Learn The Write Stuff

Have you ever thought if you should blog or not?

I just went through a technical writing training at work, and it got me thinking about this blog. I considered myself a non-writer because I’ve always struggled with English (as my 2nd language) ever since junior high. Now with the phenomenon of Web 2.0 and being able to communicate effectively considered to be A Good Thing™ for one’s career, blogging has caught my interest. Everyone said blogging is not instant gratification — I don’t have many readers. However, I am considering this as academic, a personal development, a mental challenge, and personal web bookmarks. I set my expectations accordingly and off I go to blogosphere!

Now, Peter C’s blog has covered other reasons to blog. I agree on some of his points:

• “It’s cheaper than therapy” – just trying to get things off my chest into words, and potentially someone else can benefit. I won’t share my deep and dark secrets, I reserve that in my prayers to God.
• “It’s creative” – I have those eureka moments that I wish I could write down for reference. This blog is my repository.
• “It’s free and easy” – I partially agree here. The free part is arguable since I don’t consider my DSL and electricity charges to run my server/routers as the cost of hosting my blog. Is it easy? It has it’s challenges, but for the most part it’s as simple as writing down my thoughts. However, there are free sites out there, such as wordpress.com and, the always useful, Google’s blogger.com. They are also easy to use.

So, absolutely, everyone should blog. It’s a way to peer inside one’s thoughts (within limits), and share ideas, facts, and opinions. It’s a great way to educate one self, but for the most part, it’s fun.

Tags: english, language, writing