I’ve been blogging for over 10 years, starting a few years before I ventured out into freelance life. Since that time my blogs have included creative ramblings and poems, factual articles, and my ponderings on life, creativity and self-employment.
These days I describe my blog as being about everyday joy in life and work – finding and experimenting with the things you love to do, whether that’s creatively or for work.
But why do I find it so hard to share my writing widely?
I don’t know, but here are a few of my thoughts about the subject.
Is it because it’s really personal stuff?
I don’t think my blog posts are that personal, although they sometimes share my thoughts and feelings on topics. The subjects I write about are fairly benign – nothing very sensational, just observations from my everyday life.
Although they’re not that personal, I suppose they do provide an insight into some of what’s in my head. As an introvert and a thinker, there are many layers to my thoughts, so these are just what’s on the surface!
And I guess the subjects I talk about are actually personal to me, because noticing those little everyday things has been and still is part of my own life.
Is it about the way they come across?
Maybe part of it is about “being professional”. I hang around online in a couple of freelance communities, where I can be weird and share my penguin doodles and things like that. But somehow, being weird outside those communities and talking about stuff that isn’t serious and work-related feels incongruous.
Yet if the people I want to work with are other freelancers – the coaches, consultants and online business owners, then does it matter? Does it matter if someone who I worked with in a more corporate setting back in the mists of time sees my writing and thinks I’m silly?
Is it about the content?
Maybe. When compared to some of the serious topics discussed on LinkedIn, what I write about could be seen as fluffy and meaningless.
But is it?
What I’m writing about is people, connecting to their creative selves, rediscovering things they loved and forgot about, finding the bits they love about their day to day working life, noticing the small details of their environment and the rituals and rhythms of life, and finding comfort in those.
Life is about those small things. Those are the bits we see every day.
In summary
So in answer to my question, why do I find it hard to share my blog posts, it’s because this blog is part of me. It’s my thoughts, it’s my observations on everyday life.
And as an introvert and as someone who shares content on social media to promote my business and connect with people who might want to work with me, that does sometimes feel like I’m sharing my innermost thoughts.
I want people to find what I write interesting, for it to inspire them or make them think, and maybe even for them to like the sound of me and want to work with me.
So I don’t enjoy it when I share posts and don’t see any comments or likes, or when I check the blog stats and see that very few people have actually clicked through and read the posts. That feels like I’m not reaching the people I want to reach, and my thoughts aren’t being read and considered.
I’m not going to stop writing though, as the main reasons I write are because I enjoy it, and because it’s my way of sorting through some of my thoughts and making sense of them. So I still benefit even if very few people read and engage with it.
And I will try to share more – even if I have to pre-schedule it to stop me second guessing myself and deciding not to share at the last minute!
