Before you get all happy about what this expose holds for you, rest assured, it is not about ahem ahem. What I am referring to is the size of your audience. And frankly, it does NOT matter.
Sharing a personal experience, I’ve always loved writing and speaking. Rather, speaking what I’m writing and writing whatever I have spoken. (Yes, read that again please) and I have often found immense pleasure in doing so. When I go back to any of me past writings and read what my thoughts were at that point of time, it really gets me cracking.
Now that I’ve braved through the infancy phase and have finally found my writing zone, I’m slowly gaining traction. This traction is evident from people who like / share / comment or from the hits the blog gets (especially this, I’ll tell you why in the further paragraphs)
When I post a blog, reading the easy language and the grasping content, I often receive messages from readers and friends about how they would love to write themselves. Then, when finally one fine day one of my friends took up this herculean task and produced a gem of a write-up. He shared it on one of his favorite blogs and the article was well received. As a first timer, he saw the stats and immediately wore a dejected look. On asking why, he said, the blog has just got 6 views and sadly, he never wrote again. The very reason I am writing this piece.
Friends, the reason I took up writing was:
- I love penning down my thoughts (remember, do something worth writing or write something worth reading) and over time, these have helped people, in whatever smallest way possible.
- Writing down stuff that’s lingering in your mind helps your mind free some space, for new, fresh thoughts to settle. Remember, a sexy blog or theme might come to you and if you fail to note it down somewhere and further fail to act on it, you might lose a exceptional opportunity to share a divine intervention (okay, that was heavy, I meant a good thought) Freeze your thoughts in short.
- Lastly, you never know which article touches which person. I have often had experiences when people come up and start discussing a random post, even if I faintly remember it, it is a supremely delightful experience.
People have a habit of anonymously viewing your work which is absolutely cool. The reason why your post will hardly get 20 likes on your face book post but you’ll see 200 hits on your blog. People/your readers, go about doing their bit in an incognito fashion, enjoy it. Live with it.
So my dearest chum, you build an audience only by being at it for a consistent period of time. And frankly, those who love writing or performing in any other way hardly care about how many people are seeing them, judging them or participating. They love it so much, they would do it anyway!
Here are a few tips for budding writers
- Keep your writings short.
- Write on something you absolutely love and are interested in. (screw what the audience wants. There will be people out there who love what you love, so, chill) this way you already have enough motivation to carry on!
- Spruce your articles with relevant images (the funnier/weirder, the better) Weird is so in!
- Write like you talk. Keeping it conversational, keeps it light and easily digestible.
- And the most important point, tell a story and make the readers laugh, cry or introspect.
- Do not be effective writers, be empowering writers! (Effective is getting your message across and empowering is getting them act on that message. Subtle power!)
(Substitute writers for whatever passion you hold)
Kunal is one of the youngest practising Company Secretaries in India, to clear the course at age 20! He runs a firm of Legal Eagles called White Collar Legal. He is the Founder Partner. Loves writing motivational articles and now is an author at Campus Times Pune.
