I have been wanting to write a blog since I first started following tech blogs when I was a freshman in college.

Over the years, I have started and stopped many times. I have:

  • Created a WordPress website
  • Purchased a domain
  • Made a posting schedule
  • Paid for hosting

…but I never did any actual writing.

Why I Avoid Writing

Part of my issue is I see writing as a chore — I don’t like doing it.

The dislike stems from not doing non-technical writing outside of the classroom. To me, writing is akin to a university essay assignment:

  • Study a topic
  • Develop a thesis
  • Write a draft
  • Get feedback
  • Write a final draft
  • Upload the PDF to the virtual dropbox

A couple of weeks later, a grade is posted. But how many times did you actually review the feedback from a graded assignment and update it?

Changing My Mindset

To overcome this mental roadblock, I need to change my mindset. I want to become a better writer and improve at expressing both my technical and non-technical thoughts.

My mindset of looking at blogging as an assignment needs to stop. Instead, I need to start looking at blogging like coding.

How Coding Helped Me Reframe Writing

My Heroku account contains half-completed apps, and only a few apps are in a stable live state. Why?

Because once I learned what I wanted to learn, I stopped. Other priorities came up in life, another project grew faster, or I lost my inspiration for the app.

Are those personal projects a waste of time? No!

Why? Because I learned something. Coding doesn’t mean everything you write is going to make it into a real life usage, but everything you code adds to your knowledge and skills.

Writing is the same way. Everything I write is not going to make it to this blog — heck, half the paragraphs I wrote didn’t make it to this post.

This acceptance is motivating me to start somewhere and start writing.

Looking Ahead

In a year from now, I’m curious what I’ll think about my blog.

  • Will I realize how choppy the writing is?
  • Will I notice a grammar mistake?
  • Or will I look at it like I look at my Heroku apps?

Everything I did — and didn’t — post added to my knowledge and skills. And I’ll be better because of it.