I love to write. The act of expressing myself through words breathes fresh air into my spirit. However, it is a mighty lonely job, which is ironic since I love to tell stories, often which are big fat lies, to others. How do I forge through the doldrums and keep myself socially functional and even perky? Well, by blogging.
To me, blogging nurtures my social self by giving me a super simple, and might I add free outlet to let loose with my ideas, grovels and shout-outs. I can spill the beans about my last meal or offer my two cents on the latest shortage of pumpkin spice lattes. For example, as sweater weather rolled around, I was quick to blog about my love for wool knits and chevron stripes, and I also bragged about my latest sweater purchases by posting Instagram images. People like to look at pretty pictures. Keep this in mind if you want to write for your own blog.
I prefer to call my blog my stream of conscience, social experiment. Whenever I have a novel idea, I can test the waters by posting about my latest inspiration. Whether I receive comments or not is not as important as being able to get the idea out of my system. If you love it, let it go and it is supposed to come back to you. So if I find myself even more passionate about an idea that I’ve written about, then it is a keeper, while most ideas translate into super silly what-were-you-thinking moments.
Why do you waste your time as a blog content provider? You can’t resell what you publish in a blog, so why give up potential paychecks? Didn’t you know that for every blog you write, you could be writing a scene for your novel that you always talk about finishing but seem to never have time? Yada yada yada. I’ve heard this from everyone from my mom to my agent. And while I understand their concern, I also know that blogging gives me a freedom to practice my writing, which is essential to crafting chipper content, as well as spry and successful novels.
Other reasons I find blogging to be the icing on my cupcake is that I can attract an audience by offering free lollipops in the form of blog posts. My readers get to connect with me and keep abreast to my latest story lines. They can interact with me through rants and raves in the comments box, which I get to approve or deny—muuwwahh. Also, if I’m feeling rather frisky, I can post chapters from books I plan to publish to get insight from potential readers. The sky’s the limit with blogging. Well, actually, thanks to the cloud that is debatable, but I digress.
Miranda B is a freelance writer available on WriterAccess, a marketplace where clients and expert writers connect for assignments.
