Why Blog?
Introduction
This site is new, my official author website. As a writer, having an author website is a must for those that want to be taken seriously, connect with readers, and market to them. A professional-looking website lets readers know a writer is serious about their craft. It’s challenging to find a successful author without a personal website.
For me, writing is not a hobby. It’s a full-time passion. I’m willing to sacrifice to achieve big goals. With that in mind, building good relationships with other writers and readers is essential. It garners an audience’s trust, allowing me to follow my passion with no pretense as to my motivation: doing what I love, writing.
Why blog?
One of the first things to decide when considering blogging is: Why? It’s no secret that blogs attract organic website traffic while allowing authors to connect with readers and keep them updated, but whatever your reasons, it’s essential to ask what your motivation and goals are, especially since blogging can be time-consuming.
It remains to be seen if this blog will become an authority site. That is not my primary intention. Still, sharing writing advice (primarily featuring speculative fiction) will make me a better writer. Some blog posts on this site might be relatively short, about 300 words or less, while others will be significantly longer. Other posts will be simple updates, but I’ll make an effort to publish a post weekly while having fun expressing myself. Either way, this blog will be geared to helping writers on their journey and adding value to readers’ lives.
Publishing schedule
While I must hold myself accountable to a publishing schedule lest I neglect this blog, quality trumps quantity, and content is king. Some posts might be longer or more in-depth and may take longer than a week to publish. Hence, other posts will be weekly updates or interesting tidbits rather than researched articles.
I’m not a guru
There are many self-branded writing gurus pontificating in every direction based on what has worked for them or misinterpreting what they think worked for others. The truth is that there are many ways to succeed—different ways work for different writers. It is one reason why it’s so important to find support by building relationships with like-minded people, in essence, a writing tribe or community.
But no matter how well you write, you will find plenty of people who hate your work. Critics (including some editors, writers, and audiences) are often enamored by tales that conform to their tastes or popular conventions. There is no pleasing everyone. This blog is not intended to brand me as a writing guru or an authority on writing. I will not engage in thinking that I am, neither by self-branding or self-deluding.
Writing advice, guidelines, and tools, oh my!
With writing fiction, conventions and audience come into play. That’s why most professionals don’t use the term “rule” when offering writing advice. There is always an exception or stylistic preference. The term “guideline” is preferable to “rule.” Still, even then, my advice will always be biased by my skill level and preferences. That is a safe assumption about anyone offering writing advice, but it’s still important to keep in mind. An adage of writers is that when they look back at something they wrote years ago, they see room for improvement. Research is a borderline obsession for me. Eventually, I want to create a page that reviews writing craft websites and resources. Doing so will enrich other writers’ lives and help me improve my skills.
9 blogging guidelines
When writing content, it’s worth asking: Am I adding value? There are many blogs out there that feature writing advice. So as I write an article, I should ask myself:
- Does a post contain the information offered by other writers but brings personal expertise and creativity to bear?
- What does my blog offer differently?
- Am I being specific enough?
- Is it exciting and original?
- Have I written compelling content that my audience will love?
- Are there plenty of short paragraphs and headings, making it easy for readers to scan through a post and understand the gist of the text? Images?
- Do the sections have similar formatting to help rapid reader comprehension?
- Passion/Profit Matrix: How excited am I to work on this? (Versus) Have too many people already spent time researching this topic, so there is little interest or internet search traffic?
- Have I outlined to save time, keep organized, and help arrange my content to make the most sense for readers?
Conclusion
It was a strange but exciting experience writing this first post. I trust I’ve relayed why I’m starting a blog, what readers can expect from future articles, and my guidelines for content, style, and formatting. Subscribe to my mailing list to receive emails featuring new content!
Next week I’ll be sharing an inspiring article titled You Are a Writer for those in the writing community who need a little encouragement.
Cheers,
Jarrid Cantway
Oh, I wouldn’t mind if you gave the article some love through social media.
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