Career, Personal

I don’t care and why that is good for my blog

I expressed in my About page that this blog is never meant to be a technical blog. But the pressure of relevancy keeps popping up: I need technical content if I want this blog to survive. Readers want to read technical stuff – something they can apply in their job.

Believe me, I want to deliver technical content regularly. But the more I read technical blogs, the more I realize I have nothing more to offer than what are already being written about in all those other blogs.

I started to worry about being unable to produce technical content regularly. Every time I sit in front of my laptop with the intent of writing a technical post, I end up facing a brick wall.

So, I stopped caring.

Thomas LaRock came out with a great blog post today about engaging readers - a blog post that validates my feeling about the pressure of blogging in this technical blogosphere dominated by giants.

Thomas advises bloggers to “focus on writing that which makes you feel good.” I know what makes me feel good. I am not a good writer – not even close to being one – but I love writing. That is another reason why this blog came to being. And, from now on, I have to keep reminding myself of that.

Thomas (or, am I qualified to call you “Tom”?) added that we, bloggers, should “focus on writing engaging content regardless of the reader”. Do not “write content for others”, he admonishes.

There are hundreds of legitimate technical blogs out there that specifically discuss SQL Server with much technical know-how’s. I want my blog to be on the same league.

My blog at this point is not yet there. I am here to learn. I am here for the bacon.

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  • http://twitter.com/SamuelVanga Samuel Vanga

    I’m no where near qualified to give any advice here – but just want to share my experience. About writing technical content and feeling “I have nothing more to offer than what are already being written about in all those other blogs.”, believe me i was and still am in the same boat. I bet many new bloggers feel the same way.

    When in such dilemma, i list out the reasons for blogging.
    1) Career. My blog is a plan for my career growth. When an employer looks at the blog, they don’t care if a topic is already written by someone else. They care that you know the topic and cared to prove it.
    2) Share. Thinking about blogging itself means I’m willing to share. I wouldn’t let “this was already written by someone” get to me. May be I’ve a different voice and passion. Hopefully i share and help a different audience.

    Hope i make some sense!
    Sam.

    • http://marlonribunal.com/ Marlon Ribunal

      Samuel,

      That’s totally makes sense! I guess that should be my mantra in technical blogging:

      “Blog to Learn and
      Blog to Share.
      And,
      Learn to Share. Share to Learn.”

  • bassplayerdoc

    Marlon,

    I’m in the same boat. I maintain two blogs – one for technical content and another for non-technical. I rarely write on my technical blog but, every once in a while, post links to articles I’ve written for MSSQLTips. I fall on the same trap as any blogger out there – writing for someone else. My non-technical blog helped me refocus.

    You are correct when you said you’re not a good writer. Because as far as I’m concerned, you are a GREAT writer. Keep it up. You can get as much help on writing from Jeff Goins – goinswriter.com His book You Are A Writer is a great resource for really getting into writing.

    Mabuhay!

    • http://marlonribunal.com/ Marlon Ribunal

      Edwin,

      Thanks for the kind words!

      Mabuhay!