A Little Story about Writing and Blogging
Today, I am going to offer you insight into the thought process that I put into writing generally and developing my blog specifically.
I hope that you can learn something from my experience.
The Genesis
One day I chanced upon a article here at Hubpages, and it was about writing online. I forget exactly which article it was right now, but it did something significant when I read it.
It inspired me to create to account here and start writing.
I had a simple goal when I started. I wanted to develop the skill of writing because being able to articulate ideas and concepts clearly and concisely is a worthy goal.
Also I am of that school that believes that if you want to be truly good at anything, you have to put in consistent and focused effort.
Talent is overrated.
After I started writing here, the natural extension of that was to create a blog. It offered me far more control and created more opportunities to learn.
Thought Process on Writing
I am passionate about Brazilian Jiu-jitsu.
Also I'm dedicated to the process of improving myself every day. You should be too.
Anyway, creating a blog allowed me to merge those two passions. When you write about something, you have to think about it, and every second you spend thinking about something increases the likelihood that it will become ingrained.
Consistent effort is making me better at writing and all the little skill sets that are related to it like presentation, focus, storytelling, etc. I'm still in the process, but it's a long term project.
It's all about the incremental steps you take consistently, regardless of your starting point.
In fact, Zig Ziglar has a great quote that symbolizes that point: You don't have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.
The Vision
Out there in the World Wide Web, there are many blogs that focus on Brazilian Jiu-jitsu. I've checked out a few, there are even some that I really enjoyed.
I firmly believe that I am in the process of creating something great, so none of that matters at all.
At a fundamental level, the goals are:
- To offer content that relevant and useful to someone other than myself
- To increase the awareness of Brazilian Jiu-jitsu beyond the dedicated few.
- To find interesting ways to associate diverse sources of knowledge with BJJ
That's a quick and short list. It doesn't encompass everything, but those are very significant goals.
Even if you have no interest at all in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu, there is relevance to the idea that outlining fundamental goals and priorities can help focus your work in any project.
Writing Process
I have a simple process.
During the day, I'll get random ideas, and I'll make a note of the topic. After that, I make sure that I write down the initial headline as soon as possible.
It allows me to have a little mental reminder for the idea because it's not often that I'll have to time to work on it anytime soon. So I have this list of these little ideas.
When possible, I then go back and pick one. I also decide if the topic would be more appropriate here or on my blog. Admittedly, it's mostly about intuition.
Once decided, I start writing and editing. One consequence of this is that my writing is a direct reflection of my thoughts at that moment.
So every time I write, I see it as a snapshot of my thought process in that instant, and I use my old writing to evaluate my development.
I don't think that I am the only one that can benefit from that process.
Oh, Wait
I've mentioned my blog, so I might as well show you some articles that I've written there. I'm proud of these two.
Check them out: