On Writing…

Writing is hard…

It might seem like an odd statement, because we write all the time. Emails, texts, posts, comments…writing is fundamental to the way we communicate with each other.

But like any other skill, there’s a big gap between doing something, and doing something well.

It takes many hours and countless repetitions to get to that point. Whether it’s a symphony violinist, a top level footballer, or rock star programmer, they have all invested into their craft to do it well.

And even those who have put in that investment doesn’t make it transferable. The violinist isn’t going to suddenly be a great tuba player; the footballer may be a great defender but struggle pushed higher up the pitch; and the programmer may have to re-build skills when faced with a new development language or tool.

And this is the challenge I find with writing. I’ve written thousands of emails, given hundreds of presentations, and had multiple articles in trade publications. And even though I’ve blogged in the past, and restarted this blog multiple times, the idea of writing to a general audience is still a major challenge for me, but one I want to get better at.

I know there’s probably going to be some stumbles along the way (which is one of those nagging voices at the back of my head: “You’re going to offend someone”…”People won’t find this interesting”…”This could hurt your career”), but I also know I can’t improve without trying.

So, we’re going to try this again.