Being a good writer is hard. Finding the inspiration and patience to keep writing on a regular basis is also a constant battle.
For the longest time I found that starting a blog was difficult. The first question I asked myself was “who the hell wants to read what I write?” It’s highly likely that many other people think the exact same thing I did.
A major breakthrough for me that helped me completely get over many obstacles was to just STOP worrying about what specific topics to write about and if they would be any good.
Here is a short list of things that held me back from writing:
- Who the hell wants to read what I write?
- Who cares what I have to say?
- Who is actually visiting my blog?
- Can I make money from writing?
This may seem obvious, but I have now come to the point where I don’t really care all that much about any of these issues (if they were even issues to begin with). I know myself pretty well and what I’m good at. So that’s EXACTLY what I tend to write about. It’s extremely important that you really get your thoughts down on topics that you really are passionate about, and write like crazy. If you don’t do this, then why are you bothering? What are you trying to prove?
I recently read Gary Vaynerchuck’s book Crush It. It’s seriously a fantastic read and I recommend it. Gary makes one really solid point in this book. Whatever you are going to do, make sure it’s something that you are super passionate about. This has really helped me stay interested in continuing my writing efforts on this weblog. I tend to write about topics that I find interesting, and that other people may find interesting. What people might those be? The technology obsessed.
I also tend to write about non-tech related topics. And why not? I use to be constantly focused on just posting tech related topics, but then I decided that I wasn’t John Gruber and that I should just write about whatever I find interesting.
If there is anything that you can take away from this post, it’s that you shouldn’t let anything hold you back from writing. Throw out all of your pre conceived notions and worries. One other thing, don’t worry about making money on your blog at first. The last thing you want is to litter your blog with ugly text based ads and try to get pushy about selling stuff to your readers.
Focus on your content and add value and engage with your readers and speak from the heart. Be yourself and don’t worry about being the next Mashable, Techcrunch, or Daring Fireball.