I failed to write anything yesterday. In my mind, I came up with several ideas, and even some opening sentences. The problem is, in my perverse pursuit of perfection, I wordsmithed them to the point of useless drivel. Call it writer’s block if you want; I call it fatigue and frustration.
When I started this blog a few weeks ago, I did so with two simple goals in mind. One, I intended to use this as a platform to improve my writing. Two, I wanted to learn the ins and outs and ups and downs and everything in-between of WordPress and blogging. I didn’t intend make it a new chore. I still don’t.
This morning I ran across a blog post entitled 10 Reasons Why Your Blog WILL Die Before Its First Birthday on thebacklight.com. Marcus Sheridan of The Sales Lion wrote the post a year ago. Since I am brand new to the blogging world, it was new and worthwhile reading for me.
In fact, I thought about this a lot today. Here are the ten reasons and my thoughts on the steps I need to take to get this blog past its first birthday.
- No Core Motivation
The fundamental question is why am I doing this. I think I’ve answered this question with a couple of very good reasons.
- Money is your first priority
I admit, at some point I would like make a living doing this, or something similar. Right now I am satisfied just learning.
- You’re really not that passionate about your niche
This seems directed at the money-making aspect of blogging. If I have a niche, it’s writing, and I get a little more passionate about it every day.
- You’re expectations are too high
They were. It didn’t take long to get drug back to earth.
- You’re too focused on traffic
The author states that if you look at your stats more than once a day, you’re guilty of this. I freely admit my guilt. I’ll work on it.
- Your networking stinks
Guilty again, but the more I read, the more I learn.
- You’re not a ‘relaxed’ writer
This is my number one failing and I believe the most important thing on this list. Important enough to quote the full explanation here.
What is a relaxed writer? It’s someone that knows who he or she is and simply allows their thoughts to flow onto the screen. A relaxed writer doesn’t analyze each and every word of his blog. Nor does he suffer from self-doubt and critical analysis. And he certainly doesn’t care if others think he is right or wrong.
I’ve had bloggers tell me before that an 800 word post took them 3 hours to write. What?? Are you serious? Look, I’m all for producing good, clean content, but paralysis by analysis is a very bad thing. My advice is simple: Stop thinking so hard and just type, the rest will just fall into place.
~ Marcus Sheridan
- Your niche is too dang narrow
Refer to point 3.
- You’re lazy
I’m trying to get better.
- You have no plan
I didn’t have one, but I developed one to start with. More on this in another post.
As I already stated, this blog is about learning. Today I learned a lot — about blogging, and about myself.
writesomethingtoday 