At school, I remember mulling over different career options and thinking what am I good at and what do I enjoy? I’ve always loved reading and the escapism a good book can bring, but writing had challenges. Being creative within the confines of a classroom and on-demand in a lesson did not work for me. What seemed to be a bigger focus on writing fiction in school, put me off writing altogether. I was left thinking I was not that great at writing because I couldn’t get the ideas to flow in the classroom.
Learning to Enjoy Writing Again
Fast forward a few years I became a teacher. Through my new career I found I needed to write lots of different things; reports, action plans, marking books, stories, poems and so on. Sometimes it felt as if I was writing all the time! Teaching the children writing skills meant I had to know the subject area very well. My work made me realise I knew a lot about writing and it gave me more confidence in my ability as a writer.
Meanwhile, I joined Instagram and Facebook and on my feed, I began to see influencers linking to their blog posts. This is when I started to read other people’s blogs. I found it interesting to see what they were writing about.
What interested me was that people were writing about whatever they wanted! The topics were broad and the formats varied. There wasn’t a teacher or a boss making demands, bloggers were writing about what they knew and what they liked. Some shared their expertise and some shared their life experiences. To be free to follow your interests and write about what you want appealed to me and I began to believe this is something I could do.
My First Steps Into the Blogging World
When I saw an advert for a beginners guide to starting a blog, I thought, why not try? I’ll give it a go. I signed up and I followed the steps on the course. I was very appreciative of the detailed instructions on the technical side of setting up a blog and soon my first blog was born!
My first post was a list post. It was a good place to start and less daunting than writing cornerstone content. To avoid overthinking and self-doubt, just make a start and get the ideas down. I have a lifestyle blog and the tone of a lot of posts is informal so writing them is a bit like I’m talking to a friend or writing a diary. Get something down so you have something to work with. Then go back and add, takeaway, edit and polish.
Since then, I haven’t looked back. As I wrote each article I found that the words came easily and I got into the flow. Blogging rekindled a love of writing from childhood that I had completely forgotten about! It was fun to tap away at the computer, writing my ideas about anything and everything. As I put my new posts up I felt nervous in the beginning about what people would think, would anyone read them? Now I have all of you lovely readers and I’m very thankful.
Developing My Skills
Once I began posting, my interest in blogging was alight. I began to look further into how I could follow good practise, develop my skills and learn from others by reading blogs across all different niches. I especially loved to hear the fascinating background stories of successful bloggers and the different journeys they had travelled to get to where they are today.
I was keen to learn and hone my craft. I quickly realised that there was a whole world of podcasts, Pinterest, YouTube and so on waiting to be explored. As a blogger, I consider myself a writer first, but really blogging involves so much more from content marketing to social media management to graphic design. Upskilling is a continuous process.
Looking to the Future
This is now where my blogging journey starts and gains pace. Looking to the future I want to build my blog and what it offers to my readers. I want to give real value and to grow my voice and my audience. Blogging has allowed me to find something that I love to do. To be creative in my writing and explore ideas in a way that I haven’t done before feels good. I can work flexibly and fit my writing around my family. I have a lot more to come and I can’t wait to start. I’m grateful to have found blogging and I can’t wait to see where it will take me.