Ten things about blogging you don’t know

I have been writing as a chosen career for about 3 years now and I have learned a lot of things about blogging and copywriting over the last couple of months, especially being an intern at Raven5.

Writing is probably one of the most exhausting and exciting things you can do, but if you love it, it is well worth your time to pursue.

One of my professors told me, “If you do not have passion for what you do, there is no point in doing it.” I didn’t really read into what he said back than in my first year of advertising, but he was absolutely right, do something that you love. I happen to love writing, but it can also be a very daunting task at times for me. Good thing I always had a great cup of coffee in my hand courteously of my fifty percent employee discount from McDonalds to get me through any writing task.

With that said, I have learned so much from writing that I would love to share with all my readers who are thinking of become a writer, or who are already writers, but are looking for a good read or something they can relate to as writers themselves.

If its one thing I learned throughout my time at Mohawk College is that sleep is for the weak. Hell, I didn’t even know how precious sleep actually was until I entered the advertising program.

During my time at Mohawk I was faced with many assignments that forced me to think outside of the box. I needed to come up with copy that inspired and compelled people to buy a product I was selling to them. It sounds easy, sometimes it was, but my writing sessions, which included my favourite notebook and a great cup of coffee in my favourite Minnie Mouse cup, consisted of me staring at a blank page for an hour before I even put pen to paper. There were nights I barely got 2 hours of shut eye before my alarm sounded and I had to wake up to repeat the same routine.

There were also times I felt completely stressed as a writer. With so many projects on my plate I felt that I could break down at any time and cry. Okay, so that’s not so far from the truth, I cried a hell of a lot, but it helped me cope with the stress.

The next thing you need to learn about, as a blogger is the green-eyed monster of jealously. He is vicious and he can creep up on you at the oddest of times. Being jealous sucks and there is no way you can turn off jealously, it’s an emotion. Roll with your emotions, you’ll eventually get over it and move on to bigger and better projects.

As a blogger you put your blood sweat and tears into everything you produce, so you have to know that hard work pays off. This is an important rule, work hard, play hard, no one ever coasted through life without working hard at some point. Work hard now and reap all the rewards later!

Build a tribe of bloggers you love, this is absolutely vital to your sanity. These people will be your support system through the tough times, and pick you up when you fall.

Don’t compare yourself to other bloggers. Measure your success in how you want to achieve it, and don’t let others be the standard you measure your success to.

Get ready for this; people don’t actually think you have a real job as a blogger. This is the most common misconception about blogging. People who blog are on the cutting edge of new media, we build insightful, impactful and creative content that keeps people visiting your website and we get paid for it. It’s actually pretty awesome.

Even though you love your career, sometimes you will doubt yourself. Don’t worry things will always get better, so keep your chin up and keep writing.

Blogging has its ups and it has its downs. Unfortunately when you are really down and out with your writing it is crappy, but when you get an amazing review about one of your blog posts it’s amazing and it can send you on a high that you can never experience with almost anything else. Writing is amazing and when you have written something great you know it’s great!

Most people use their blog as an outlet, and I think that is super cool. Of course there are professional blog posts we write for our employers, but keeping a separate blog where we can release all of our thoughts, desires and dreams can help you cope with a lot of pent up frustration. Sometimes your own personal experiences make for great stories to share with other people.

If it’s one thing you take away from this blog post is that you love writing. If you have a passion, pursue it, because it will never fail you.

 

Patricia Ferreira, Raven5 Ltd., Oakville, ON April 2014

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