How do you put your writing out in public when there is a pool of strangers to judge? Here is some blogging advice!
You’d think that after 2 years of public blogging and writing, I’d be completely free of fear when it comes to putting my writing out in public.
You would, of course, be wrong.
I still get little shivers of nervousness when I hit the “Publish” button on any post, and bigger fears still when I even think about publishing a book.
Writing in public is like speaking in public, if you’re doing it right. You’re baring your soul for all to judge, and there are few things as scary as that.
But I’m here to tell you that it’s not only doable, it’s worth the effort to overcome that fear.
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I’ve had several people write to me recently asking me about their fears about writing their blog. One person said they deleted their blog because they thought what they’d written was too lame. She said, “I thought it would be great if you could share how to put yourself out there in public and not worry about it.”
Well, I wish I could share the secret to not worrying about putting your writing in public, but I don’t think it exists. It’s scary as hell.
And yet I manage to do it nearly daily. Here’s how.
I write for one person. It’s impossible to write for thousands of people at once — that’s like trying to have a conversation with a stadium full of people. Who are you addressing? What tone do you use? What do they care about? So instead I follow Vonnegut’s advice to write for one reader (for him it was his sister). For me, it’s often different people I care about (my parents, either of my close friends, a brother, a person I love, a specific reader with a problem). I try to write like I’m talking directly to them, and though I change the style a bit to fit my blog’s style, that’s what I have in mind as I write. This has the added benefit of not being as scary — you’re just talking to one person.
Start with a tiny audience. When I started Eclipsed Words, my only readers were my family members (thanks you guys!). It wasn’t too scary to write for them. Then I got a few more readers, but by then my comfort level grew and the fear wasn’t overwhelming. Then I had 50 readers, and it was like a big group of friends, because everyone was supportive. By the time I had hundreds and then thousands of readers, I felt like I knew what I was doing (never-mind that I still don’t). One of the great things about blogging, for writers, is that your comfort level grows as your audience does.
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Get over the idea of perfection. We freeze up when we think of the idea that we need to write the “perfect” blog post or book, so that everyone thinks highly of us. I’m telling you now: there’s no such thing as perfect. Not everyone will think you’re writing is the greatest. And that’s OK. If you accept that there will be some things you do that are good, and others that are less than good, and that’s part of being a human … you can embrace a wider range of possibilities. You don’t have to hit a home run with every swing, or ‘hitting a sixer’ for every cricket fan out there, or score a goal with every touch, for you non-American readers.
Be motivated by learning. Why should you even attempt to write when it’s so scary? Because if you don’t do the things that you’re afraid of, you never learn anything. The best learning comes when you try something you don’t know how to do, and make mistakes, and then learn how to fix those mistakes. And then repeat. If you want safe, you give up on learning.
Be motivated by helping. I write because people have said it’s helpful. They like seeing how someone else solved a problem, or that it’s even possible to overcome, or at the very least they like knowing that there are other people out there going through the same thing. When people give me that kind of feedback, I feel great, and I can’t wait to do the scary thing again.
Writing is transformative. It changes you, and the reader. You get feedback from the reader and learn from them. You get accountability and you have to reflect on what you’re learning. You become greater from the attempt to overcome the fear.
There has been no greater achievement in my life, other than growing my business for now, than overcoming the thunderhold of fear and writing for all of you.
Feel free to ask any follow-up questions or share your ideas in the comment section below. Alternately, I’d really appreciate for you to share this content on your social media platform if you found it useful so that others can benefit from it too. If you have any doubts or want a personal clarification, send me an email on eclipsedwords@gmail.com. For more inspiration, fun, and smiles, follow me on Instagram
Happy Blogging! ♥♥♥
Thank you for reading. Love you for that! ♥
—–Have Hope. Keep Faith—–
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ECLIPSEDWORDS BY AISHWARYA SHAH | SEPTEMBER’2019 | ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ©
I haven’t been blogging for very long but I get nervous when I hit the publish button. However, I hit it anyway, lol! Your advice really helps. I’m sometimes fearful of upsetting someone or saying the wrong . That is never my intention. I write from my heart and I hope people understand I’m only trying to help and expressing myself. Thanks for sharing 💕🦋🌻
Totally agree with you! Nobody is perfect, everyone is learning lessons in life and growing every passing day. Blogging is a way that we share our knowledge, understandings and experiences with public, which can lead to getting judged by others. But getting judged is also worth is cause we can learn something from others when they judge our writings, and when they correct the points that we have gone wrong at.
Have a wonderful day friend !! Xxx
We share ourselves
Helping others is very rewarding. Give much, expect less…and you’ll be surprissed
I do believe “Writing is transformative. It changes you…” and I pray that it helps, or entertains, or educates, or inspires the reader. If it “changes the reader” somehow, that would be more than I dream of. But, you never know – do you?
It is definitely scary. Love these tips!
Let them complain and expose their own bad taste. The more sophisticated will Like instead. The scholars will risk commenting. 😊🌷
I just started blogging few months ago please I need more advise sometime I feel like am not doing the right thing.
It’s like I was been spoken to. Recently I’ve been trying to post more and anytime I’m done writing a post I just feel like no, it’s not that worthy to publish. But I’m learning that you can’t please all your readers even though we try to post to somewhat fit them all. I really like your tips, I’ll heed to them. Thanks for sharing this💚
I couldn’t agree more! However, through blogging it also opens us to a bigger possibilities of learning. So though it is scary, I still pushed myself to blog a lot ’cause not only that I am being challenged, but more so, I get to learn a lot from different sets of people around the world. So it isn’t scary at all. What’s more scary is…if you die poor in knowledge. 😅 And that’s quite humiliating, too knowing that we now live in a modern world.🙈 As cliché as it may sound, but ignorance truly excuses no one. So I guess, it is better and wiser to know others’ culture as well. 😉
Thanks for the encouragement and advice. The publish button makes me nervous at times too.
Did I hear you say you are writing a book? Writing a book is a great accomplishment, many talk about it but don’t actually do it… Kudos to you.
I myself have been published in ‘MAKE MAGAZINE’ and have even published my own books on ‘KINDLE’.
My advice to you is be careful of the wolves out there or you will be bitten.
Trust me on this one… It happened to me. I still have the scars to prove it…
Smiles. Thanks for being sincere and love the advice tips. They are practical and love how you expressed them!.
I’ve been reading your blogs for a month or two now, and I think that your thoughts and mine are kind of the same. I can really relate to the stuff that you write about. Thank you for these posts!
Thanks for the tips!
Awesome tips. Good on ya! 😉
Wow, I absolutely loved the idea of writing to one person. A heart to heart conversation. Love this!
Thank you for posting this. I thought I was the only one who felt this way. It is good to hear I am not alone in this struggle and it encourages me to keep going.
Writing in public is easier than speaking in public – I have a chance to look at my writing before I put it out there, and can even pull it back if I need to. Speaking in public doesn’t always sound the way I planned.
I agree that writing like you’re talking to someone makes it easier. Good post!
Great advice! Loved it. I recently discovered that I love to write.
I write so that one day my son will know me for the person I am and not as a mother. I write because since I don’t have much control to change the world, so I changed mine. If I can inspire, support and guide someone in that process – it will be a cherry on top.
Thank you so much for sharing. I appreciate it. I am not so confident of my blogs. I have fear sometimes however, I still publish it because I want to impart what I have learned through my experience. And get to learn new things as well from my co-bloggers.😊
Great post! Thank you for sharing! 🙂
When I see how many ‘likes’ this post received, it’s clear you’re doing all the right things!