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I’ve seen blogs, articles, hubs, short stories, etc, all over the net- some worthy of mention, others not so worthy, that are consistently maintained by their owners or writers. On hubpages.com, one particular author has close to 25 hubs (that’s what hubpages call their articles). I was enthralled. How did she do it? And from the look of things, that’s not the only site where she writes for. I am one of those writers who constantly face writers’ block or who are plagued with the curse of procrastination. Going through this author’s work, I discovered they were all richly written with valuable insights to the topic treated.
Once, I ventured into writing for hubpages. With the great demand the site places on their authors, I grew tired. Two of my hubs had previously been rejected because they didn’t meet the 800 and something words, which is the minimum required of every hub. And the other rejected because it lacked substance. Somehow I saw it as a challenge. So I sat down and decided I was going to write a hub that would be acceptable. And I did it. I finally had one Editor’s Choice hub after two years. But after my small victory, I grew careless. It seemed the whole effort was just too much.
Recently I came across this personal blog, owned by a sarcastic writer with satirized works, and barely concealed innuendos, jabbing at society, religion, and sometimes general issues. Her writing seemed effortless and light-hearted enough for you to want to read more. It turned out she was writing for three other sites. And she was consistent with it too. It turned me on.
I’ve battled with writers’ block, sometimes caused by own rigidity as a writer, self-consciousness and definitely procrastination. Sometimes I wonder what to write on. How do I get topics? How do I get topics that people would like? I get so mired down with thoughts of getting the right article; one with big words and an attractive topic and writing. Sometimes I would edit and re-edit an article only for me not to put it up again because I didn’t think it was good enough. Sometimes I also hold myself back from writing exactly what I want to write because am too conscious of how people would see it. Am I using the right words? Did I get all my spellings right? Are all the t’s crossed and I’s dotted? Won’t they feel am crossing the line if I say it this way or that way?
Writing is a form of expression, just like talking. It is very important for a writer to remember that. Expression is a way of phrasing an idea or a thought. I don’t have to write like the next person but as long as am expressing myself in clear, logical ways, then I consider myself a good writer. Now that I look it again, what to write is not exactly an issue once you get the perfectionist monster out of the way. Everyday things happen around us, and within us. If we look at our inner selves and salvage the thoughts and ideas we are striving so hard to suppress just because ‘it wouldn’t look good on paper’, there are tons and tons of things to write about and on. Discoveries, personal thoughts and opinions, stories, how-to’s, religions, academics and many more are genres that people will never get tired of reading and they need writers like us to keep writing these.
There is one thing I know I am tired of. I am tired of petting my writing because I want to make it acceptable. A little controversy hurts no one. Instead it spurs people to re-evaluate their values, decisions and norms. This doesn’t mean I will disregard or diss others because I want to write what I want. Like the tongue, writing is a very powerful tool. It scatters and it can bring together.
But even I strived to write more, am also not going to overlook the fact that I need to improve on my writing. In fact as a rule now I don’t write less than 400 words. I also make sure I touch on many aspects as possible on what I choose to write on. This way, the article looks better and more satisfying. Am also going to stop bothering too much about what people would say and how they would view the language I use or my method of expression. That’s what the comment box is for. From now on I’ll SEE, FEEL, THINK, AND WRITE.