Why Am I Writing Online
Writing online is one of the most underrated assets. It can be done for free if you use Medium or Twitter. Or you can pay for your own domain and set up your own piece of virtual real estate for a couple hundred bucks. This is an investment that can pay off in the first month!
If you know me personally, you might be surprised to see me writing online. I’ll let you in on a little secret. I have been writing nearly every day for about 4 years now, but I usually don’t share it. I have a stack of journals filled up with thoughts, ideas and all sorts of helpful advice I’ve collected over the years. And you should too!
Despite not being a “writer,” I’ve often been the go to guy for writing projects. In school, I was the guy on the group project that would get stuck writing the 10 page paper. No one wants to be the guy doing all the work, but if it means getting a better grade, so be it. In my professional career, I’ve often been the guy who typed up the more formal emails. It’s an underdeveloped skill that I’ve been leaning into more each year.
You don’t have to be a “writer” to start writing. School teaches you to write in a stuffy and boring style. Long paragraphs. Long, complex sentences. This causes a lot of would be writers to hang up the habit. But no one has the attentions span for that style of writing. In sales they teach you to write at an 8th grade level, and almost anyone can write that well. Especially with some practice.
Writing can open up doors. I’ve met tons of interesting people simply by sharing my ideas online. I have this site, but I also have Twitter and I may or may not have a much larger anon account that I use to spread ideas.
Funny things happen when you put your ideas out there. People who agree with you will find you. And if you can find a way to share some value, they’ll come back. They’ll keep reading and they may even offer you exciting opportunities. If I were to ever lose my job, I’d be writing every single day and sharing online. This might be the future of networking.
Mostly I write for myself though. I write to stay sane. I write to get my ideas on paper and off my mind. Sometimes I write nonsense that might as well be thrown in the trash. Other days, I write good ideas that help me fix my habits and routines.
How You Can Start Writing Online
The free method would be to use Medium. Medium is a site for bloggers and writers to freely share their ideas on a public platform. Their sole purpose is “to help you find compelling ideas, knowledge and perspectives.” Picture it like Twitter but for long form content. You follow interesting people and get interesting ideas. Your mileage may vary.
This allows you to get your ideas out there freely. This is good practice for one day setting up a blog like this one. And it is also a good medium (ha) for gaining an online following. And that can open up big doors in the future.
I also recommend using Twitter if you want to work on your writing. You can tweet a line or two and get instant feedback. That is, if you have enough followers. Or you can simply post jokes and have fun with it. Unfollow the political accounts and other nonsense and Twitter can even be a source for good.
Finding gems on Twitter like Ryan Holiday, David Perell and The Stoic Emperor have made Twitter a much more enjoyable experience. And all three of them write online. Stoic Emperor writes solely on Twitter. Ryan Holiday blogs and write books. And David Perell teaches writing courses in addition to his blog.
If you start writing, don’t get hung up on all the details about doing it right. Just focus on getting started. Write for a year, and work out the kinks. After you’ve got a year of writing under your belt, then you can start tweaking your process and writing better. You’ll learn way more by doing than by researching.
If you enjoyed this, follow me on Twitter for more @RealRyanFogel