Despite blogging for 13 years, do I ever have days when I struggle to hit the “Enter” key? Of course I do. What I find interesting is the way the reasons have changed over the years.
In the beginning, when I was still finding my voice as a blogger, my hesitation came from a desire to make a good first impression. I obsessed over grammar and spelling to make sure each article looked and sounded professional. Despite my best efforts, mistakes still snuck through, and even though I was devastated when they were brought to my attention, it was a learning opportunity to grant myself the kindness, patience, and understanding to admit I was human, and that correcting mistakes was part of the process.
Later, my focus revolved around the finessing of articles to ensure they were clear, logical, and offered some value-added takeaway for the reader, whether humour, levity, a relatable story, or a combination thereof.
In the years that followed, the more I read about blogging, the more I recalibrated my focus to ensure my content was positive, not too topical, not oversharing, unlikely to offend anyone, and not something I might regret later. These criteria were not only for the benefit of the reader, but they were also about protecting my peace.
There is no worse feeling than waking up in the middle of the night thinking, “I should have said this instead,” and getting up to change a blog article. Been there, done that!
As a result, I adjusted my process to stay a few weeks ahead of my publishing schedule. I like to leave completed articles in a folder to review them a few more times with fresh eyes (different days, different moods, different degrees of confidence) to be absolutely sure I’m happy with them before posting. By providing myself buffer time between completing an article and posting it, I experienced fewer moments of night sweats worrying about blog articles.
Blogging doesn’t have to be controversial (unless you want it to). Blogging doesn’t have to be in real-time (unless you want it to). Blogging doesn’t have to be a tell-all (unless you want it to). Blogging shouldn’t stress out the author either.
We have every right to pick and choose our topics, establish our comfort zones, and build up our creative processes around those boundaries.
As a result, with all I have learned, when I respect my boundaries and stay true to myself, I find I don’t get cold feet before posting articles nearly as often as I used to.
Did you enjoy this post? If you did, your likes and shares are most appreciated. If you haven’t already, please check out the rest of my blog at andrebegin.blog.
Sincere thanks for reading!
Have a great day,
André
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