There’s a lot of advice out there for how to be a successful blogger, and most of it feels like it either should be ignored or needs to be taken for what it is – advice on how to game the system.
The reason I don’t take most of it seriously is because blogging to me doesn’t fall into some mysterious online category that has a slew of opaque rules only discernible by Web 2.0 (3.0? 4.0?) gurus with massive Twinfluence.
Instead, it’s just another way of delivering relevant, engaging content to readers.
Which is why I’m much more interested in turning to a writer for advice here.
This from the closing of Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird is worth printing out and pinning to the wall:
If something inside you is real, we will probably find it interesting, and it will probably be universal. So you must risk placing real emotion at the center of your work. Write straight into the emotional center of things. Write toward vulnerability. Don’t worry about appearing sentimental. Worry about being unavailable; worry about being absent or fraudulent. Risk being unliked. Tell the truth as you understand it. If you’re a writer, you have a moral obligation to do this. And it is a revolutionary act – truth is always subversive.
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Awesome advice, and I thank you for posting it. Now, generating traffic is another thing altogether, and there is a ton of advice out there about how to do that, too. I would be curious to know your thoughts on that. Perhaps a post for another day…
Bravo!
In “Social Media”, the Emperor(s), usually self-proclaimed and incestuously promoted, often have “no clothes”.
In my small business marketing world, social media is truly the 64,000 lb. gorilla everyone is warily wondering how to tackle. Small biz owners want relevance AND ease of application so that social media marketing fits into their already packed day. The $64,000 question is “How do I put on this hat and keep my business running ?” And “what will I get from engaging?” There is SO much to learn, digest, ingest, incorporate, do, process, get strategic about and analyze that the average small biz owner is reluctant to dive in. Though advice is genuine and prolific, it’s like a fire hose for most. I’d like to see industry specific social media applications targeted directly to particular types of users. Maybe they’re already out there….anyone?
Sasha, 1 of your most vital thoughts, at least for me.
I just wrote about how I was out of money, and put a workshop I attended on a credit card. ( http://www.newfuturescircle.com/access/how-ive-nourished-my-own-quest/ )
I’m going to be vulnerable more, thanks to you.