22 September 2015

My Blogging OS Just Got Ugraded

My blog has lasted for a while. Both in my mind, and in reality. By virtue of this time, not enough articles have been posted on it.

Starting a blog at the time I did was a big competition for me. An inner competition. I wanted to cover up with the years I lost due to inaccessibility to the Internet. I have always wanted to blog, way before Linda Ikeji started (when it was called a weblog).

In the mid 2000s, I read a lot about information products (ebooks etc). I learnt so much about them by going to cafe’s. In fact, I had already chosen a niche.

In the end I could not consummate my passion.

Painful.

Later on, I began to learn “how to write sales letters”, in the days of Warrior forum and the likes. I followed Akin Alabi and even went for one of his seminars on Internet marketing (around 2008).

It wasn’t until I got a job in a tech company, that I was able to start my blog on WordPress (free). By then, the zeal had died. It was just to “fulfill righteousness”.

After doing a review especially when I was being bothered about not doing anything to contribute to the internet, I discovered that writing was going to help me in my job – Software Testing. Software testers do a lot of writing. From test plans, to test cases, to reporting bugs.

Finding a bug is not enough. The found bug has to be clearly communicated to the developer in a way that avoids confusion. Tweet: Finding a bug is not enough. The found bug has to be clearly communicated to the developer in a way that avoids confusion. ~@chaibizi

I still didn’t do much writing after this discovery.

Then came the intimidating bloggers I found online.

John Saddington, Leo Babauta, Seth Godin, James Clear, Andrew Chen, Shane Parrish, Maria Popova, Tim Ferriss, Michael Cox and many others. I confused myself the more by copying these bloggers. By trying to find a niche I was passionate about and write about it.

There is no single hack or trick in the ‘books’, or on blogs that did not try or read at least.

  • Tracking words.
  • Writing everyday challenge.
  • Buying a Kindle with a Bluetooth keyboard.
  • Keeping a spark file.
  • Using Do Note to send article drafts to Evernote.
  • Using Evernote web clipper.
  • Using Simplenote, because it is minimal.
  • Writing only on weekends.
  • Writing during my work breaks.
  • Using an outline.
  • Changing blog themes a dozen times.
  • Taking voice notes, and transcribing to text.
  • Creating an alternative location (blog) to write just about anything, no matter how short.

Today, I have finally decided to upgrade from Writing 2.0 to Writing 3.0. (Cliche stuff eh!. Simply put as ‘the next level’)

How?

  • No niche or central topic (I believe this will come with time).
  • Writing with a specific ‘real’ person in mind.
  • Writing anything from 250 words upwards (cue taken from Freeman Lafleur).
  • Not calling myself a blogger or writer, or anything close to it (to avoid unnecessary pressure).
  • Simply ‘doing’ without ceremonies or rituals.

Let’s see how this new ‘version’ of writing goes. This article is already 500+ words long.

It works!

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