence travel.
• Tim Beyers – The Social Writer – Motley Fool tech contributor and co-host of Twitter’s #editorchat.
• Heather Boerner – Serenity for the Self Employed – Advice for the self-employed among us.
• Jane Boursaw – Film Gecko – May Movie Madness and other film-related stuff.
• Melanie Bonsall – Expert Editing – The online home of this editor, proofreader and writer.
• Danielle Buffardi – Horrible Sanity – Random thoughts of a mother and freelance writer.
• Sona Charaipotra – Sona Charaipotra – for entertainmnet topics, and Ishq in a Backpack on travel and food.
• Rosie Colombraro – Trust the Universe – There is always a Plan B.
• Sue Dickman – A Life Divided – Food, gardening, travel, books and more.
• Jackie Dishner – BIKE with Jackie – Improving your life with the B.I.K.E. spiritual navigation tool.
• Ron S. Doyle – Ron S. Doyle – The literary equivalent of fruit salad and Cyclorati – Exercising my cyclophilia.
• Kelly Estes – Big Government in Your Wallet – A political blog.
• Jennifer L.W. Fink – Blogging ‘Bout Boys – With 4 boys between 11 & 3, this writer knows her subject.
• Sydne George - I’ll Have What She’s Cooking – Good eats.
• Debra Gordon – Wine on Tuesdays
• Nancy Hall – Floating Ink – How to fit making art into your every day life.
• KT Hinderer – Write Beyond the Cubicle – Musings of a full-time freelance writer and editor.
• Heather Holliday – Zazou Marketing – Putting your best words forward.
• Elizabeth Humphrey – TheWriteElizabeth – Introducing creativity into daily life.
• Leah Ingram – Suddenly Frugal – Tips for frugal living.
• JoAnn Jagroop – This Dame Cooks – Recipes from Alaska to the South Pacific.
• Sara Lancaster – No. 2 Pen Blog – Blog of this Denver, freelance Web & marketing writer.
• Doug Lance – Freelance Fiction – “I get paid to tell sweet, sweet lies.”
• Jared Lopatin – Sign in Ink – Everyday life as motivated by astrological happenings.
• Jenn Maciejewski – Cities on the Cheap – Freebies and deals in multiple cities across the U.S.
• Eric Mack – Wrecking Ball Report, MountainDaddy and SaveThatReceipt.
• Lisa Mann – Sonoma on the Cheap – One of the Cities on the Cheap blogs, this one for Sonoma, Calif.
• Joy Manning – What I Weigh Today – A food writer reflects on weight and body image issues.
• Teresa Mears – Miami on the Cheap – A Cities on the Cheap blog for Miami.
• Amy Rauch Neilson – It’s in the Genes – Thoughts of a breast cancer survivor.
• Jennifer Netherby – Jennifer Netherby – Musings of a freelance writer.
• Sarah E. Ludwig – Parenting by Trial and Error – Learning, growing, staying flexible.
• Michelle V. Rafter – WordCount: Freelancing in the Digital Age – Plugging into the online news biz.
• Kate Reilly – Polka Dot Suitcase – Finding fun in everyday life.
• Meredith Resnick – Inner Writing Journey – Authors & professional creatives in quirky dialogue on how they write and why it works.
• Melissa Sais – Digital Mom – Raising kids in a digital world.
• Brette Sember – Martha and Me – One Martha Stewart makeover a day.
• Kathy Summers – EcoPregnancy & Baby and Health Writing Hints.
• Jodi Torpey – Western Gardeners – Your online guide to gardening in the West.
• Sarah Webb – Webb of Science – Where science meets life.
• Jennifer Willis – The Green Soul Guide – Where sustainability and spirituality meet.

UPDATE: As of May 4, I’m no longer adding bloggers to the blogathon. But feel free to blog along side us on an unofficial basis, the more the merrier.

It’s not too late to join the fun. If you’d like to add yourself, leave a comment on this post or email me at michellerafter (at) comcast.net.

There are all kinds of reasons for blogging: building a brand, practicing different types of writing, promoting a book, putting your resume and clips online, or just getting stuff out there that you couldn’t or wouldn’t put in a paid assignment.

Though the reasons may vary, the mechanics of getting a blog started don’t. Here are six simple steps to starting your freelance writing blog:

1. Pick a niche that you’re in love with. If you’re not passionate about something, your enthusiasm for writing about it will fade. So pick something that speaks to you. Entertainment writer Jane Boursaw blogs about movies at Film Gecko. Sandra Hume, a freelance writer in Kansas, blogs about Laura Ingalls Wilder. Another freelancer, Roxanne Hawn, blogs about her dog Lily. I blog here about how digital media is changing the freelance writing business, a topic that combines my experience covering the tech business with my personal interest in keeping up with the times as a freelancer.

2. Deal with the mechanics. Once you’ve got an idea, you need to give it a home. You can set up a blog on any number of free blog sites including WordPress, Blogger or TypePad. Or you can download free software from Moveable Type or WordPress.org and pay a service like GoDaddy to host your blog. Most of these services have extensive FAQ sections and user forums where you can get answers to your blogging-related questions.

3. Present interesting and well-written material. There’s no right way to write blog posts. But there are some good rules of thumb. Short is good. Write like you’re talking to a friend. Vary post styles: lists, Q&As, and anything with bullet points seem to be particularly popular with readers. Blog posts that spell out your reaction to new events practically write themselves. Others that offer your original reporting or commentary take more time and effort. I included a bunch of other ideas in this post on writing great freelance blog posts and in this one on whether to plot out posts ahead of time or write on the fly.

4. Commit to posting regularly. How often you post is up to you, but doing it consistently is a sure way to increase traffic. That’s one of the main lessons I learned from my May blogathon, where I posted every day for a month. Now I blog Monday through Friday. Other freelancers I know post a couple days a week. Boursaw, the entertainment writer, writes multiple posts a day, sometimes as many as 10. Maybe it’s why traffic to her blog is through the roof.

5. Build traffic. There are all types of tips and tricks to get people to find out about your blog, including using search engine optimization or SEO to tag your blog posts so Google, Yahoo and other search engines will pick them up, and putting links into your posts. Other traffic builders: maintaining a blogroll, leaving comments on other blogs, and joining blogging networks. Here’s a list of other tips for improving traffic to your freelance blog. You can find more information on these and other techniques on sites such as Copyblogger and ProBlogger and Blogging Basics 101.

6. Have fun! Don’t freak out if your blog’s not popular right out of the gate. Unless you’re lucky or are using a blog to promote a book that’s already bestseller, it takes time for people to find you.

If you’re still not comfortable getting started, you can always take a class online or sign up for a new media seminar.

Got your own suggestions for how to start a writing blog?