It’s really not as hard as you might think…

This is something I have written about in one of my earliest posts and since I’m at the beginning of the journey towards my goal of professionally writing I have no doubt its something I’ll return to many times. If I’m able to help someone then that’s fantastic, and if no one else reads this post then at least I have documented the lessons for myself.

My first leap of faith was to open a medium account and actually start writing and publishing content. It didn’t and still doesn’t matter if I’m being paid for my writing and that the only person reading and clapping for the articles is my partner. The point is I started writing and publishing content daily, this now become a routine and I hope a habit. After lunch I’m normally in a reflective mood and I have found that this is the time that works best for me.

Secondly I created this website http://www.writingforthought.com and started blogging here. It’s another creative outlet for me and while the content is more or less similar to everything I’m publishing today. I plan to expand into sharing my book ideas etc on this site as time goes on. As well as the other writing experiments I’m sure ill want to explore as time goes on.

Thirdly I’ve gotten myself into social media on Instagram @writingforthought2020 where I can share my content with a different audience.

All 3 forms of writing and/or sharing content are for the same purpose which is to make writing a daily habit, to gain a readership that may offer me feedback and critique, whether or not I want that, to gain the confidence in publishing my own ramblings and ultimately to help me improve as a writer and move forward towards my goals.

I have been putting this off for years quite honestly. I’m young enough to be a part of the computer generation but nothing about IT ever excited me. I prefer mechanical things, I’d rather be outside with hammers and welders making noise than trying to work a computer with any technical finesse.

The outcome is that I have developed an irrational fear of getting started online.

Now I confess I’m not completely computer illiterate, but I only really know what I need to, so for me this was going to be a big uphill challenge and more daunting than writing published content that people may or may not read and critique.

Well just how wrong can one person be… If only I’d tried this years ago I’d be much closer to my goals. In the end all of this time and effort and uphill challenge took a day, 8 hours of my time to be exact. Let me explain.

I started with medium and I have to say its the easiest tool to interface with to get writing, editing and publishing, in fact I’m online within 30 minutes from written to published on an average day. I can choose to add images if I like or leave the story as is without embellishment. Adding photos is as simple as selecting something from my phones gallery. It’s fantastic, if you are wondering whether to take the plunge I’d say do it, its an easy first step to take and first step really is the toughest. You can start with a single sentence and work your way to something longer. Just make sure you press the publish button. You will thank yourself for it.

I’ve since added a webpage for my blogging and to share my book ideas, you know this since your reading it and although I paid for the premium version you could do it for free. It took 4 hours to build the website from the free templates on offer and to set it up with the information and get it looking that way i wanted it to. Building a website was another thing I never thought i could do. In the end following the guide wordpress provided, it was so accessible that I wondered why I had feared any of this to begin with.

Lastly I also developed an instagram page @writingforthought2020 where I can share quotes, hints, tips and content with as many people as possible while also expanding my skills.

I use the free app canva to create free graphics for my posts and add captions to that. Again for someone with no experience it was all very accessible and I was up to speed in no time.

After all of this in a few weeks have I blown up the internet? Well no but that’s ok, its not my intention. What I have done is given myself the confidence to write and publish along with developing the skills I need to develop my online presence. It literally just took a small leap of faith and 8 hours of my time.

Now I’m much closer to my goal than I ever was before.

Especially with the extra time we all have on our hands today, you could get there too. You just need to visualise your goals and start taking those small steps towards them.