JUST PUSH PUBLISH

This blog post is for you. Yes you, no, no one is behind you. Seriously, you’ve been talking about it for a year. The ideas literally keep you up and night. Write them down. Now.

There will be spelling mistakes. People WILL JUDGE YOU. It’s the freaking internet. Of course they will. But guess what? Those negative ned’s don’t get to keep your creative fire away from everyone else who is yearning for the warmth it brings.

Your creative voice matters. Your ideas matter. Share them please.

Seriously. Right now, minimize this blog post, open a new window and write. Then come back.

Are you back? Ok great. Didn’t that feel amazing. Sometimes that word vomit just needs to spill out everywhere and you’ll come back and clean it up later. Not the best analogy, really. Sorry if you're squeamish.

Here’s the thing. I doubt you wrote about becoming a blogger in your diary when you were 10. When I was 10 it still took 5 minutes for AIM to load and you had to make sure mom wasn’t expecting any calls that would mess up your connection. But, now we have the opportunity to share as much or as little as we want with the world, via social media. I challenge you to do one better, BLOG.

I know what you’re thinking. “Seriously, bish? This is your third ever blog post and the first on this page and now you’re gonna act like an expert?”. No. I’m no expert. But I am enjoying this and I think you might too.

Here’s the thing about sharing yourself on social media . . . you don’t own your Facebook or Instagram. Zuck does. When you blog, even if Facebook implodes tomorrow, this blog is yours. (As long as you keep paying for squarespace . . . or you don’t lose access to google docs . . . or the internet itself isn’t gone. . . Sorry, dystopian daydream over.) Basically, in a blog, you get to control how to share your spark with the world. And how many characters you use.

The best part though, is that it will help you create TODAY, and share your creativity in other ways as well. Do you sell a product? You need to sell it online right? How do you get someone to know you even exist without ads? A Google search. But how to you get Google to know you exist? SEO. Search engine optimization. There will plenty of more posts about that later. Promise. It sounds scary, and i’ll be honest it kind of is at first, but your blog is step one to helping you find your place online.

You have to do something repeatedly for it to become a habit. Anywhere between 18 and 254 days according to research by Phillippa Lally, a health psychology researcher at University College London. That’s a big margin, I know, so get posting already! So although the SEO research says quality consistent content is what makes you stand out, for me this post is about habit building, consistency. So maybe you don't have a content plan, maybe you have no idea what to say. Think of your first posts as an online journal, letters to you kids, stories, whatever. Just get in the habit of writing and yes, push publish. Putting yourself out there is scary and that also a habit you will need to build, not just the writing part. So go for it. And let me know when you do. I'm excited to follow your journey.

Sources and further reading:

How to form a new habit: https://jamesclear.com/new-habit

SEO Basics: https://www.hostgator.com/blog/blogging-helps-seo/