5 Reasons Not To Throw In The Blogging Towel

Sep 2, 2013

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It seems like everybody has a blog these days.

There is so much chatter out there about homeschool and crafts and recipes and God and social media and the list goes on and on. If you’ve been at this thing we call blogging for any length of time you might be tempted to throw in the blogging towel.

Here’s the thing, you might feel like a little fish in a very big pond but there are huge numbers of people in the world who don’t blog and are looking for information, just like the kind you write about.

Surprised?

My blogging friends and I were talking about this recently. I have hundreds of friends on Facebook. I would say that maybe one-seventh of those know what I do, that I even write a blog, and about half of those have ever visited, let alone read my content.

That’s kind of depressing really. But, I also know that I have a whole bevy of readers that I’ve never met and with whom I come into contact with through comments. I love those interactions. It tells me that people are reading what I have to say and actually want to talk about it. Don’t you love a good comment?

Let me tell you a story.

I have had at least one blog up and running for the past eleven years. That’s over four thousand days (4000 for you visual learners). I’ve written well over 1000 posts in my career on everything from loving Jesus to making a tufted valance to BBQ lentils. At certain points I’ve run up to five blogs at a time.

Oh the madness!

There have been times when the feedback was really lean. I’ve actually gone whole years with only a handful of comments. Yes, in 365 days I could count the interactions on my hands. Six, seven, four, I don’t even think you could call that a trickle, especially because half of them were from my mom. Gotta love your mom for support!

But I kept writing. I kept blogging. I kept churning out posts and learning the craft until I found a good fit and formula for me and today I would consider myself a success. A small success but a success nonetheless.

There are many many writers and artists and musicians who spent their lives creating, to no avail. They slogged through with just minimal success only to be “discovered” after years and years of work and go on to sell millions of books or fetch millions for a work at auction. What did they all have in common? They kept at it. Their inner drive and passion would never let them do anything less.

I heard an interview recently with Baz Luhrmann, the director of the movie “The Great Gatsby.” He said that in the first week of the new movie being out, more copies of Fitzgerald’s book sold than during his entire lifetime. In one week F. Scott Fitzgerald’s writing found a new audience in a whole new generation of readers.

I know of a popular author who wrote 9 books before she found widespread success. That’s a lot of writing.

Do you know how old Harland “The Colonel” Sanders was when he launched his restaurant chain? 65. He built his KFC empire after retirement. If you’ve never read his story you should, it’s fascinating.

So, what does this mean for you?

It means that if you are standing alongside the blogging road and there is not a reader in sight and it’s getting dark and you haven’t had a comment in six months – KEEP GOING!

You have a unique story and a unique perspective and you have things to say that ONLY YOU CAN SAY. I can’t say them. Your sister can’t say them. No one but you can say them. And there is someone out there who needs to hear them. Right now!

Keep blogging.

You are NOT that chick from [Insert popular book or TV show title here], what’s her name? Yeah her, and God didn’t create you to be her. He created you to be [Insert Your Name Here.]

“But…….” you say.

I don’t want to hear it. If it’s a passion and you can’t help but write, keep doing it. Keep blogging.

5 Reasons Not To Throw In The Blogging Towel ★ If blogging has you frustrated, don't throw in the towel just yet. There are at least 5 reasons you need to keep going.

You have something to say

You wouldn’t have started a blog and gone through all the trouble to figure out how to post and how to put social media buttons in your sidebar if you didn’t have something to say. You know that you have a message that needs to get out there. So? What’s the problem? Say it.

Someone else needs your perspective

Like I said before, only you can say what you need to say. It’s your voice and no one else’s. There is at least one reader out there who needs to hear your perspective and learn from your unique story. There’s at least one but probably there are hundreds of readers who need to hear from you. That right there should be enough for you to keep going. It might take some effort on your part to get your story into the right hands but keep telling it. It matters.

God has some work to do through you

Think about this for a minute: Jesus, the Son of God, was born as a man. Why? Did he need to go through life and be a success and make his parents proud and feel good about himself? Uh, no. God wanted to use Him to save the entire world. Dude!

God is not going to use you to save the entire world. But He might just have some people that He wants to change, for eternity, and you are His vessel to do that and blogging is the method. Dude!

No pressure but good luck quitting now. In other words, keep blogging.

There is room for every voice

The world is a mighty big place and there is room for every voice. Now, don’t have a freak out but I am not a huge fan of some of the most popular books out there right now. However, I’ve read some blogger’s who, I might add, are tiny potatoes (because they are not even small they’re just plain tiny) and I love their voices. I love their writing style and they way they speak to my heart. I have been way more moved by some little bloggers than I have by some of the most popular authors out there.

Remember, the first rule of the playground is, not everyone likes everyone else. And that’s ok. But if there are no choices, if you up and quit and I never get a chance to read you, well that’s not good for anyone.

It doesn’t matter what you write about. I don’t read a lot of blogs about knitting. But a lot of people do. If that’s what you write about – keep going! Somebody needs to hear you. And there is definitely room for your voice.

Success doesn’t happen overnight

I read a lot of posts about how to get 5000 subscribers in one week and build a huge platform in 3 days and have 2 million twitter followers. Whatever. You know what I mean, right? It’s kind of depressing. I’m happy for these bloggers, I truly am, but they bum me out a little because I know better than anyone that success doesn’t happen overnight.

Remember, I’ve been blogging for over a decade. I don’t have 5000 subscribers. But I’m successful.

Building an audience takes time. Your most loyal readers will be the ones who trust you.

Your readers learn to trust you over time, over a long period of reading your writing and hearing your heart and realizing that you are safe. Relish that. It makes for much stronger relationships than with someone who only joined because you gave them something for free.

{Don’t get me wrong, I believe in freebies, but I’d rather have a super loyal follower who reads my posts and comments constantly than someone who downloads my freebie and then never comes back.}

Beverly Cleary is a beloved writer. Ramona and Beezus are like our first friends right? Cleary started writing books in 1950. She won her first award in 1975. You do the math. Success doesn’t happen overnight.

All this to say, keep going my blogging friend. Keep writing. Share your voice, your heart, and your life with others. It might seem really hard right now but keep going. I need to hear you. The world needs to hear you. Press on.

Are you ready to keep going?