It’s come to my attention after my first stint on ProBlogger that I’m NOT the only writer on the planet that likes to write naked and eat lots of ice cream and chocolate. And by write naked I mean fully clothed but like… totally vulnerable and authentic.
HA!
You thought I really meant naked didn’t you.
Dirty.
Really though, I’ve decided a writers club is in order.
“The Naked Writers Generation N”
Writers who bare it all in their work. Writers who take interesting writing to lofty new levels. Writers who write for the world in all their naked glory with nary a blush of embarrassment pinkening their decidedly wicked cheeks.
Sounds fun right?
In all seriousness (wait did I just say that?!) if you’re not writing with honesty and authenticity in everything you do, you’re wasting your time even writing in the first damn place. Pardonnez mon Frenchie. Yikes, that wasn’t even French was it? Damn again.
Listen, the web has changed. Transparency has become the new buzz word, and if you’re not willing to get naked for your readers then guess what? A huge chunk of them just won’t be back. Au revoir! (THAT was totally French.)
That means everything you write from now until doomsday will just echo forlornly along the hallowed streams of data streaking across the planet. You’ll be writing just to see yourself in print, much like a know it all talks just to hear himself talk… and we all know how we feel about those kinds of people. (Gag)
So it’s vitally important that if you’re not seeing growth on your blog or a response to your writing that you really evaluate where you’re coming from when you write something, and how your readers might be seeing you. Good web content doesn’t come easy friend! That said, here are a few ‘rules of the road’ for all of you writer rednecks that need ‘em.
You Might Be An Ick Writer If…
If you’re writing content simply because that’s what someone ‘told’ you to do to please Google and get some traffic, STOP. You’re probably not writing with any sort of authenticity or honesty. Heck, it’s highly probable you don’t even LIKE writing… in which case you should not be blogging.
Or if you are you should be hiring someone (blatantly obvious hint, hint goes here) who DOES enjoy it if you ever hope to grow a readership. Consider this a little tough love.
Just sayin’.
You Might Be An Ick Writer If…
If you’re writing with the sole purpose of turning a buck, then it’s highly likely you’re not writing with any sort of authenticity or honesty. Sure as a blogger many of us start because we heard somewhere that ‘you can make money with a blog’ and it sounds cool to work from home and live a ‘writers’ life.
But the truth is that most of us continue on and become ‘great’ because we thoroughly enjoy the writing part itself. We thoroughly enjoy writing great content and impacting readers. We thoroughly enjoy helping people find solutions and changing the way someone looks at something.
That’s FUN for us, connecting with readers and building relationships.
BLOGGING is fun for us.
You Might Be An Ick Writer If…
If you’re writing about topics for which you have no passion. Where’s the freakin’ passion man? I mean c’mon, if I’m wasting five minutes of my day to read what you have to say, you better write something pretty freakin’ awesome. And awesomeness only comes with passion my friend. It comes with getting fired up about what you’re saying. It comes with translating that fire to other people. In a word? It’s freakin’
AWESOME!
Moral of that freakin’ awesome story?
You can’t inspire your readers to keep coming back for what you have to say and to share what you have to say with their friends if you can’t even inspire yourself. So while writing all about ducks and migrating might be a hot niche (please be still my beating heart!) if you’re not passionate about those damn ducks, don’t bother.
It will soon become the most dreaded chore of your life and guess who will have a front row seat? Any reader who happens to land on such uninspired duck muck.
Hard truth I know.
You Might Be An Ick Writer If…
If you writing an exact replica of what someone else has already said. I know with blogging giants named CopyBlogger it can get a bit confusing, but you’re totally taking it wrong. This is what happens when you’re originality takes a vacation without notifying you first. You know how it happens. You’re stuck in a rut, so you go skimming around your favorite blogs for some inspiration. GREAT idea.
Then you sit down to write a spectacular post, and what comes out is a regurgitated mishmash of a spectacular post already written. Except yours isn’t nearly as spectacular and it pretty much copies the original verbatim. BAD idea.
Seriously.
There is nothing wrong with surfing around, reading other blogs, and jotting down ideas to get your creative juices flowing. And there is nothing wrong with covering a topic that’s been covered elsewhere because… every blog is different, and may have a different audience.
BUT.
Don’t copy someone else’s work. It’s lame. And boring. And stupid. And sucky. And ICK. Find your friend Mr. Originality and put your own spin on the topic. Your own flava. Write in your own voice with your own thoughts and opinions and unique to you perceptions. I promise you’ll thank me later.
And finally?
You Might Be An Ick Writer If…
If you commit any of these 7 Deadly Sins of Blogging. ‘Nuff said.
Warmest,
