Facing my blogos-fear
Lisa Safran
Staring down the blank screenI love helping my clients to build their brands. It’s both an honor and a challenge to further an identity, making it sparkle like Grandma’s sterling silver on the holiday dinner table. But build my brand, as in rewrite/redesign my own website, and start blogging? That’s a bear of a challenge no matter how many years I’ve been doing this for others. Still, in my book, challenges are for tackling, so in true wrap-my-head-around-the-process style, I planned out my new website, this website, starting with an explanation of my brand essence. (A shout out to Squarespace, which is the service I used to create and manage everything here at my new site. In the past, I’ve worked with a great web designer and a programmer to help me in areas where I felt like a complete dork, such as html coding. So, it’s cool to have complete access to my site, 24/7. No excuses.)
Back to the topic of branding.
I asked myself: Who am I? What am I? How do I want others to perceive me?
I began to talk out loud, via the keyboard, thinking through the “freelance writer” part of me, and came up with the following: I am a writer. I am a good writer. I have integrity. I care about my projects. I care about my clients. I am original and unique. I have expertise and skill. Now, all I have to do is get all that down into a tiny electronic glimpse of me, which includes a headline or two and a few paragraphs of copy. Is that even possible? (Wait. Didn’t I just accomplish that with the last few sentences?)
Which leads me to where we are right now: my blog.
I’m being completely honest in saying I’ve been avoiding it like the plogue. (Lame attempt at being “punny.” Sorry.) On my old website, in the blog section, it said, “coming soon” but when months went by without posting something, it really should have read, “ain’t happening.”
I haven’t blogged up until this point for one main reason: fear. It has everything to do with messing up, sounding stupid, being lame, exposing too much, no backsies, and so on and so on.
But as a writer, I feel it’s time to face my fears and start blogging. So rather than posting posts all willy-nilly, I am here now attempting to lasso a framework around the process. Here goes.
I will:
- Blog at least once per month (or more, but not less)
- Remain focused on the following topics:
- The writer’s life
- My experiences as a writer for the last 20+ years
- Trends, events, interesting things in the world of direct marketing and advertising
- Strive to inspire/entertain/inform my reader
- Create reasons for you to keep reading my posts – otherwise, you will righfully ask, “Why do I care?”
I will not:
- Skip weeks at a time. (I might as well go back to the "coming soon" approach then)
- Write about mundane stuff in my life (sandwiches, sleep patterns, scrapes and cuts)
I’m all a-Twitter thinking that tweets are something I should be doing too, which is why I started a Twitter account a long time again, but I haven’t yet fully connected with that social media tool. But again, I will try not to should on myself too often. It's not healthy.
Someone decided that tweets must be 140 characters or less. What are the parameters for a blog? Since there are none, I will strive to fall somewhere in between the length of a tweet and a novella. Promise. Thanks for being here, and please tell me what you think. After all, you are my reader.
Reader Comments (3)
Come on in, the water is fine! It will be fun to see your take on the writer's life, trends in direct marketing, and ways to be creative. You have a lot to offer and I'm looking forward to it. Welcome to the blogosphere!
Lis, as always, I get sucked into your work. I feel like I'm right there having a conversation with you at Carmines, with a glass of chardonnay and some wicked good chicken wings. Keep it up. I love reading what you put out there! Twice a week... I'm there!
Thanks, Tab! Our table at Carmine's is ready now...