WRITE WITHOUT Following the rules!

 

A friend to a friend asked for advice on starting off in blogging and I thought why not put this on my blog? Now we have it.And sorry about the title 😅, we just needed any, right? Do we have a specific one? 😅 

It's now 4 years since I started blogging Alhamdulillah. I begun with the wrong intention .😬 I was writing so that people could read my work (which is not bad  but it shouldn't be the primary reason for starting your blog). 

I came to unlearn that and now I'd tell anyone starting off in writing, blogging, etc to do it for themselves . Write because you feel you need to address something. Not because you want people to read. Because this can be demoralizing, sometimes people won't read your work. So write for yourself.Write what you want to read. Then hopefully someone will be impacted by your work.

I started off with  consistency and determination but sometimes I wasn't disciplined enough to follow my writing schedule.  I'd stay months without blogging. I was watching things, I was reading other people's work and now that I have resumed, I am seeing great improvement in my articles.I could read my old posts and be like, "what were you trying to say girl ? "😅 I am not saying you shouldn't be consistent I'm saying, set time to read other people's work,and get bored too and then come back. By the way reading other people's work has helped me get new writing styles and helps you explore different writing voices.

Change your environment.
Most of the times I found myself writing more when venturing into a new area, traveling, meeting new people, having deep conversations, etc . Writers' block comes mostly when you have been stuck in the same place, situation for a long time.Try to move.

In a 2013 article, Psychology Today referenced a study by the University of Michigan to show our productivity pattern based on change shows that morning people, who “feel more productive in daytime hours,” are actually more adept at creative problem-solving in the evening. The opposite held true for those who claimed they were more focused at night.This shows how  relevant changing routines is.

Hats off to the younger version of me who strived for progress over perfectionism. I look at her pieces of work and I am grateful that even though she was not a legit writer, she never stopped writing. This is so inspiring of her and those tiny struggles are what led to this better version of me. So hey, don't try to be perfect just write and I am telling this to myself too because I am seeing myself trying to achieve perfectionism over progress. Striving for perfectionism will make you stop writing and you will blame writers blog. So habibty /habibi just write.

Write without following the rules and write every day. You don't have to post it on your blog, you can make it short for your status.Writing freely without looking into the rules enhances creativity and also gives you the motivation to write. Heyyyy, once you are done make sure you look into the grammar and spelling errors.

I almost forgot this, please, please, share your work widely. That way you will get an audience and once you publish your first book they'll be eagerly waiting for that piece because they trust you, they have read your work. Sharing your work will also allow people to give positive criticism and you really need this for you to grow as a writer. 

I think that's all but incase I find something to add along the journey of blogging, I will come drop it off.