If you’re really serious about improving your blogging skills, try what I just did: publish a post every day for one month. Monday through Friday is fine.
Here are few improvements you’ll be sure to make:
Your writing will get better
Much better, in fact. Having the discipline to write and publish everyday is just like exercise: you eventually get into shape. You start sounding more relaxed and the act of writing doesn’t hurt so much.
The first week is especially tough, I will admit. It’s painful to force yourself to do something that can feel so uncomfortable and strained. Getting past the second week is pretty rough, too.
But once you get to the third and fourth week you’ll start to hit a stride. After that, blogging every day doesn’t feel like such a task. It’s actually quite enjoyable 🙂
Perfection is no longer a constraint
Part of the reason I was such an infrequent blogger (one post per week, sometimes less) is because I really dragged and took my time to “handcraft” each post to what I felt was a state of perfection.
We have to remember that blogging is not like book publishing where a team of editors refine our work until it’s ‘perfect’ (*ahem* there is no such thing as perfect). That’s the old way of doing things!
Blogging is meant to be more rapid-paced and fluid. When you commit to doing it every day, it becomes “publish or perish.”
So no matter what kind of day you’re having you know a new post has to be live before you go to bed. That kind of pressure forces you to ship your work by making snap, creative decisions.
You’ll start to find your voice
This is by far the biggest benefit to daily blogging.
Like any novice, beginning bloggers tend to copy the styles of the more established bloggers because they haven’t yet discovered their voice.
But when you write every day, you get more comfortable with yourself and your words until it starts to feel like…you. Your blog becomes you.
Pretty soon your writing feels more natural, like speaking. Your personality starts to emerge, and people start to get comfortable around you.
That personal connection is vital for making friends and attracting passionate readers.
If I can do it, so can you
Rapid fire blogging is a lot like boot camp: you learn what you’re made of.
Today marks the the last successive day of my month of daily blogging (Monday through Friday). I just proved to myself that I am indeed capable of writing and publishing on a daily basis.
I’m also happy to report that it feels great!!
Despite that fact that the world doesn’t make it easy for you to write, why not drop the excuses and just give it a try?
Photo by kevindooley.
Kimberly
Yay! Thanks for the advise, will blogging everyday somehow form a theme?
Charles
Hi Kimberly — I recommend blogging every day to get yourself accustomed to writing practice and daily publishing. I’m sure over time an original idea will emerge, but the repetition isn’t totally necessary. Thanks for stopping by.
Suzy
Hello Charles, somehow i landed on your rejuvenated blog, and i’m glad i did. I’ve been online trying to grasp the rules of blogging, branding. (as an author, i’m about to launch an author’s blog and i’m, well, sort of, basically terrified.
But you, are living proof of those advocates who say to ‘offer an experience’, ‘be relentlessly helpful’.
What i like best is your courage to be authentic, and express vulnerability. For some reason, this helps me immensely! And this blog about writing everyday, nails it. So i’m going to close my macbook, go to bed and start tomorrow. By being yourself, you’re inspiring me. Many thanx.
Hope the table service always takes good care of you…..!
Charles Bohannan
Hi Suzy — thanks for your thoughtful comment, especially the part about vulnerability. I really think that the way to connect with readers is through empathy. You can write things to get people motivated, but if the inspiration isn’t there, or a way to connect, then I doubt the full impact of our words will be felt. Please email me through the contact form if you want to chat more, or need my help in any way.