To Blog or Not to Blog? - Cole Smith Writes

In certain writing circles, there’s a debate about blogging. “To blog or not to blog?” Some argue for its merits, others say blogging robs time and resources from writing projects. Could I write more novels if I stopped dividing my attention? Sure, but here are three big benefits I’ve found through blogging (with exclamation points, no less!):**

Blogging is writing!

I used to dream, plot, and plan to write. Big surprise — I’d rarely get around to actually doing it! Even if I applied the butt-in-chair principle, my thoughts were racing and scattered.

But blogging forces you to organize your thoughts and write them down. This alone has been so helpful for me. I spend way less time in analysis-paralysis mode, and more time actually getting the words down.

Best of all, I don’t have that awful feeling of guilt that I used to get when I knew I should be writing — I was meant to be writing! — but wasn’t 🙁

Deadlines!

Ah, there’s nothing so inspiring as a deadline. Your mind may be as blank on the eve of a deadline as it has been the entire week, but suddenly you’re writing anyhow. And you will surprise yourself because you didn’t think you had anything to write!

Showing others you hope to work with that you can write with a deadline makes you a more attractive colleague.

Shared skills!

I was amazed at how much overlap there is between publishing blog posts and publishing books. (Now that I see that thought typed out, maybe I shouldn’t have been “amazed”–it’s all publishing!) A few skills that show up on the Venn diagram:

Graphic design
Writing tight prose and copy
SEO
Marketing

Blogging really gave me the boldness and confidence to release a book. And my ‘Done is better than perfect!’ motto for the year (also from blogging. Did Seth Godin say it? ) took off a ton of pressure. If I messed up (I did), I could always fix it and update the novel (I have).

Know Thyself…

In the end, it’s your decision. You can listen to opinions on both sides of the blogging debate, but you know yourself and your strengths and weaknesses. I knew I had to have accountability and a little push or I’d make excuses and end up writing “Publish a book!” on my New Year’s Resolutions again. Blogging helped me, and this December 31, I’ll be writing: “Publish more books!”

NOW YOU: Have you ever wanted to blog? Use this link to get started with SiteGround, the hosting service I love! You can start for $3.95 a month :)*

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