Why You Don't Have To Like Writing To Be A Great Blogger

by Robb Sutton

On Sunday, Darren Rowse over at Problogger.net published a guest post I sent him on “How Getting An F On Your School Paper Makes You A Better Blogger” (you can check that guest post out by clicking here!) Throughout the article, I went into detail about how we are conditioned…for the most part…to become boring, research paper writers from the moment we put words on a page. Now…I know the teachers and professors were trying to teach us fundamentals that I am probably using as we speak, but I do believe that the strict structure and forced context really puts off a lot of students that would normally enjoy reading and writing.

The pure fact that I am sitting here as a blogger, publishing ebooks and writing over 2,000 words a day is mind blowing. I am that guy…the one that shouted to the heavens how much he hated reading and writing. If I could have gotten away with it, I wouldn’t have written another word for the rest of my life! Every time I sat down at the screen, I could physically feel the teeth being pulled. Any distraction was welcomed with open arms as I was looking for anything to whisk me away into another world away from words.

My economics senior thesis at the University of Georgia was actually one of the hardest things I have ever had to accomplish (professionally). Not because the content was hard…not because I wasn’t capable…it was because I actually had to sit down and write the longest piece (at that time) of literary work I ever had and get graded on it! It was terrible! I was dreading it from year 1!

So…how is it that I can sit down on a daily basis and crank out articles and actually enjoy it? What is so different now that I actually choose to accomplish the same tasks that once before would put me in an early grave?

Why You Don’t Have To Like Writing To Be A Great Blogger

First…I am not alone. There are a lot of bloggers that felt the same way I did and are now every successful all thanks to their words on a screen. Yes…there are those that have loved writing from day one and now blogging is there outlet to share those words with the world, but I was not one of those people.

An interesting thing happened several years ago that opened my eyes to show me that I could actually enjoy writing. I started writing on a subject that I was passionate about. Once I made the jump into blogging about cycling, I found that I actually enjoyed writing and sharing my thoughts with others. Bike198 was started on the premise that I wanted to be apart of the industry instead of just another rider spinning the pedals. By jumping in head first and sharing my opinions…I was able to accomplish this and grow a business at the same time.

There are bloggers out there that have been very successful on subjects they have zero passion or interest in. While I commend these bloggers for their success, this is not a road I would be able to take. Being a born again writer…I would have thrown in the towel without a second thought because of the pure nature of writing about a topic I in which I have zero interest. Could it be hugely profitable? Sure…but why spend your life making money at something you don’t even like? I might as well just sign up for a 9-5 if that is going to be the case.

Absolutely not! Part of the appeal to blogging is connecting with individuals who all have different styles and tastes. The conventional way of thinking as it relates to writing is typically thrown out the window in favor of personality.

Does this mean that you can get away with 34 typos per article and just throw everything out the window? Not at all…but it does mean that rigid sentence structure and references at the end of every article are not necessary. If you really want people to connect with you…and not how smart you think you are…the more personality you bring through in your writing, the more success you will see as a blogger.

My typical mode of operation as I draft up blog posts is to write as I talk. After all…you are soaking up what I have to say, so it might as well sound like me! After I have gone through and thrown down all of the content, I go back and edit through the entire article looking for the glaring mistakes. While it shows character and personality to write as you talk, it shows a lack of attention to detail and seriousness about your content if you let obvious errors slip through the cracks.

Do I have typos, misspellings and other formal writing automatic point deductions make it through to the publish stage from time to time? Of course…but I am pretty sure that you guys are aware that I am not an uptight novelist or literary scholar, so it goes excused as long as it is not in excess.

When I first started out…

…I had zero clue what I was doing. Wordpress code might as well have been in Chinese…my writing was choppy and unorganized…luckily…there was no one reading my blog at that point in time because everything was a complete mess. But, there is something that began to happen the more I wrote and hit that publish button. I started to get better…and then started to grow an audience.

It is natural to think we should be great at blogging right away. We have been writing our entire lives, so what is different about blogging and getting people to actually read our words splashed up on the screen? Should be easy right? Like anything else in life, you are not going to be great at blogging right out of the gate even if you are a great or accomplished writer. Blogging is a skill and it takes practice to really get into your grove.

Some of you may be sitting in your grove right now and loving every second of it. Some of you might be struggling to find your rhythm and your voice that will connect with the masses. Either way…practice makes perfect and your writing will continue to evolve over time. You do not ever have to be a perfect writer and I would actually recommend that your goals should never include that bullet point. You want to be getting better with time without a ceiling.

