Blogging as Creative Writing (also, five reasons why you should blog)

By David Cummings

Friday, October 20th, 2006 at 2:24pm

Why has blogging become so popular? I believe that one of the primary reasons it has been so successful is that it provides a creative writing outlet. Think about it: for your entire academic and corporate life, you've been required to write formal, boring prose. Very few people ever write fun, creative content on a regular basis. That is, until now.

Formerly, creative writing was reserved for the few self-starters that scribbled in their journals and dreamed of a career in writing. In reality, they were in "normal" jobs because they needed to pay the bills. However, with the advent of easy web publishing tools (e.g. Blogger, WordPress, Cascade Server, etc), the barriers to writing creatively for a potentially large audience are non-existent.

Writing in the first person is more expressive, more emotional, and free – if you allow it to be. Frequently using "I" is empowering when you write for an audience. Too often, "I" is used merely for personal correspondence (e.g. email). Personally, I find it challenging to write like this due to my academic and corporate "untraining" of the writing in the first person.

With that said, let's examine the five reasons you should blog on a regular basis:

1. Self expression – Do you have a specific passion that you want others to know about? Blogging about your artistic talents, hobbies, and other creative outlets allows you to express your thoughts online. It helps you to reflect on your knowledge, thus uncover more internal understanding.
2. Empowerment – Do you feel stifled in your current world? A blog is your own personal endeavor, whereby you are empowered to let loose and let others know how you feel. Just try it – you'll see what I mean.
3. Idea exchange – Do you have insight that others need to know? Sure, you can post comments on message boards or other blogs, but it is difficult to build up an ongoing persona through someone else's site. A blog let's you transmit ideas from your own personal soapbox. In addition, it provides for more publishing flexibility with respect to incorporating pictures, links, and formatting.
4. Personal development – Are you looking to improve or better yourself? Blogging helps you learn more about yourself and those around you. It forces you to think more, write more, and express more - three things, no doubt, that will aid in your personal development.
5. Fun – When was the last time you had fun? Yes, you heard me correctly - fun. Blogging, and the Web in general, is unique and unlike anything civilization has ever had.It provides the power to inexpensively publish the written word to millions of people (potentially). Blogging is a fun outlet for creative thinking, writing, and expressing one's self. Do you have something to say? Say it now.

If you ask people to give you a list of 10 big goals in life, inevitably, one of the items is to write a book. Why? The desire to write a book implies that you have knowledge to impart to others and that, in turn, people will read and find interesting. Can everyone write a book? No. Can everyone write a blog? Yes. It's the next best thing.

So, I implore you to take the first step, put your thoughts online, and enjoy the therapy that is creative writing.

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