Whenever I picture bloggers in my mind, I see them vibing at an urban coffee house. Or hanging out on luxurious sofas with a marble cased MacBook Pro and three dogs surrounding them while effortlessly writing about food and everyday events. But not me. I sat in my college dining hall and attempted my first blog post on labels in society to the mummers of finals and the clanking of dishes.
The main difference between me and real bloggers: I did not want to be writing this. In short, I’ve never been a fan of writing. Any writing, academic or not. Now here I am with an assignment from my english class to turn my eight page paper into a blog post (disclaimer: I’ve never done this before), with no desire to do it, and no clue where to start.
Right off the bat, I had three challenges slap me in the face the minute I attempted to write:
Obstacle 1: How do start I start?? Do I ask a question, do I use a quote, do I just jump right into it?
Obstacle 2: How personal or professional do I make this? Probably not with “Yo” or “Homie” right? But also not words people need a thesaurus for like “parsimonious” or “ebullient” right? I also have to include memes which are distracting; I’ve never used either and don’t really want to start now.
Obstacle 3: What about the punctuation and formatting: is it text cas or thesis paper formal? Are there paragraphs in blogs..?
The feeling is mutual
I sat at my table wracking my brain for an idea and did what any student would: procrastinate by turning to internet for “inspiration” (more or less distraction for some ideas).
I thoroughly enjoy reading blogs from various health-foodie people I follow on social media. I love reading Emily Skye’s daily fitness blogs, Kate Fruit Flower’s lifestyle blogs, and last but not least, the one and only Laura Miller’s blogs from her site RAW. VEGAN. NOT GROSS. All of these women are so inspiring to me, so I tuned in to get my daily dose of fresh inspiration while I procrastinated writing my own blog.
Yes, that’s asparagus.
It wasn’t until after looking at numerous outside blogs and giving myself and hour to write when I found the solution to my first obstacle:
Solution 1: Recall from memory I knew if I were to read my original essay, I would be too tempted to copy and paste sentences. Not that it would be a bad thing considering I wrote it, but the writing was too formal for a blog. I decided not to look at the essay once and just type whatever came to mind. I found it more casual, and fitting for my blog. I was happy with what I did recall, because I realized the things I did memorize were what I wanted to share most.
I wonder how this is gonna work out
After peer review, the confidence I felt after quickly finishing my draft faded as I realized my blog was too short, had no media, and was not comprehensive enough. I began to work on my blog whenever I felt like it, and blogging began to feel more personal than academic. I started to enjoy it (shocking I know) and then the two answers my other problems came about:
Solution 2: Write how you feel If I felt like using a larger word I used it, if I felt like using a smaller word I used it; the point was to make the writing relatable to all people. I tired to pick whatever sounded best said a loud, as if I were explaining it to someone. For the media if I felt emotion after a thought; I captured it in a meme, and if I need a break or further explanation, I added a picture.
Solution 3: There is no format No, paragraphs do not need 5 sentences; they only need to form cohesive thoughts. Yes, contractions are okay, but sometimes it is okay to write the whole thing out for emphasis or variation. Media is not only important, but essential. As soon as I stopped worrying about making my post between the suggested 500-800 words according to my assignment, I wrote similarly to how thoughts would enter my mind. If I had a long pause in my thoughts, I started a new paragraph. If I wrote something and it recalled an image to mind, I tried to find something to illustrate it. If I made a general comment, I tried to find an article to hyperlink and support it.
By the time I finished editing, my blog post hardly resembled my original essay. It gave me some anxiety, but for the first time I felt writing was a conversation. Blogging became an opportunity for me to connect with my writing on a more personal level, and became fun because it was more relaxed and unprofessional. Even though my blogging experience did not pan out at all to how I thought it would be, it was awesome to see my essay go from seven pages of formal, to one blog of casual.
♥ Little Kelli