Two Must-Reads About Blogging

I hate when this happens: My monthly recap for the previous month has already been published when I find a really great article that should’ve made the cut. That just happened this weekend … twice! There are two articles about blogging that are so good they deserve a special “Hey, go read these!” post … so here it is:

First article:

What Does Eight Years Of Blogging Get You?

This is a great piece from Mitch Joel, who’s thinking about the 8th anniversary of the day he started blogging.

Starting this Blog was (and still is) without the question the single most important thing I have done in my professional life. It has changed me. It has changed the way I learn and grow and it has changed how I think about the world (and business and marketing and media and beyond). In spending some serious time soaking in this anniversary, I listed out why Blogging was (and still is) the smartest thing I have ever done.

Second article:

Talker’s block

It’s been a while since I’ve stopped reading Seth Godin, but this piece deserves some attention. I’ve written at length about how to find blog content, but Seth looks at the “writer’s block” problem in a different way:

We get better at talking precisely because we talk. We see what works and what doesn’t, and if we’re insightful, do more of what works. How can one get talker’s block after all this practice?

Writer’s block isn’t hard to cure.

Just write poorly. Continue to write poorly, in public, until you can write better.

He goes on to say that blog comments should “certainly” be turned off — that may be right for someone who’s just starting out and learning to blog, but it’s not necessarily right for established blogs. So maybe ignore that line, but definitely read the rest if you’re struggling with the writing thing.

Trust me — these two are worth the 10 minutes it’ll take to read them.

(Stock image via Shutterstock and used with permission.)