On blogging

I came across a fantastic article interviewing twenty-one successful authors entitled “How to write your first book” thanks to Lucinda Halpern’s recommendation.

Their answers are frank and insightful. I was particularly taken by a few of their answers to the question “What do you know now that you wish you’d known then? What advice would you give your younger self?” Their answers also apply to bloggers.

“I used to believe in the myth of the big idea: The big idea hits and you never look back. It’s sort of like when you meet a couple that’s been together for a long time and the question you ask is “How did you guys meet?” And there’s always a great story. But the real question — and the one that hopefully you’re too polite to ask — isn’t “How did you guys meet?” but “How did you stick together?” That’s the story of writing a book. How did you stick with it? How did you get through the day-to-day? I think one of the reasons you get so many questions about process — “Do you plot?” “How do you do it?” “How do you do it every day?” — is because people want to believe there’s a way to take the pain out of the process of writing. And there really isn’t. You’re going to have days that are terrible.” — Leigh Bardugo

Leigh’s quote is really something and reminds me of a quote that the best way to succeed at writing is to keep writing.

“What I know now is that your worth as a person, as a writer, should not be defined by whether a corporation thinks they can make money off you or not.” — >Kiese Laymon

So, so true. This is something for new bloggers to be patient on. Just because your content isn’t being shared or your blog isn’t yet getting large traffic doesn’t mean that the content isn’t valuable or worthy of being read by thousands.

“Trying to fit your life into someone else’s model is how bad books get created. Everyone wants advice about how to do something but it really only works if you’re only going to plow forward regardless if you know nothing.” — Chuck Klosterman

A number were glad they didn’t know anything when they started out as they were blissfully unaware of the mistakes they were making and weren’t paralyzed with fear and self-doubt. Others pointed to a plain stubbornness and consistent hard work — not a secret shortcut or formula.