Write to build a library of content
Long ago someone asked me — “Oh, you are a writer? Where can I read your work?”.
I was stumped. I had a blog but it was full of ramblings that had no purpose. I wasn’t writing for the fun of it. I was writing because I wanted to rant. I couldn’t dare to share that with someone. That led me to a thinking spree.
What is shareable writing?
As someone who has dabbled his feet into all forms of writing — poems, current events, opinions, and daily rants I am not sure what qualifies as readable writing. Would someone want to read my opinions? If yes, why? What makes those opinions valuable? What makes my ranting unique?
My writing, I realized, was too personal, too unstructured for the general people to consume. The goal of writing should be to start with a point and end with why you made that point. Start with a question and by the end answer that question to the reader’s satisfaction. That is the goal of writing. And I didn’t have that.
What I told you took me years to figure out. I am writing this to shorten your learning curve. This advice can be applied to any creative field.
Build your library of content
If you are a musician you should have your work organized somewhere for people to consume and judge you. If you are a writer you should have a place where people can go and find out what you write and how you write.
Imagine I tell you I love writing stories and then tell you I haven’t written any or I did but it’s not available for public consumption. What was the point then?
If you sketch, go on a relevant site, upload all your content, and share that link everywhere. Then you talk about it to people. If you want the world to take your creative pursuit seriously, you will have to take it seriously.
There is no point in any art if it stays with you and you alone. Even if nobody pays attention to your art it still has to be there in your library in a presentable manner.
Build that library of content.