Why Bother to Commit?

Today is the beginning of the third year of this blog. When I first began writing and posting online, the whole idea was new to me. Though it scared me to think about doing something such as this, I knew I needed to. The idea was first gently planted by a friend who is also an author as well as an editor. Without her nudge, her wise words and forethought, I never would have done such a thing as this. 

The Decision

My friend did nothing more than to say that I needed to set up a platform where I could build an audience. At the time, she was helping me by editing the chapters in my book. Two summers ago, we met on a weekly basis, on my sunny back deck. I’d fix sun tea, and we’d commence to read through what I’d written and what she’d edited. It was a pleasant experience. Never once did she raise her voice at my punctuation or grammatical mistakes. And when I failed to write about the emotions that accompanied certain scenarios, she’d only ask me leading questions, which of course, feathered out the feelings which were needed to accompany that particular scene. 

Consequently, my trust in her grew, so that when she pointed out that I needed to build an online platform, it was easy for me to agree with her. 

Concurring with her was only the first step. Next came the leg work. I investigated other authors’ blog sites, web hosts, and read articles from experts. One such professional said that authors should never begin a blog because they were notorious for their lack of commitment. She went on to say that writers begin well but then fizzle out all together. They just can’t seem to keep their commitment, she pointed out.  

Funny how her article actually motivated me. I wanted to prove her wrong. Not that it matters to her, but it matters to me. I not only wanted to begin well, but I also wanted to maintain a blog site. So, I set my goal to write and post something with significance every other day.

To date, I’ve written 4,320 posts, and 2,160,000 words. So what? 

Having made this commitment to blog has made me a better writer. I look back at some of my earlier posts and notice that my punctuation and grammar has improved. Along with that, my audience has grown from just a few people to numbering in the hundreds. Finally, as my friend predicted, using this online platform to get the word out there about my book was indeed a good idea.

So why bother to commit? When we make the decision to invest ourselves in an undertaking and stick with it, we can’t help but be changed.