bloggingThe very first thing I do each day is to write a post for my blog. Sometimes it takes 15 minutes — other times I’m at it for an hour. But I have been religiously writing one every business day since I started the blog, and I have more than 300 posts.

What the heck am I trying to accomplish? Why is the blog so important to me? What will I do with this information?

I started the blog to document my life as a small business owner and clueless freelance copywriter. I strive to be honest, to give advice, to relate my life experiences to the growth of my business and to amuse. As of this morning I have 110 posts in the category on Avoiding My Mistakes, and 161 in The Writing Life. I aim to write a narrative nonfiction book on starting a small business, as opposed to the many how-to books on the subject. Who knows if I’ll finish it or if someone will buy it if I do.

But writing this blog has had several unintentional ramifications. I hesitate to call them benefits.

  1. Guys I date know all about me. I don’t instantly give new guys in my life the address to the blog because it contains some pretty significant information. Once they get here, they figure out pretty quickly that I dress strangely, have a fear of commitment and obsess about cupcakes. And ex-boyfriends know when I’m dating again, or — heck — when I buy new underwear.
  2. Face-to-face conversations with me are no longer necessary. I hadn’t heard from my friend Jenny in a few days, and I texted her last night. She replied, “I feel like we’ve talked since I love your blog.” It’s wonderful that she reads my blog and feels like she’s keeping in touch. I miss her, though. And I don’t know how many times I’ve been telling a story, like how bad a haircut was, and a friend interrupted, “Oh, yeah. I read about it on your blog.”
  3. My mom knows I don’t spend every night in my own bed. Yeah, this one is weird. And it’s also weird when Mom chides me for something I write. I once referenced an ex-boyfriend who bought me a cool pair of purple socks, and I said this ex-boyfriend didn’t count, meaning we didn’t have much of a relationship. Mom called to say, “Honey, you need to change that. Everybody counts. You are going to hurt his feelings.”
  4. My clients know when I have an unproductive day. I have 57 posts on procrastination. One of my clients started a meeting the other day by saying, “Beth, I hate it when I read you’re not getting things done and just sitting around procrastinating.” Ugh. I bet that is annoying.
  5. I know people secretly laugh at my typos. I love the fact that I do some creative writing at least 5 days a week. But with the quick-turn of these posts, I make mistakes. I know I do. And sometimes people tell me about errors, and sometimes they don’t. One ex-boyfriend gravely announced, “Beth, I saw errors in your posts. More than one.” WHERE, you knucklehead? I dash off 300-600 words each and every morning before breakfast. I can’t/don’t stop and edit. I write and push the Publish button. And then I start working for other people. Give a girl a break and tell me if I type pubic relations instead of public relations. I’d tell you if you had spinach in your teeth!
[Slashdot] [Digg] [Reddit] [del.icio.us] [Facebook] [Technorati] [Google] [StumbleUpon]