It's damn hard being a writer! And being a good writer is an even bigger hill to climb. It's a lot of work, late nights, sacrifice, and very rarely does it pay off the way we think it will.
Real writers can't rely on luxuries like "inspiration" or "epiphanies." There are times you just have to grind it out til whatever you're writing starts to take shape. It can be grueling, frustrating, and even heartbreaking at times.
There are times you are going to ask yourself:
There have even been times where I've almost thrown my laptop off of my balcony.
But, at the same time, we know this is what we want to do. We have something to say and we want people to read our work and spark some conversations.
The question is, "how do you turn something you like doing into something you're good at doing?"
Well there is an answer!
After you've written long enough, you do learn certain techniques that make the process easier. One of those is what I'll be talking about here.
Every adventure starts with a single step, and for writers, that single step is this:
FIND YOUR NICHE
Your niche is basically your writing voice. You area of expertise. It's something that you feel comfortable writing about because you either:
Like I said before, writing is hard. Don't make it harder by trying to bullshit your readers. It will just make you look like a hack!
But that can be easier said then done. Sometimes, we don't know what we are necessarily good at or if our interest would make good writing topics right?
So here are a few tips that might help jumpstart your writing juices.
First up:
MAKE A LIST OF ALL OF YOUR INTEREST
Sit down. Grab some coffee. Turn on your computer. Then start listing every single thing that interest you. No matter how stupid or weird it might be. Don't filter it, just write.
Along with your interest, write down all of the cool things you have done in the past years... or at least cool to you. Remember, don't judge it. The purpose here is just to get it all out.
The reason for this is two-fold:
1. It gets you writing without getting worrying about structure or editing.
2. You will usually find a gem among all the garbage.
Even something that you might not think of as something to base a blog on, can actually be that one thing that will produce material for weeks or even months.
I have a friend who had "writers block" for a pretty long period of time. I told her to make her list, and it turns out that she was a big fan of New Wave music from the "80s." So she started writing about that. She wrote weekly for almost a year, and built a pretty solid audience.
And with certain niches, you can narrow it down and write multiple post about the same subject matter.
For example:
If you were writing about "The Beatles," there is so much to cover about their careers, their albums, their solo projects, that you can literally write about them for months. All of that material for just one band.
So the point is, "DONT SKIP THIS PROCESS!" Just write, then sort it out later.
DO YOUR HOMEWORK
Once you find that something you're interested in writing, don't just rely on the knowledge you already have about it, dig deeper!
Use Google, Youtube, or whatever you can find to become an expert on the subject matter. The more knowledgeable you are, the more professional you'll sound.
START SMALL
Challenge yourself with exercises. Not every post needs be a thousand words. Start with 300 - 500 word post. If you feel you can write more than by all means. But don't put pressure on yourself to do more.
Remember, It's more important to capture you reader's attention than trying to be "wordy."
You should definitely be expressive and elaborate, but you also don't want to burn yourself out. Writing is a marathon, not a sprint.
FINAL THOUGHTS
There is a lot to cover on the subject of writing. This isn't even the tip of the iceberg. But if you know who you, are and where your wheelhouse is, it makes it easier when you have to deal with the "other stuff."
Remember, your niche is your brand. So find out QUICKLY what it is.
Hopefully this was helpful mates. Good luck, and good writing!
Great post! Yes having a good valuable blog is hard!
Glad you dug the piece. I have to remind myself of this stuff all the time.