Girl, do you even blog?

​So, I started a blog. Pretty great, right? Now, all I have to figure out is what to blog about and when I'm going to find time to write. Oh, and I've got to figure out that pesky "why" part too.

I never knew how much I missed writing, until I wasn't doing it regularly. Like, all day, every day. I used to be a writing machine. News stories, event write ups, email marketing, website content, reporting. You name it, I was cranking it out.

And then, it all stopped. I changed jobs and suddenly I wasn't writing anymore. I actually missed the thousands upon thousands of words I used to put down on paper. Metaphorically, because you know ... computers, typing, technology, etc. In fact, it was the exact item in my job description that brought me the least amount of joy (Shout out to Marie Kondo). At the beginning of my career, it was the part that scared me the most.

"Ugh, writing all the time sounds so boring."

Do you want to know why I thought writing was boring? Because I wasn't very good at it. OK, that's an understatement. I was just plain bad. If I had a nickel for every time the guy who interviewed me for one of my first jobs called my writing "green," I could buy something worth a heck of a lot of nickels.

That's because I'd never written anything except high school English papers and the occasional essay test in college. I was G-R-E-E-N, green.

It's like going to the gym
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Learning to write is like getting in shape. If we're being honest with ourselves, when we first start, it stinks. You're tired, you're sore and you're not seeing any results. But the more you workout, the stronger your muscles get, the faster you can run and the further you can push yourself.

Becoming a writer (Whoa, did I just call myself a 'writer?') is the same process. When you first start blogging, posting, reporting or whatever, it's p a i n f u l . You run out of words, you start typing things that don't make sense and your grammar is definitely not on point. And where the heck are the results? All I could see is red pen marking up every word of every draft.

But but but, the more you do it, the more you push yourself, the more you practice, the stronger the writer you become. Then, one day you read your own blog article and surprise yourself with "Wow, this is really good."

I'm hitting the weights

So here's the deal--I'm out of shape, I've gained a few writing pounds and I'm looking for a full on creative makeover. I'm talking lifestyle, professional, political, fitness, religion. I'm going to flex all the writing muscles until I'm in the best literary shape of my life.

Buckle up, because here we go.