Anne Lemott – Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life: “Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts. You need to start somewhere.”
I am going to publish a post today. I don’t worry about how my blog looks. I won’t even worry if I haven’t given it a name yet, or even if I feel overwhelmed. I just click the “New Post” button, and it’s time to tell you why I’m here.
Why do this?
- What are you about?
- Well, to be honest. I don’t know yet. My plan is to use this platform as a portfolio but to also bring different tips and tricks to make technology easier for you.
- Why should you read my blog?
- Why not read tips and tricks that could help you or someone you know?
This post could be short or long, a personal intro to my life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of the types of things I hope to publish.
To help you get started, here are a few questions:
- Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
- Everything now and days is online. if anything I post can help anyone that would be awesome!
- What topics do you think you’ll write about?
- Technology tips and tricks, projects of mine, and much, much more.
- Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
- Anyone who wants to join. I am not gearing towards a specific gender or type of person.
- If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?
- To at least help one person with something.
I’m not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why I started, and articulating my goals may just give me a few other post ideas.
Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.
When I’m ready to publish, I will give this post three to five tags that describe my blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about my topics find me in the reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find it, too.