If you have determined, perhaps, somewhat tepidly, that you want to give writing a try, where do you begin? Certainly, you can open up a new Word document and write away for your own satisfaction. However, there are two significant limitations with that approach. Not many people will read what you have written, which will leave you in the dark about the quality and impact of your writing. Also, it will be difficult to maintain much motivation for writing, if nobody is reading what you write and if you don’t have any sort of pressure to regularly produce something.
Like any other skill, writing is learned and honed with practice. If you determine that you want to be a writer on some level, then you need to write with regularity, ideally, daily.
About six years ago, a friend suggested that I start blogging. I thought it is one of the dumbest ideas I had ever heard. After all, it takes time. There are some technical issues involved. I didn’t know if anyone would read it. And I might write something really stupid that would forever be accessible on the Internet.
It turned out that blogging became a joyous obsession and an important personal outlet that helped keep me sane during a difficult time in my life.
It is the best possible way for a person to begin writing because it allows you to test and develop your skills, and find your own voice. It provides you with an audience and gives you the motivation to write. The technical part is not that hard. I will get into that part next week.
If you thinking about writing or have begun to write, please consider blogging. I will help you set up your blog in next week’s post.
Blog: [blawg, blog] noun, verb, blogged, blog·ging.
noun: a Web site containing the writer’s or group of writers’ own experiences, observations, opinions, etc., and often having images and links to other Web sites.
verb: (used without object) to maintain or add new entries to a blog.
Origin: 1995–2000; shortening of Weblog
