I will write blogs and books and make millions online. Easy! It should only take a couple of hours a day. Everyone’s doing it. How hard can it be?! Fast forward ten months. How much have I made? NOTHING! Zilch, Nada. Is it time to close my laptop and get a ‘proper’ job? Stop wasting my time? Well, here’s what I have learned during my writing experience.
1. “Winging” It Doesn’t Work!
I thought I could write a brilliant article about anything! Well, the internet provides so much information, no topic is out of bounds. My first serious piece was on “The Effects of Long Covid”. I read an article about the subject (all the time thinking this was going to pay for a cruise!) and then started to write down my thoughts. What a disaster!
My piece was bland, boring and completely souless! I tried again, another ‘vanilla’ offering. I realized my quick look over an article was not enough. Research had to be done.
Of course, I can write about any topic and I don’t need to be an expert but I need to give my writing some integrity. I had to give the article my time and attention. Note to self, cancel cruise, at least, prospone cruise!
2. AI Is Not The Golden Ticket!
Don't get me wrong, I'm not against AI. In fact, I embrace it. I find it a useful prompt, especially if I am struggling to fill in the gaps between thoughts. I love the idea of a quick instruction and then bish, bash, bosh an article is born! Too good to be true? Absolutely!
Frustration got the better of me and I asked ChatGPT to help me with an article. When reading through my generated paragraphs I realized that my AI friend did not get it. The piece I needed help with, told of a doctor’s findings concerning a drug trial. When recording the results, the doctor wrote, the patient suffered blackouts. The AI interpreted this as the patient suffered “power outages”! Lesson learned.
3. I Can Write Anywhere — NO I CAN’T!
My romantic idea of going about my business and having a moment of brilliance. recording the nugget of writing genius on my phone is absoulute rubbish!
I always thought of myself as a “free spirit” a vessel of infinite ideas and meaningful thoughts. The truth is , I am not. I need to be sat in a silent room on my sofa with glasses, Diet Coke and a couple of Digestive Biscuits in order to start my ‘organic’ writing journey. I am indeed, a creature of habit — UURH!
4. I Must Change My Writing Style
Questions always plagued my mind when I started publishing blogs. Am I interesting enough? Is my writing sophisticated enough? Do I sound stupid? I fashioned my writing style into what I thought was required to go public and to be sellable. It occurred to me, this is hard! I was overthinking every sentence. I had to re-package every thought before it hit the page. I realized I prefer not to do that. My personal blogs are now just that — Personal!
When I started this experiment, my goal was to make as much money as I could as quickly as I could, ( that cruise is calling) but it has become a whole lot more. I have found a space to offload thoughts and feelings and in doing so I have also found great fulfillment and freedom.
So, am I delusional? Maybe. Am I going to quit? ABSOLUTELY NOT!!
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