5 Reasons to Love the Fantastic Art of Blogging

Escape the confines of academic writing

You and I have been trained since childhood to create intro, body, and conclusion. Paragraph length, formal grammar, and proper citation procedures were hammered into us.

I am the master of scrambling to complete an entire 10-page academic paper, start to finish, in one all-nighter. Complete with quotes and flowing analysis. I guess I just work better under pressure.

I have even written a 30 page capstone academic paper about breastfeeding.

Truth be told, when I put maximum effort into my writing and revision, I see excellent results. But only if I spend 4+ hours on one complete school paper. An A is pretty much guaranteed.

But is it worth it? It’s just a mark on paper from one measly reader.

Enter, blogging and online writing. The “grade” here is about how many people want to actually read what I write. That’s a much more fulfilling type of grade to reach.

Plus, this audience is not here to obsess over grammar and format. They are here for content.

With that in mind, I can spend less time perfecting gnarly details on one piece of writing, and more time creating a library of many writings for many readers to enjoy.

More content means more success on the internet and social media.

This is a case where it’s quality and quantity.

What I’ve learned

I’m only a month into the blogging world, and just beginning to scratch the surface of learning the craft. But I have already learned so much.

Even though you must still follow a successful formula to create valuable online writing, you are now allowed to be unique. Lots of new things catch on every day. With an audience, YOU can create those new things. You can create a new type of content or a new way to present ideas. The possibilities are endless.

As a previous excellent scholarly writer, I’m making it my journey to now become an excellent online writer. It’s a long road past my one month of experience so far, because there is SO much to learn.

But already, these 5 reasons have convinced me to leave the confines of academic writing behind:

1. Blogging helps you “catch gems.”

Research writing is very straight-laced and takes effort to read- it’s almost like a code. And you have to take this code, insert your information, analyze to make it work, and present it for review. It’s a very stuffy procedure.

With blogging, you get to write about whatever inspires you at the moment. You can capture gems. There is still a best practice code to follow, but it’s much looser and fun — like a puzzle. Plus, you learn so much about people! Which brings me to my next point.

2. Audience feedback helps you improve.

Fellow writers and your readers will teach you so much to add to your craft, and it really begins to feel more like a social art form.

Learning how to create network followings has been a fun endeavor. I’ve been following Tom Kuegler’s advice on gaining Medium followers and it’s working! It is fun to watch your audience grow and take action in making it happen.

It feels good to know that so many people are hearing your voice, your stories, and learning from you.

I don’t know about you, but I much prefer being heard by many over mechanically churning out perfect writing to earn a stupid grade.

Along the ride, I’m making cool connections and having interesting conversations.

It’s a win-win.

3. With so many ideas, you can split long pieces into separate articles!

Splitting ideas up into many pieces:

• Makes your writing easier to read and digest.
• Gives you a chance to say more without being long and boring.
• Offers new content more often to your readers — that means the more people get used to seeing your updates, the more they will look forward to reading your new stuff
• Helps you build a following. Because they want to hear your ideas often!

4. Conversational tone

It’s just plain fun to be able to write to readers as if you were writing personal letters. This type of writing gets soaked up by your readers, and helps with your overall success. It’s always helpful to be able to communicate clearly with people.

5. You can make money!

On Medium, articles can earn you money through the partnership program. The more readers who like your stuff, the more money you can earn.

Blogging is also an important way to gain leverage for freelance writing. Publishing your writing online gives you a chance to network and display your talent.

Don’t get me wrong, there are times and places for detailed, professional form writing. You might write like this to make money or further your academic career. In that case, great.

But, it’s really cool as a writer to evolve from mastery of that kind of writing to building skills in blogging.

Whether blogging is for you or not, (but I think it should be), I hope you come away from my article with a little more appreciation for online writing.

I am only a beginner, but it’s only a matter of time before I master this craft as well.

Peace.

Follow me on Twitter and Facebook for updates on my writing journey!

Check out my LinkedIn if you’d like me to write for your publication.

Thanks for reading Writers Guild — A Smedian publication

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