When Starting a Blog Affects Other Areas of Your Writing Life
So, you started writing the first draft of your new book. You got a chapter or two in and then you thought, "Hey, I should start a blog."
Starting a blog is a great way to allow readers to improve their lives through your words right now, right? They won't have to wait for you to publish your book to reap the benefits. And what if you decide later on that writing a book isn't for you?
It's true that you can inspire people right now through a blog. You can publish a blog article, send it out to your friends and followers on social media, and get people reading your inspiring words in a matter of minutes. Blogging is also a great way to start building your readership and growing your website rank for when your book does get published.
But let me ask you an important question…
Have you stopped writing the first draft of your book since you started blogging?
If the answer is "No," that's great! You're doing an awesome job. Keep it up.
But if you answered "Yes," I urge you to reconsider the blog.
Why did you stop writing your book? Is it because writing blog articles is easier, more rewarding, or more fulfilling? Do the blog articles take up all of your time so you don't have any time or energy left for your book? Do they leave you feeling exhausted or unmotivated to spend time writing the book you dreamed about writing?
You have a story to share with the world. And if you had a dream of writing a book–I'm sure you did because otherwise you would not have started writing a book, right?–then don't give up on that dream. You owe it to yourself and your readers to keep going, to keep plugging away at your book.
If you really want to do both, do some blog writing. But if you're struggling to write both your articles and your book, change the frequency of your articles. Instead of publishing an article twice a week, focus on one per week. If you have been struggling to write one each week, try every other week. Or make the blog articles shorter so that you can focus on one very specific topic and spend less time writing each one.
The important thing is making your book a priority. If it's a dream, don't give up on it. And if you want to continue blogging, make both activities a priority. Figure out a way to write regularly for both.
If time is a major issue, but you still want to write a blog and write your book, then you'll need to work toward writing faster and making better use of your time. Cutting out lower-priority activities will be a must so you can free up more time for writing.
Whatever you do, focus on getting your story told. There is a whole world of people out there who could benefit from reading (or hearing) your story!
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