How blogging has taken my writing to another level

In her last post, Carly wrote about how blogging about writing has helped her become a better writer. When we first started discussing ideas for a blog, we kept coming back to the idea of blogging about writing because we both love writing so much. It was and still is our main passion in life.

If you’re like us, you write because you love to. You write because you want to. You write because without writing you wouldn’t be you. Writing is oxygen. Writing is life. And without writing, we may as well be one of the walking dead.

So how has writing a blog about writing made me a better writer?

• That old saying that “to teach is to learn twice” is true. It’s one thing to learn something new about writing craft, but when I share that information by putting into words what I’ve learned, I learn it on a whole new level.

• Writing a blog has led me to read and learn from other writing blogs. By researching and reading other blogs, I’ve picked up craft tips and been inspired by other writers.

• Writing a blog has helped me focus on areas that I want to learn more about. For example, when I started assembling my first book of poetry, I found a great book edited by Susan Grimm, Ordering the Storm: How to Put Together a Book of Poems (Imagination, No. 11), which contains short essays with tips from other poets. Reading this book and researching other poets’ suggestions helped me develop my own process that I blogged about here.

• Writing a blog with another person has made me commit to writing so many posts per week. I have a person to be accountable to, and I think that’s a good thing for any writing project whether it’s a blog or a novel.

• Writing a blog about writing has made me a better and faster writer. When we first started this blog, I had no idea what I was doing. I labored over every word and worried that everybody would be judging my writing ability. It took me FOREVER to write one post! I look back and laugh now as my fingers fly across the keyboard. At some point, I realized this was a blog, not the great American novel. Then I realized this is exactly how I should write first drafts—forget about trying to be “good” and just write.

I’m glad Carly and I teamed up to write this blog. It’s been our baby and watching your baby take his or her first steps is exciting and scary all at once. Thank you for joining us on our journey to toddlerhood.