Say Goodbye to Writer’s Block with Plinky
Our host today is Suzanne Vara. If you're interested in getting in front of the readers of Site Sketch 101, check out our guest posting invitation here.
Writer’s block. It feels paralyzing as you stare a blank page waiting for the words in your head to create sentences that make sense. If there was only something that would spark a thought to get the creative juices going and the fingers walking across the keyword.
WordPress.com has come to the rescue! Automattic, the creators of WordPress.com has acquired Plinky, an app that seeks to end writer’s block forever by prompting users with a question, a request, or a challenge daily. Users then respond with text, photos and/or multimedia that appears on their WordPress blog.
A Second Chance for Plinky
Plinky, first launched in January of 2009 by Thing Labs, has been given a second chance at life as, according to Thing Labs, in April Plinky was being phased out so developers could dedicate more time and resources to Brizzly. While financials have not been disclosed, it is not expected that a large sum of money was exchanged.
WordPress.com Creative Push
WordPress, the content management giant, who has long encouraged users to create new content frequently without offering any real inspiration, now has the ability “… to give you a little creative push and get that writerly mojo flowing again,” says Joy Victory. In addition, Ms. Victory has indicated that WordPress does hope to feature some of the best Plinky responses on its homepage.
WordPress and Plinky Integration
These remain separate platforms so you will need an account with Plinky that is integrated with your WordPress.com as well as a Plinky tag on your blog. This is a minor inconvenience in having two accounts however this is a small hurdle to be sure that writer’s block never suffocates your blog again.
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Gurl said:
This sounds awesome.. Wonder if they are going to integrated with plugins for a self hosted WP blog? I know I could use inspiration most days!
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Nicholas Cardot said:
I agree. That would be an awesome addition to their platform to be able to install it to your WordPress self-hosted blog. I would definitely make use of it on my personal site.
Faz said:
I read, went to Plinky, signed up, linked it to my wordpress blog, answered a prompt, saw it published, all within 5 minutes. It’s a gem cos this helps me to overcome that darn block. Once the post is up, I can always add content, media or just leave it there as is. Good one! Thanks for highlighting this
Happy me,
Faz
Nicholas Cardot said:
I’m glad to hear that this worked out so well for you so quickly. That just goes to show what kind of power Plinky is able to unleash on the creative side of your brain.
Suzanne Vara said:
Faz
Thank you so much for sharing your experience with readers so they can see how easy it is to create a Plinky account and intergrate it with their WP.com.
This is a useful tool that will create some great conversations as it asks a range of questions to keep the creative juices flowing.
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Faz said:
Exactly. And it helps to make me more efficient, move faster from write to publish. Because moving beyond drafts is vital. Answering questions help me to channel the content nuggets that are flying around in my head or floating in my mindmaps into a blog post. I believe it helps other writers too.
This is a great find. Thanks Suzanne and Nicholas
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Suzanne Vara said:
Faz
You bring up a great point. Answering question are timely but yet a non question answering blog post is one that can sit in drafts. I write and post. Then again I am more traditional where I write a lot of ideas down on paper and many of them do make it to the write and post.
I like your thought process here as answering a specific question grasps your mind around a focus which leads to a well defined and comprehensive post.
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Ron Leyba said:
I find this newly acquired web property of Automattic peeps a real helpful one.
Well, with this kind of question and answer thing, we, as bloggers, can come up with unique and real life blog post.
I think, Plinky will gain its massive popularity within this year.
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Nicholas Cardot said:
I agree. I really believe that this company has the potential to really grow into something great. I know that when I clicked through to check it out yesterday, I found it to be incredibly simply and fun to use. I have a feeling that a lot of others will dive in and enjoy it as well.
Suzanne Vara said:
Ron
It think Plinky will do very well. It is easy to use and if they do go through with plans to post the best answers on wordpress, it will definitely gain even more popularity. I think it was a good move for Automattic.
@SuzanneVara
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Tushar said:
this is great…i have never heard of it before but surely it will be a great plugin…
i have faced many writer’s block situations but fortunately i always come out of them
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Jorgen @ Personal Branding said:
Right, I don’t really struggle to find stuff to write about – it’s mroe the actual writing that is difficult. When will they come up with a plugin for that I wonder
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Suzanne Vara said:
Jorgen
I to do not have too much difficulty with the topic per se it is gathering the millions of thoughts and ideas that flow around and placing them into a post thats makes sense.
I do not believe we will have a plug-in for that however I am sure at some point there will be something that lets you put in your thoughts and ideas and poof a post comes out.
In the meantime, I guess we would call it a ghostblogger.
@SuzanneVara
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David said:
This sounds great – It’s been awhile since my last blog post.
Thanks.
Suzanne Vara said:
David
I guess you have no more excuses. You could post about how you commented about not blogging in a while.
Plinky will give you the nudge to answer the question and get some posts up there.
@SuzanneVara
My Latest Blog Post: Letting Go
David said:
Suzanne,
Thank you so much Suzanne for this post. I am signing up to Plinky now.
Thanks.
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Nicholas Cardot said:
Ha ha. I think that a lot of us have signed up at Plinky because of her post. I know I did.
Suzanne Vara said:
Nick
I think for regular bloggers Plinky is more intriguing as far as what questions are they asking and how can I contribute. For business bloggers there are quite a few times that a client will ask a question that we can turn into a blog but Plinky makes the answer the blog. A different mindset as in the biz question you are looking to address the question with a solution but with Plinky you are just answering the question.
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Dennis Edell | Direct Sales Marketing said:
It is or isn’t available for self-hosted WP blogs?
Luckily I never get writers block; just curious.
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Warren Contreras said:
This looks like a great idea to help me keep my catch-all blog active. I mainly use it as a destination for comments I make, then they can see links to my other blogs if they like what I say. Thanks for the tip.
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Reza Winandar said:
Wow, it keeps you update your blog more regularly, isn’t it? I think many bloggers will use this if they don’t have a chance to create an uniqe and original content.
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