Whenever I tell people that I'm participating in this blog post per day event, most people begin laughing hysterically. Then the next thing that people typically do, unprompted, is to start making excuses as to why they don't blog. Most of the time it is something like, "I don't feel like I have anything important to say," and sometimes it's more like "I tried it but nobody was reading it, so I gave up." These are valid reasons why someone shouldn't blog.
But you shouldn't make those excuses, and you should blog anyway. Firstly, writing is a valuable skill in any profession. Simply forcing yourself to write more helps to improve your writing abilities, and ensures that you're able to organize your thoughts in a way that others can understand. Even if it doesn't make your writing any better, it will make you more aware of your shortcomings as a writer. Myself, for instance: I have found that a big problem with my writing is that I start too many sentences with conjugations. I also use way too much of the passive voice and alternate between subjective personal pronouns.
Another reason why you should blog is because it forces you to look at things from different perspectives. I can't count how many times I've begun writing an opinion post, and give up after a while because after putting it into writing, I realize how weak my actual argument is. It makes me question some of my opinions. Conversely, if the argument comes across as strong and obvious, then I am even more certain of my opinion.
Finally, blogging is a classic chicken-and-egg problem. If you don't blog, nobody will read your blog. If people don't read your blog, you won't want to blog. Fortunately if you just remain steadfast during the beginning portion of your blogging life (and make sure to participate with other bloggers who talk about similar things as you), then people will surely start to read your posts.
Honestly now that I'm reading through this article, it seems a bit weak. It's 11:15PM and I can't think of another subject to write about before midnight, though, so this post will have to do!
I hope that you guy start/continue to blog, because it really is a good habit to get into.
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Great write up! I had a blog a few years ago but shut it down because i didnt have something to share. Now that webdevelopment is my profession I clearly see a need to share experiences. I just have to get the finger out of ... and pull together a blog with django (the most simplies thing, yet boring ;)
You are very correct in stating that the act of writing improves your writing abilities. Almost every time I sit down to put together a blog post, I find more and more shortcomings in my writing that I need to work on. It can be a major downer at times, but if you can build on your shortcomings, it's a good thing.
Couldn't agree more. I started blogging this month, and I'm amazed to find people seem to be interested in at least some of what i have to say.
I agree with you. I started blogging in 2005 and stopped. Then I restarted again in 2006 (thanks to Robert Scoble).
I feel blogging is a thinking tool. You first start out writing for yourself and then as you slowly gain readership, your perspective changes.
I use blog mostly as my Learnlog. It has been a great experience.
Thank you for the post. I sent it to a few of my students.
just curious, is your blogroll actually sorted by string length or did you organize them that way?
It's sorted by string length. Here's the original article: http://www.eflorenzano.com/blog/post/fun-way-displaying-blogroll/ Although now it's brought in to this page via a template inclusion tag instead of a context processor.
I'm sure writing this made you feel cheap but it's actually not bad.