Blogging to Slogging: The Why & How of turning into a Writer
Oh yes, by slogging I mean writing. It can be compared to nothing else. When I had begun blogging way back in 2007, I never thought I would veer towards writing. It was only a hobby with journal entries being poems and short verses. Traversing a long way from there, writing is mighty difficult and whoever disagrees would be either lying or a genius. Blogging is easy, and regular, with the ROI (Return of Investment) being higher and quicker than writing.
From one night stand…: When you post on your blog, there’s an instant audience who is reading some blog or the other at the moment and you get noticed. Your post is read and appreciated (or trashed). With the social media hugely conquering our lives, your blog post has a very wide reach (mine will shortly have 50000 views). But you post one, and will post another soon; both will be read and shortly pushed at the back of the readers’ mind. That is the ephemeral nature of a blog. It can’t be overlooked. And then it dawns upon you – moving forward from the one night stand to something more stable and permanent – writing.
…To the commitment of a relationship: Moving from instant fame to a writer’s oblivion can gnaw at your heart for long. Ace bloggers aren’t always successful debut writers. There’s no rejection in a blog, it is your own spot of retreat. But getting a manuscript rejected can lower the morale. And there comes your maturity to adapt the differences between blogging and writing. A pinch of salt always comes handy when you decide to take the plunge and become a writer.
Pro Tip: When you look at the bigger picture, short blog posts take a long time to convert into stories or novels. Begin by gradually attempting to write shorties and increasing your word limit to accommodate a short story or chapters of a novel. It is difficult, but not impossible. Some jump into the sea of novels easily while others swim through short stories into the ocean. You have to categorize yourself into the kind of fish you are and choose your ocean. It’s huge, and that’s why it has to power to give you shelter among a billion other writers.
Welcome to the world of writing from blogging. Good luck!
Photo credit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Writing
Wow Priyanka, you have brilliantly distinguished the seemingly overlapping conception of blogger and writer. Completely agree that for a blogger to turn a writer the journey is full of slogging and introspection!
Kudos!