On writing
Something everyone writing and posting online knows:
Writing and sharing publicly online is intimidating and a little awkward, especially at first.
I’ve been posting for almost a couple of years now, but I still hesitate every time I start to write.
However, even the handful of posts I’ve written thus far have been helpful in my personal development and in improving my writing (one of my goals for writing posts in the first place).
I thought I would write on why I write posts and my struggles with it.
Let’s see how this goes.
My Experiences
Hesitations
For a long time I had hesitations that kept me from beginning to write and share it publicly. I felt like I didn’t know anything (and I still don’t) worth sharing.
Well, the reality is that everyone has something that Yahweh has given to them to share. If writing posts online is the means of sharing that, then we just need to be a willing vessel that Yahweh can use.
We ought to also realize that writing about something doesn’t mean you know everything about the topic, and it certainly doesn’t mean that you know every-thing (despite what some may think).
I also don’t believe you have to come across as anything but sharing your thoughts and experiences. It’s okay to say you’re still learning and an open to correction. It’s okay to say you don’t know.
First Steps
I published my first post on a different website almost 4 years ago. It is no longer available online now, but it was an important step for me. Between then and the time when I started writing and posting on this website was 2 years.
Since then I have posted quite infrequently, but now I look back on what I wrote and see the progress.
I sometimes cringe, but I realize that its part of learning.
Struggles
I’m still working on how to articulate things in such a way that doesn’t use “I” every sentence.
Something I really like about my website is I don’t have to feel the pressure to say or do anything particular. Thankfully, (at least right now) I have the liberty to speak my mind. Also, since it’s my own website, there isn’t an algorithm deciding which posts you see.
Sometimes, though, I forget that and crawl back into “a shell”.
Why I Write
It helps to know the why whenever you’re doing something.
Here’s mine:
1. I write posts because I want to share things that have helped me or just to relate something I find interesting which might interest others.
2. I’d like to improve my writing.
On the second point, it’s true that there is more to getting better at writing than just the act of writing, but sitting down and writing is still the first step.
For each post, I try to be intentional and focus on improving something about my writing.
This time I’m trying to be more loose and add more variety. Feel free to let me know if I succeeded.
Deciding What to Write
Many people wonder, “Well, what should I write?”.
I had the same question until I realized that it goes back to your why.
Me telling you what to write would be pointless because it assumes that either A) you have the same motives and experiences as I do, or B) I’m your teacher giving you an assignment. :)
What I’ve found is that for me, the things that I can most easily write about are the ideas that have moved or deeply affected me in some way. Those that made me feel something. Sometimes it is what someone said, or what Yahweh showed me, or questions and thoughts I’ve thought about which spark the idea for a post.
I personally dislike the idea of creating “content” just-for-the-sake-of-it. The internet and life in general already have enough distractions that we don’t need more fluff.
The saying, “the pen is mightier than the sword” is good, but one that is even better is “The wise man knows when to pick the pen up”.
Originally published at noahrahm.com/posts/on-writing/