ANDRE BEGIN

When reading tips for writers of short-form articles, I truly appreciate all of the advice, hints, and checklists that are offered.

Even after a decade of writing articles for my blogs, I still find these pointers important not only to validate what I am doing but also to ensure that I am keeping up with the times.

However, one bit of advice that I often find to be a bit of a head-scratcher is the suggestion that articles should help readers solve a problem.

When I think back to my body of work, I have indeed written some articles along those lines, and I enjoyed writing with that clear sense of purpose in the spirit of service.

When you know you’ve helped someone solve a problem, or you’ve helped to inspire someone into action, it’s a great feeling.

But when we take the statement at face value, does every post truly have to be functional in nature?

Wouldn’t that get boring?

During my years in retail and then as a public servant, I’ve solved many problems for many people. But please forgive me when I say that after four decades, my desire to solve other people’s problems sometimes runs a little thin.

Given how life can get messy and how solving one problem can sometimes reveal (or even create) more issues, I’m at the point where I’d prefer to be known as the guy people turn to when needing a break from life’s problems, rather than solving the problem itself.

Are stories for the purpose of entertainment, escapism, or for a moment of levity to regain one’s bearings any less meritorious of being written?

Maybe for a newcomer to the form, writing to solve a problem is value-added advice to offer a sense of direction in what to write when facing a blank page. I would agree that the suggestion is an excellent starting point.

But after many years of wrangling words, writing for the fun of it, and seeing what happens, I can confirm that while some of my most popular posts did involve sharing information to potentially solve problems, others didn’t.

I think that there is room for all types of articles to suit a variety of purposes.

I feel that the idea of only writing articles that serve a practical purpose unfairly narrows the scope of possibilities. It would be like having a TV that tuned to only one channel.

However, if the definition of “problem” can include, in the broader sense, the adversity, frustration, or stress that a reader might be feeling, if the lighter stories I write can serve as an antidote to (i.e., alleviating the problem of…) life’s challenging times, perhaps I would agree with that statement.

Sincere thanks for reading!
Have a great day,
André