I’ve tried blogging before and, as I said in my About Me section, it wasn’t very successful.
When it came to writing my blog post, I went with the flow. For each paragraph, I would summarize my point in my head and then translate it into “layman’s” terms. I know that some people focus on translating each sentence into a more casual language, but when I tried this method, my sentences came out too choppy. Think Joey Tribbiani using a thesaurus, choppy.
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At first, I had trouble in finding a balance between informal and text-like language. I looked up guides on how to blog and read dozens of samples of blogs that I liked. I will admit to reading passages from Blogging for Dummies. As I wrote, my natural tone was slightly witty but still somewhat informative. After debating on whether I should change my approach, I decided I liked what I had written. If I was reading my blog, I wouldn’t have closed the tab.
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I realized as I questioned my own writing that I didn’t want to change my tone and that I wanted to go with my gut. Blogs are about staying true to your writing, so guess what I did? I stayed true to my writing.
Since I was in middle school, I’ve written for fun. I’ve tried blogging, I’ve probably started dozens of books, only one of which I’ve succeeded past the first chapter. I’ve written dozens of research papers, several newspaper articles, reflections, argumentative essays and more. But none of these writing formats fit who I was, or thought I was, as a writer. Similar to wearing a mask, I donned the façade of a scholar so that I could write an awesome paper.
Am I Doing it Right?
I won’t say that blog writing isn’t challenging because it is, but it is also very satisfying. Knowing that you’re writing something that you believe in, but it also accessible for the everyday person. In academic writing, you have to modify your natural writing to fit the accepted tone. This is helpful for writing essays in which your thoughts and ideas are aiming to make a scholarly point and in which your ideas are going to reach a more “scholarly” audience.
In this case, I wasn’t talking to professors. I was talking to people just like me, so I felt compelled to write as if I was talking to myself. Since I tend to talk to myself anyways, this method of blog writing came very easily to me!
I am my own biggest fan, but sometimes my own biggest critic. The perfectionist in me wanted to change out certain words with more “intelligent”-sounding synonyms, but those words didn’t sound as if I had come up with them. They sounded as if I had a general idea of where I wanted to go, but I exchanged a complex argument for some fancy words instead.
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My aim was to sound natural, not like I had just swallowed a dictionary.
The most important thing that I learned in this experience: write what you like. If you write what you like and sound passionate about your topic, people will flock towards you. Sometimes, it isn’t what the essay is about that makes an impact. Personally, if a website has a few interesting quotes and maybe a colorful picture or two, I’m ready to bookmark it and add it to my favorites.
The Final Words
So, in short, blogging is hard. I don’t have any wise words to impart from my experience, just the advice that blogging should come naturally. When writing about something that you care about, you shouldn’t have to force yourself to write three sentences writing about what you think your audience would like to hear instead you would really like to be writing about. Writing is supposed to be fun, isn’t it?
The guidelines: if you’re writing a research paper or any sort of assigned writing, and you think you would be distracted by your content, it is probably interesting enough. Key to success: pictures are the key to procrastination. And distraction is the finest sign of flattery after all!
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