“The finest steel has to go through the hottest fire.” – Richard Nixon.

If you’re in the early stages of your blog, allow me to empathize with you. I too am a newbie blogger with the same ups and downs, constant self-questioning and blind faith as you. I too write to a near-empty audience without the guarantee of applause, and I too must believe in myself when nobody else even knows who I am.

Feeling uncomfortable is natural and healthy for newbie bloggers like us — it’s part of paying our dues. But instead of flinching from your discomfort, why not embrace it? Why not use it to drive you that much further past the masses who settle for comfort and dare I say…mediocrity. If you can to learn to leverage your challenges to your benefit, not much can hold you back from the wild success of your dreams.

So without further ado, here are the five most obvious signs you’re a healthy, thriving new blogger:

1. You’re anxious. You want results and you want them now. Unlike that boring nine to five desk job, blogging represents a bright future which you have the freedom to create. It’s something worth waking up for and nurturing, even on Mondays. Anxiety is a good sign because it shows your blog is alive and breathing, itching to grow and blossom like a restless child.
2. You’re lonely. You have two readers, and you’re of one them. This is how we all start, but if you keep writing, they will come. Just ask fellow new blogger Nathan, who says “I’m still writing consistently, and seeing steady increases in readership.” Does it get any simpler than that? Nathan understands the ancient Chinese wisdom that states, “A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.”
   
3. You’re tired. If you’re like me, your blogging is competing for time normally set aside for something else, like sleeping. Or time with the family. Or surfing when the waves are good. Chances are you didn’t quit your day job to start your blog, so being tired is a perfectly normal side-effect of new blogging. Gary Vaynerchuk of winelibrary.tv says it best in this speech (at 12:15): “Work nine to five. Spend a couple of hours with your family. Seven to two in the morning is plenty of time to do damage.”
4. You’re intimidated. We blog in the shadow of giants — bright and cunning bloggers who have been doing it longer, command all the readership and clearly have more fun than the rest of us. This should intimidate you as a new blogger, but it should also drive you to learn everything you can about them, their stories and their methods. What you learn will make you stronger and smarter, and before you know it you’ll be up there too. See also: Power of the Self-Fulfilling Prophecy.
5. You’re obsessed. Being obsessed is just another way of saying you’re committed with passion. Your readers will know and appreciate this because it will show in your writing without any overt effort on your part.  Obsessions are healthy because they supply your blog with ideas, information, charisma and creative energy. Following your fixation will eventually lead to a blog that is uniquely you and not a copy of someone else’s great idea.

Remember — it doesn’t pay to be comfortable. Embrace your challenges like a mountain climber or astronaut would embrace theirs — with gusto, courage and faith. Now more than ever is the time to push forward.

5 Signs You’re a Healthy New Blogger is written by Charles Bohannan for Wordful.com, a blog about digital publishing.

Related posts:

1. How to Assume the Mood of a Blogger
2. Blogger = Writer + Editor

I have to be very honest: maintaining a professional blog is challenging. It’s been over six weeks since I switched wordful.com from a mini-consulting site to a blog. At that time I told myself that I must write on it everyday.

The kick-off started off relatively well until I fell into some bad writing habits. None of these habits had anything to do with what I was writing, but rather how I was writing. So now that I’ve lived through some initial failure, let me share with you what I’ve learned:

1. Overthinking. My first and still most fatal blogging mistake. Days and weeks have gone by where all I’ve done is think about how cool my blog is going to be. I really fall victim to this during my morning run, because this is the time I come up my most inspiring ideas. After I get home I excitedly scribble my ideas in a notebook and then, sadly, do nothing beyond that…but continue to think more about my great ideas – talk about redundant! Now I’ve got a notebook filled with brilliant ideas but still no awesome blog to back it up (soon to change I promise).
2. Self-doubt. This is really a result of overthinking. The problem is once you get thinking about something, chances are a part of your inner dialog will talk you out of doing it. For me it was always worrying about what other people are going to think about my writing. Will it be hated or even worse, ignored? My simple advice: get over it. Have faith in yourself as well as what excitement and mystery the future holds.
3. Too much focus on end results. The money, the attention, the praise, the popularity. I won’t deny I want to be at the top — who doesn’t?  But how do you expect to get there if all you focus on is being there? We often look up and envy successful bloggers without appreciating the hard work and innovation they put into their work. No work = no results. Get to it.
4. Reading too much content. The amount of good, relevant content out there is just about at the point of infinity. That’s a huge number if you can get your mind around it. I would spend many days refreshing about a dozen different sites over and over for the latest content. 20% of it was valuable, but the other 80% was cheap-thrills trash. Here’s how to gauge you’re overdoing it: you hit refresh and it’s the exact same content.
5. Lack of routine. Do you know how many mornings I try to get up before everyone else at 4:30 so I can write? I still have not been able to do this! I usually wake up late and groggy and then tell myself to write before bed. But for me that’s a lame option because I know that by the end of the day I’m going to pass out from exhaustion. In order to succeed with blogging, you have to set a routine that fits your lifestyle. And yes, this requires discipline.
6. Shifting of blog topic. I’ll let you in on a secret: I still don’t know what this blog is about! I know it has to do with harnessing the power of words and writing, but beyond that the “theme” is still evolving. Over these past six weeks, this blog has gone through so many niches (all done in my head of course), including: inspirational stories, commentary, essays on life, news stories, how to write better and more. The bottom line here is to have at least one core idea, followed by some writing to express that idea. Follow this simple formula and the blog will organically unfold. Just watch me do it in the weeks and months to come.
7. Perfectionism. There’s nothing wrong with writing one perfect post after another, but what exactly does that mean? For me, having worked as an editor for years, there is no end to what can be made perfect. I could theoretically edit a single post for years and never be happy with it. I still struggle with perfectionism because I’m always editing and reediting my work to the point of zero progress. Take a look at my first post here  – that took me over four hours to write! Advice: write it, edit it and post it and then move onto the next one. It’s still okay to go back and edit but make sure new content gets priority.

Okay, there you have it: seven fatal mistakes to avoid when starting a blog. To sum it up, remember a good start in blogging is more about a shift in your habits than it is about subject matter. Thought must be followed with action or nothing will ever evolve. Trust me, it’s no fun being your blog’s only fan — especially when your blog doesn’t even exist.

And of course, for those who actually listened and made it this far, here’s #8: stop making excuses! When it comes to covering your shortcomings, you’d be surprised how clever and sneaky your mind can be. I know this for a fact. Every day I didn’t write on my blog, I somehow justified it in my head (not even sure how). This can only go on for so long until you realize that you have no content and no readers. That’s where I am right now. Aloha.

7 Bad Habits New Bloggers Must Avoid is written by Charles Bohannan for Wordful.com, a blog about digital publishing.

Related posts:

1. 7 Habits of Highly Effective Bloggers, Redux
2. How to Avoid Mediocre Blogging
3. 7 Steps to Blog Post Perfection