3 Reasons NOT to Start a Writing Blog & 3 Reasons to Do It Anyway

by Shanan @Write_Tomorrow

I'm very excited to introduce one of my favorite bloggers, Shanan. I discovered her blog, The Procrastiwriter when we both won an award on The Write Practice. I hope you take time to visit her blog and connect with her online. But join me today as she shares

3 Reasons Not to Start a Writing Blog, & 3 Reasons to Do It Anyway

Are you thinking of starting your own writing blog? Before I launched The Procrastiwriter, I was warned about this blogging thing. It’s time-consuming, the Internet told me. It’s a struggle. Bloggers are a dime a dozen. Why bother?

Good question.

 Now that the blog is over a year old, I can use 365 days of fond hindsight to argue that yes, all the warnings were true. Warnings such as:

1. Your blog needs new material on a weekly, or maybe even daily, basis. Some weeks, my blog does a passable imitation of Audrey II from Little Shop Of Horrors. That’s just the nature of the digital beast. You gamble on your belief that you’ll somehow find an inexhaustible spring of new topics to keep you writing, posting and building your site. Launching a blog is a risk.

2. Blogs can infringe on your valuable writing time. Managing my time on other projects in addition to my blog (along with my regular 9-5 job) can get challenging, and if you’re thinking of starting a blog, just how much time you’re prepared to give to it should be a serious consideration.

3. The market is saturated. You’re a sober and meticulous writer, most likely, so if you’re considering starting a blog about the craft, you’ve probably noticed the sheer volume of writing blogs already adding their voices and experiences to the Internet conversation. 

But wait, you’re still sure you want to start a blog? I like your stubbornness. Here are 3 good reasons to ignore the warnings above—and go for it!

1. Your blog needs new material on a weekly, or maybe even daily, basis. Are you an aspiring freelance writer hoping to make a living on assignments and contracts? A blog is fantastic practice (and exposure, but mostly practice). Are you a self-published novelist looking to build your oeuvre and find your audience? Being accountable for producing post after post after post (in perpetuity!) is one-of-a-kind, on-the-job training to help you meet such a goal.

2. Blogs can infringe on your valuable writing time. The whole point of The Procrastiwriter was to find and share the best ways to be a writer around a full-time life. (When I started the blog, I had a 2.5-hour daily commute tacked onto a 8.5-hour work day.) Ironically, instead of using the blog as a vehicle for communicating the strategies I was developing, it became the laboratory for experimentation. Again, that post-every-day responsibility forced me to be a writer around a full-time life, rather than simply musing about the concept.   

3. The market is saturated—and that is a fantastic thing! Embrace the clutter and the unique mix of personalities in the writers’ corner of the blogosphere (and take comfort in the fact that all of us—including you—share the idiosyncrasies that make us writers of the current age). Yes, you’ll have to work harder and bring your A-game to get noticed, but blogging in a vacuum is absolutely no fun. Bonus: All this people-meeting and A-game-bringing makes you a better writer all around.

So go ahead, and start your blog! The Write Conversation is a wealth of resources and information about the business of blogging and its supporting pillar—social media. What are you waiting for?

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3 Reasons NOT to start a #Writing Blog & 3 Reasons to Do It Anyway - via @Write_Tomorrow on @EdieMelson (Click to Tweet)

Thinking about starting a #writing blog? @Write_Tomorrow has some thoughts on why & why not on @EdieMelson (Click to Tweet)

My name is Shanan, and I’m a writer with a problem. I do more procrastinating than writing, more “research” than writing, more brainstorming than writing and finally, more agonizing over the fact that I haven’t written anything than – you guessed it – actually writing. The Procrastiwriter is about procrastinating while writing, and how to be a successful writer around a full-time life. (Can it be done? Read to find out!). You can also connect with Shanan on Twitter and Facebook.