“The ink of the scholar is holier than the blood of the martyr.”
Prophet Muhammad
The year 2012 was not the digital age, and to avoid boredom, we played cricket, chased the kites on the streets, made castles out of small stones, painted pictures, and wrote diaries.
I used to spend my winter vacations flying kites on the rooftop and fill my free time by scribbling in my diary. From here, my passion to write kindled.
My beginning as a writer was painful. I first started writing a novel when I was seventeen years old. I was an amateur, but I was excited to finish my first novel.
Long story short, in a few years, I completed the manuscript of my first novel. I submitted the manuscript to 50+ publishers. To my dismay, I found no one is interested in publishing my book. I was upset.
After reading countless articles on the internet on career as a writer, I soon realised that I had a passion for storytelling, but my writing lacked that spark. There was something missing.
The Missing Ingredient
The missing ingredient was the habit of reading.
I learned that reading is a prerequisite to writing well.
In fact, in most cases, it is not a sudden idea or revelation that makes writers write. So, it is not like writers sit in their chairs, and the thoughts start flowing through their minds out of nowhere.
Writers draw inspiration from the works of other authors. On a personal level, I read somewhere between 50-100 pages before the inspiration to write takes over me.
- In the beginning years as a writer, it is crucial to immerse oneself in reading books.
- Simultaneously, the habit of taking extensive notes helps in gathering the material to use for one’s own writing purposes.
In short, if you do not have the habit of reading books, then either develop it or give up the idea that someday your voice will stand out in the crowd.
Starting With Social Media Posts
Reading a couple of books on how to write well made me realize that anybody can be a writer.
It is similar to learning guitar. Both require consistent learning, practice, and willingness to adopt new techniques.
The more I practice writing, the easier it would become to find my voice as a writer. To do this, I turned to social media platforms.
- I began by writing quotes on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, and then I started sharing long posts.
- Facebook did well for me, as it gave me enough space to express myself. My first readers were my family and friends.
If you are a budding writer, it is good to start writing for yourself and get better at writing. Forget about money and readers, at first.
If you write good enough, and long enough, you will automatically attract your audience and people who want to hire you.
There was so much for me to learn on my journey as a writer and the amazing revelation was yet to unfold.
The Amazing Revelation
- A lot of times, I deleted the documents and blogs that were not good enough. It happened all the time – when I completed making a video or writing a blog, I assume that the idea is not worth sharing.
- In the initial years, don’t know how many good articles and ideas I moved to the recycle bin.
It was a big mistake, and it took me years to realize that we cannot reach the level of perfection we desire.
My writings may not be as good as Shakespeare’s or Charles Dickens’s, but if I finish writing the blog and publish it, it is well worth waiting and avoiding the guilt of “I am not good enough.”
Once you stop trying to seek perfection, you can complete the work with more focus and less time.
Approaching Blog Writing: My Method
After trying my hand at creating posts on social media, I set up a website with the help of a friend.
It was surprising to me when I found that it takes less than 30 minutes to set up a website and start publishing.
The time has come now to experiment with other formats like articles and blogs. I was always afraid of writing extensive articles and blogs. And the fear turned to reality.
When I sat to write, I found a loss of words. The blank white document was daunting.
Frankly, even after ten years of my career as a writer, the blank white document haunts me every morning. But I know if I get a little push, I will gain the required momentum to complete writing the posts.
Therefore, as soon as I face the blank screen, I break down the blog post into smaller headlines. Here is how I started my writing routine.
Now, all I have to do is to fill in the content below these headlines. I searched in my journal for my life experiences and the relevant notes I have gathered from books. Then, I stitched all the scattered pieces together to write the post you are reading now.
Read here: How I Come Up With Engaging Blog Ideas
As I started writing on website, I learned different formats of content writing:
- Sales email
- Catchy headlines
- Reviews
- How-to guides
- Eamil newsletters
- Guest Posting
It was time to get my feet wet on different formats…
Nice and honest journey that made guidelines for others…. Thank you….