This is hard to believe: I have been blogging since 2004! I used to blog once a month but, a few years back, my marketing staff pushed me to blog more and share my business knowledge.
A New Appreciation
Initially, this blogging duty seemed burdensome (and, by being dyslexic, even a little frightening). But then, somewhere along the way, my view of this weekly writing task changed. Through the help of my trusty staff (mostly the managing editor of Brave Magazine, Madison Monroe) I grew, along with my writing skills and grammar knowledge.
Though my attitude about writing has changed, I still find myself complaining about this never-ending weekly chore that hangs over my head. On one such occasion during a marketing meeting, my staff had a change of heart and gave me a reprieve. They said, “If you want to take a break, we will recycle some of your older educational and business centric blog topics.”
This comment was jarring. I was dumb struck. Suddenly, my maternal instincts to protect my blog-baby were aroused. Questions flew through my mind. Did this make me happy or relieved? Did I really like writing more than I realized? Was the original intent of helping my readers now morphed into helping myself? I contemplated the benefits of a writing and remembered this older blog post I wrote sitting on my porch on a sunny, warm, beautiful Arkansas morning. Below are the Cliffs Notes.
Everyone Should Write a Blog | Why I Blog About EVERYTHING
- It records and reiterates what you’ve recently learned.
- The act of reflection that comes from writing creates gratitude.
- It’s a great self-improvement practice. I like to look back at the prior year’s month and day to see if there are mood cycles, self-growth, or repeat offenses.
- It will improve your writing skills. I type all my posts in Microsoft Word because of its excellent spelling and grammar checking capabilities. This software’s auto-correction has improved my spelling, vocabulary, and sentence structure.
- It’s a great filing system. Tip: Save links or embed photos and videos of what you want to remember: How-to’s, recipes, places, movies, books, etc. It can be anything you might someday want to revisit.
- It is searchable. Hallelujah! Be sure to put your blog posts in groups: i.e. family, vacations, work, recipes, etc. and add searchable keywords to help you find the post again.
A New Commitment
After some overnight consideration, I wrote today’s blog and decided to keep on writing. Thank you, staff. By giving me an out, you made me appreciate the process. Without the push, without the goal, and without the time constraints, blogging is one task that might have fallen through the cracks. It is hard to be a self-starter without a little push from your peers.
Another upside of this marketing meeting was the idea of recycling some of the business and personal tips from older posts (as I did above). With a catalog dating back to 2004, I am sure there are some pearls of wisdom that even I have forgotten.
