5 reasons why I love blogging
If you want to write an inspirational blog, but wonder whether blogging is right for you, then today I have something that might help with your decision. Below are five reasons why I love blogging.
These reasons are different than what you might normally hear about blogging.
I'm not talking about content marketing, SEO, or how blogging can make you millions of dollars. I'm talking about why I love the craft of blogging, and how this craft suits my Wildly Authentic Writerly Self.
My hope is these five reasons will teach you more about this craft, so you can uncover why you would or wouldn't want to start a blog.
Here's why I love blogging:
1. I love the flexibility.
Blogging is great for the multi-passionate among us, who want to explore new ideas and write in different styles from day to day. I enjoy lots of different types of writing, and the blogging format accommodates this beautifully.
Some days I write long, memoir style posts. Other days I write posts like these - short and useful lists to help my readers. Some weeks I am deep into my own self-care journey, and I can easily blog about that. Other weeks I am on fire about the patriarchy or moon cycles or healing your throat chakra, and I can write easily about these topics, too.
With blogging, you write short, independent, publishable pieces on a regular basis, and this means the format is flexible enough to accommodate multiple styles of writing and multiple topics.
2. I love the immediacy.
I enjoy writing a piece and hitting publish on the same day.
I have a couple books in the works, and that's fun but so different from blogging. Book writing has its own depth and intensity, and it can be enjoyable to sit with one idea for a long time while writing, editing, re-working, and clarifying.
But with blogging, I get to write what I'm thinking, hit publish, and have it in my readers' hands in 24 hours or less. I love the feeling of accomplishment that comes with each completed post. It energizes me and motivates me to keep writing.
3. I love writing for an audience.
I often don't know what I think until I write it down. Even now, as I'm typing, I'm getting a much fuller understanding of why I love blogging. Of course, it's possible to experience the same clarity from writing in a private journal, but for me, it matters that I'm explaining this to you, my reader.
Because you're reading this I'm motivated to organize, edit, and make my writing as clear as I can. A wonderful bonus of this is that my ideas become clearer to ME while I'm writing for you.
For me, blogging is one of the best ways to organize my thoughts, and writing for an audience motivates me to get clearer than I would if I were writing for myself only.
4. I love creating a body of work.
The blogging format means I start with one post, one idea, and then keep adding to it, and the collection of posts grows over time.
Sometimes it can feel like my writing is random, as I write in my multi-passionate way. However, when viewed in its entirety I can easily see threads that tie my posts together and that elevate my blogging from being random posts to being a cohesive body of work.
Seeing blogging as the creation of a body of work motivates me to keep adding to it by writing more posts exploring my stories, philosophies, and ideas.
5. I love the practice of focused writing.
Some of my blog posts are longer than others, but even long-form posts are still short compared to other types of writing, like academic papers or books.
I enjoy the contained space of a blog post because it motivates me to stay focused on the topic at hand. I'm often tempted to go down long tangents in my writing, straying far off topic because I think I need to explain the background of everything I think.
One post, however, can't possibly contain everything I think. This forces me to hone my writing craft by asking the question, "What does my reader truly need to hear?" Asking this question makes me a better writer and a better teacher.
In fact, blogging is one of the best practices for learning how to write well, because it involves writing regularly. This means you go from idea to first draft to editing to publishing on a regular basis, and there's nothing like repeating a process to help you get better at it!
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These are just a few of the reasons I love the craft of blogging. I could probably write 100 more reasons, but as I said in #5, I can't write everything I think in this one post. So, you'll probably see more lists on why I love blogging in the future!
If you're wondering if blogging is right for you, my suggestion is for you to check in and get honest about the format.
Do you want the freedom to be flexible with your writing? Do you want to write regularly for an audience? Do you crave the opportunity to explore your ideas and create a body of work online?
There are no wrong answers. There are only Wildly Authentic answers that will help you choose whether or not you would like to pursue this craft.
If your answer is no, that's great, because now you can spend your time considering another writerly craft you would like to pursue. If you're answer is yes, but you're not sure how to start, I suggest downloading 3 Habits to Calm Your Fear and Get You Writing.
xoxo,
Emma
P.S. Do you have questions about blogging? Hit reply to this email to ask me anything, and I'll answer your questions in future blog posts!
P.P.S. Forward this letter to someone you know who is deciding whether or not to start a blog!