I never expected to be very good at writing a blog. Not from a writing point of view, but rather in commitment. I think I’ve surprised myself. There was a period of a few weeks earlier this year when I found it really hard to write. Nothing was flowing; my thoughts weren’t clear.
Writing problems aside, I’ve just passed the a milestone of fifty posts, and I’m pretty pleased about that. Compared with the prolific writings of some whom I read regularly, it might seem trivial, but for me it’s quite an achievement!
What was it that held me up?
Fear
At one stage, I think I felt a little fearful of blogging. Though its not entirely clear to me why this was the case, it certainly prevented me from writing. Something to do perhaps with expressing myself openly from a personal perspective, communicating the views I am now forming about the way forward? Fear of how my personal vision and strategy is contributing to the development of strategy for our organisation, and how this might differ from others – either within or beyond.
Drafts
I’ve written (or started writing) plenty of drafts. Some of them remain here in one form or another. I also write when out and about on the iPad, though have given up with WordPress and Blogpress apps, and instead sync to text files to Dropbox with iaWriter. Sometimes it’s just a few words quickly jotted down. Other times it’s more comprehensive with text flowing freely from my thoughts or structured around or in reference to other materials.
Commitment
You really have to work at a blog – long enough at least that it becomes a natural process to write regularly. Writing doesn’t have to be every day; you can use a few methods to keep ahead of yourself, like scheduling some posts ahead of time to fill in those gaps in your writing flow. I think you also have to be actively thinking about your writing very regularly – many times a day, in fact. If you have an idea, quickly scratch it on something, make a note, record a voice memo. Only a few minutes later, the moment and the specific idea you just had might be gone.
Distractions
There are distractions everywhere, and for a technology enthusiast it could be said that distractions are even more noticeable. To start with, there’s the blog platform – in my case WordPress. I’m using the hosted version, but you can also host your own (and do lots more cool stuff). I’ve simply taken to using one of the preconfigured themes (Wu Wei), but customisation is also available, as are additional modules and widgets. Beyond the blog platform though, there are so many other opportunities, all of which threaten to draw you away from your blogging objective.