Restating it by replacing the word 'blog', the question becomes 'should you write too'? The answer is 'yes!'. If you need convincing, here's why:
- Writing helps you think clearly (why 'critical writing' is - and should be - so big in schools).
- You can be a teensy bit creative and shake up the right side of your brain that's in a dull stupor from the dominant data-drunk left side (especially in the past decade).
Done. You're convinced that writing is good for you, and, even better, you're kinda enjoying the prospect of writing without having assigned topics, deadlines or report cards clogging your creativity. You're ready to go and then you ask yourself 'should I write a blog'? And then, to your dismay, you have your internal editor popping up with 'what if no one reads it?' and you stop right there, even before checking out the relative merits of Wordpress and Blogger.
Here's why you can disregard your anxious inner worry wort and embrace blogging:
- There are free blogging tools.
- So it doesn't cost anything to try. Failure is most certainly an option.
- You don't need a large readership.
- You're not Huffpo. You're not blogging for dollars.
- If you need to blog for marketing purposes, you're doing it already (and not reading this).
- Give your ego a break and exercise your creativity instead.
- Someone WILL read your blog.
- Family will usually oblige by subscribing, and if your writing is interesting, they'll tell others. Your mom will read anything you write, and grandparents and older family members would love to be connected to you through your writing - especially if they live far away. Be prepared for embarrassing Facebook shares.
- Friends would subscribe too, especially if you're writing about stuff they relate to - but don't push.
- Mention it to 'friendly' co-workers, but again, don't push.
- Believe it or not, if you're writing about topics that get Googled, and you do a few things to make your blog easy to find, you're likely to get random readers from random corners of the world, which makes it fun.
- You can hide your blog if you DON'T want your coworkers/boss/mom to read it.
- Yes, you can go stealth and share your blog 'by invitation only'.
- It's a snap.
- The tools are super simple and you can even get help if you insist on it.
- Write what you'd like to read. Don't try to be someone else though, it gets tiring.
- You just have to pick one topic out of the many that you probably have rattling around in your head. Your hobbies, passions, travel, pet peeves, kids' antics - all are good options for a post.
- If you want guidance, a search will bring up oodles of sites offering (free) advice on how to get blogging.
Image courtesy of Stuart Miles/FreeDigitalPhotos.net