I am not some fantastic writer…but I like to think of myself as a pretty good blogger that continues to practice and enjoy his skill. From one guy who used to hate writing…I can now say that it is my outlet for expression and I truly enjoy laying down my words. For those of you that were once in my shoes or are sitting in them right now, know that it gets easier with time and you too can enjoy a creative outlet that used to be a headache.

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13 comments

Dan Nisbet December 8, 2009 - 9:24 am

I think you published this one at the right time for me- I think I’m about where you were at when you found the WordPress code like Chinese and your writing wasn’t up to par- its a frustrating point for me, but I know I have to keep pushing.

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Robb Sutton December 8, 2009 - 12:28 pm

It is a frustrating point…but a crucial one. The amount of knowledge you are soaking in right now will help you throughout your blogging. Keep at it!

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Elie December 8, 2009 - 9:38 am

This post rings true, despite it being counter-intuitive. A blog is all about the content, which implies great writing, but in reality the quality of writing is not as relevant as the content itself.

Yes, presentation is important, but it’s more important to be consistent in your style, and to be yourself, then to write a perfectly crafted essay for each post.

Unless, of course, you’re a lit major.

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Robb Sutton December 8, 2009 - 12:29 pm

Finding that style only comes through doing it over and over again too. For some…that might come easy…but for me, it took awhile.

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Aqif December 8, 2009 - 10:10 am

Hey there Robb. I really excited to read each of your post since Problogger published it at their site about your post.

I also agree that we don’t need to be (in fact, you wont) a good writer to create a blog. There is perfection in this world, it is just a term to improve something you do daily.

For your information, I do have some problems in grammar. But who cares, as long my readers understand the message that I’m trying to deliver, I guess that would be great.

The main thing is to put an action on your first step. Then you will be experience a lot of things (and also enjoy it) along your way to blogging.

Now I feel like blogging is the best way to deliver useful information to my lovely readers.

To your success Robb
– Aqif

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Robb Sutton December 8, 2009 - 12:31 pm

It is all about having different experiences as a blogger. I see a lot of beginning bloggers try to fake that experience (especially if they are jumping into the “how to blog” or “how to make money online” niche without ever actually doing either) and your readers will be able to see straight through that.

Be open, honest and yourself…the rest is enjoying the ride.

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Taylor Sherman December 9, 2009 - 12:51 am

Hey Robb,

Great article, I really enjoyed this one and although I got pretty good grades on my school papers, I still find it hard to sit down and write for long periods of time, and doing blog articles is not my forte. It seems like if we just keep going, we’ll figure it out!

Hope you are doing great,

Taylor

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Ryan December 9, 2009 - 12:02 pm

Robb,

Blogging is about being real. Speak from the heart. No matter how the writing sounds you’ll impress most people when being genuine. Honesty is a rare and attractive trait.

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Robb Sutton December 10, 2009 - 6:12 am

I have had the most success when I am completely honest and transparent. Readers want to connect with the blogger…and that is the best way to accomplish that.

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Sarge | BeginnerBlogger.com December 9, 2009 - 9:56 pm

You made the point that clicks – We’re writing about something we’re passionate about, therefore we enjoy writing about it.

When I was in school I hated writing because we were forced to write about subjects I didn’t give a damn about at the time. We didn’t want to write about it, we had to though.

People that blog are blogging because they choose to and more times than not they’re at least interested in the subject they’re writing about. Which makes a huge difference 🙂

Sarge | BeginnerBlogger.com

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Darni December 11, 2009 - 3:18 am

You didn’t like writing before,but you do like to write now,right?Oh you can’t right such long articles everyday.I didn’t like writing before.Because I was forced to write by my teacher.I didn’t have anything to say actually.But now is different.I write for myself and I’m writing about the topic which I’m interested in.So I begin to feel that writing is not so bad as I thought before.

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TheInfoPreneur December 21, 2009 - 2:48 pm

It’s fantastic to read a post like this that backs up my own opinion and approach.

I recently wrote a post called, I’m a Dumb Ass But I’m Doing It. You don’t need an english lit degree or a marketing background.

Write about what you are passionate about and promote it!

Great post well worth a re-tweet

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The Shackled Muse | Cheryl-Anne Roelofsz December 25, 2009 - 8:56 am

Its safe to say that I’m in those shoes right now. I know I’m good at writing poetry as my deviantart page shows. But writing in “non-rhyming structures” feels so out of my league. Especially when you add the blogging necessities like wordpress and code and css. It all seems so intimidating, adding the pressure of using grammatically correct phrases and stuff.

I know I don’t. English is not my first language and I do have trouble with words sometimes.

Thanks for your post, it really motivated me to keep going and to stress less about grammar and using perfect English.

(kinda reminds me of a song I once heard: “I like boys with strong convictions and convicts with perfect diction.” Lol)

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