The Benefits of Blogging

As a member of Indie Scriptorium one of our duties is to write and publish blogs on aspects of writing, editing, publishing or marketing every three weeks. Two years later we are doing a review of our blogs with the idea of putting them into an anthology.

As we currently only have three members the task of blogging has proved to be onerous. We would love to have some new members but …. Coming up with a topic, doing the research, writing 500-1000 words that make sense can be challenging. Making sure the blog is professionally written, properly edited and provides valuable information can be time consuming.

Indie Scriptorium has posted over a hundred blogs in two years. We have a following of 70 people and occasionally get positive feedback with likes from Facebook. Friends from my writing groups have also said they read the blogs and find them helpful. Yay.

But is the time and effort worthwhile for a busy writer who would rather be working on their next novel or short story?

I was recently asked where I find the time to blog? I responded without thinking. Oh, it’s a pain but I actually get a lot out of blogging. And on reflection that is true.

Doing a regular blog means that I am constantly researching writing skills, how to edit, what steps do you need to do to publish a book do a cover and burb, write a synopsis and market a book. (I need to do more research on this topic) In addition I have learnt about the legal, moral and technical issues to do with writing.

Looking back, I’ve realised that blogging has improved my writing style, made me a better editor and critique partner, has got me two books published and will in the future get my books marketed. The blogs have been like a course in creative writing, done with good friends and we have people who find our efforts helpful. We also will have a book of blogs later in the year for people to buy in the near future. That’s enough good reasons to keep me going.

Cheers

© Elsie King 2024