I wish that I had started this blog in 2010 or 2008 instead of 2019. I wish that I had been early to the blog thing, when people were figuring it out, before there were prescribed strategies for google ranking and audience building. But I wish even more than I hadn’t let one person’s outsized voice keep me from starting it anyway.
There’s an author I know who has a modest, but fairly loyal following, and who helps a lot of writers make a profession out of writing. He can be a really great champion at times and he can be generous with his time and feedback and connections. He is also very “generous” with his opinion and right around the time I first got serious about wanting to start a blog, I heard him on a podcast poking fun at them, declaring them obsolete, talking about them like they were parachute pants or leisure suits or some other kind of misguided fashion from the past.
I have a long list of ideas I’ve wanted to write about and probably hundreds of hours I’ve spent thinking about putting those ideas out in the world. But one of the biggest things that has kept me from actually doing it is that person’s voice in my head. And an absurd fear of what he would think if I announced on Facebook that I was starting a blog. I’ve heard many other people – from marketing experts to creativity enthusiasts to my own friends say that blogs are not dead, that they may even be making a comeback, that there is absolutely a place for them. But somehow, none of those voices combined drown out the one of the person said they were dumb.
Isn’t that strange? Why would I do that? I think I let that one voice become the stand in for the fear of doing something I wanted to do. People might hate it. I might offend someone. It might seem lame. People who know how to grow an audience will see all the things I’m not doing to, well, grow my audience.
But even if it’s on me that I adopted that person’s stance as my excuse not to put myself out there, I also think it sucks when people criticize creative ventures of any sort. It has a chilling effect. It can keep someone quiet. It can become the voice in their head that allows them to stay small.
So, enough of that. I’ve now gotten clear on why I want to do this and these are my reasons:
- To get it out of my system. I need to either stop thinking about it or do it and I don’t know how to make myself stop thinking about it, so I’ll just do it.
- To show myself that I can sustain a creative effort for more than a few weeks. I’ve not been great at that, but I’d really like to be and I know I’m a better person when I write regularly. I’m committing to writing one post a week for 2020, to strengthening my writing muscles.
- Most importantly, I am doing this to work through my own thoughts. I spend a lot of time in my own head. I’m contemplative by nature, but not terribly social. Knowing that someone might read what I’ve written forces me to refine my thoughts on a subject, to be less hasty or reductive or lazy.
Ultimately, whether anyone reads it is of little consequence. Of course I’d love for people to read it and engage, but it’s not my primary reason for doing this, so readership will not be my measure of success. My measure of success will be building the habit of writing and posting regularly. And shushing that negative voice in my head.
❤️🙌🏻❤️
Thank you!
I totally relate! I look forward to checking in with this blog and all of your thoughts once they’re out into the world!
I would definitely read if you had a blog. Thank you!
Best wishes. I look forward to reading what you write.
Thank you!!!
“Ultimately, whether anyone reads it is of little consequence.” 🙌🏾
🙂
Bravo to you! I would love to quiet “that voice.” Be assured that I will be reading. So glad that there will be more posts in 2020. (Even if you aren’t able to keep up weekly 😉)
Thank you!!!
Get it girl!!
I can’t wait to get the email in my inbox every week.
❤️