Blogging fear: Getting started

Photo: Kashif Mardani (CC)

I asked for your biggest fears in blogging, and y’all came through.

This week’s fear: “Getting started.”

— A.C.

I often admire risk takers and spontaneous action. They leap before they look, and most of the time, they’re fine.

I’m deliberate about most things, which might make me a great hedge fund manager but a terrible date. (For the record, I’m an exceptional date.)

At conferences, I’ll meet people who about to launch a blog. I’ll see them again a year later, and they’re still about to launch that blog.

No-o-o-o!!

As my friend Jen Barnett occasionally reminds me, “Finished is better than perfect.” She wrote it on a note I keep tucked in one of my planning folders.

We may fuss over the design or the first post. Or the editorial calendar or the mechanics (email collectors, social media channels). Or the blog name and URL.

Those often end up as excuses rather than steps to publishing the first post. I love planning, but coming from a background in print journalism, I also love making deadline. The next day offers a fresh start, but not publishing was never an option.

For most people and most blogs, not publishing is the worst outcome possible. No post means no audience, no momentum, no feedback, no starting point, no accomplishment. Publishing a first post to no audience means no risk. It’s hard to screw up in front of an empty auditorium.

Blogging comes easier with practice. It seems more difficult with hesitation. Make the choice to make the leap.

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Tell me about your biggest fear in blogging,
and I might answer it in a future post.

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More in our Blogging Fears series.