Start Discovering What You Know

This post should be a wake up call, a kick in the ass for everyone who fancies themselves a writer and desperately wants to leave their mark on this third rock from the sun. Start taking yourself seriously and start saying something.

You are your writing. Your writing is you. Own your voice, your passions and your talents. You have a perspective, a life forged from experiences that are uniquely and entirely yours. Share it, warts and all. Prose without personality is empty, forgettable and quickly tossed aside. Experience and perspective are the raw materials of great content, the kind of sticky content that fixes itself in people’s memories and just doesn’t want to leave.

It took me nearly a year of blogging to fully realize the importance of relatable and relevant content. The very first post on this blog was almost painfully artificial. I didn’t quite know what I wanted to do or if it was going to stick beyond a few months. Looking back, it was full of excuses. I was preparing myself to shoot this thing dead before it had a chance to live. But I quickly realized that no one was reading. At. All. I was shouting into the digital wasteland and the only sound was my voice echoing back. I could have abandoned the effort, cut my losses and moved on. I was pretty close at one point. I remember thinking, “What’s another abandoned blog? The internet is rife with them. I’m no good at this thing.”

Somewhere along the way, I found my voice and finally started telling my own stories and sharing my own experiences. Comfortable in my own skin, at ease and eager about dealing with complex phenomenons and making observations. And you know what? It taught me about the importance of introspection, self-reflection and not knowing all the answers. Discovery can be terrifying, but it’s never wasted effort.

Hack out a place for yourself in this crazy world. I’m dedicated to honing my craft, taking my stripes and making meaning out of the messy realities of life. There’s incredible promise in knowing that a story – my story – can travel, influence and inspire. I don’t want to run from what I am or divorce myself from the ‘stuff’ that I create. The bumps, the bruises, the triumphs – they’re there in every word. The sum of your experiences? That’s the content that matters.