Writers of the world, rejoice. Blogs have made it possible for anyone to “publish” their writing online for the hungry masses to consume. The bad news? You have to be able to write good blogs.
Bloggers nowadays face the exact same problem that their more traditional pen and paper counterparts have faced since time immemorial. In the eye of the public (for whom you write), what you write and how you write it is king. If you work hard, hone your craft, and accept criticism with an open mind, you will become a better writer, and people will read your work. If you plunge blindly ahead with no regard for self improvement, marketability, or even the basic rules of grammar and punctuation, sustained by nothing more than your desire to be a Writer with a capital W, then your parents will be very impressed. Your readers will not be.
Successful blogging requires the same skills that all writing requires, but the sudden ease of access to a huge online community has provided the mistaken impression that anyone can write successful blogs. Do a quick search for online articles about writing blogs, and see how many of them are badly written. Yet the tragic assumption by too many is that anyone who has a computer keyboard can be a good writer. As a result, the most helpful blogs about writing blogs are often the least heeded. Why? Because the advice they provide is not something most aspiring bloggers want to hear… Good writing takes time. You have to write for a long time before you get good, and in the meantime, you are, quite simply, going to write badly. There is no way around it.
Every fiber of your being will want it to be otherwise, and will scream for a faster way. You will search the all powerful Internet for a shortcut, quickly dismissing the blogs that tell you to be patient and keep writing and asking for constructive feedback. But there are no shortcuts. You have to put in the time. You have to be a bad writer. And worse still, you have to show your bad writing to the people who will tell you exactly why it is bad.
If you think it hurts, then congratulations on your first step in becoming a successful writer.