Push Yourself Beyond Your Comfort Zone as a Writer with Blogging
Multiple times, I’ve talked about using blogging to explore different types of writing. This is because, in a blog format, you aren’t committing to a full-length book. You can try something out and see “how it fits,” so to speak. Recently, I talked to an author who had an experience that was something akin to blogging. He wrote a shorter-format story and expanded it, much as you might when writing a blog. I’ll let him tell the story in his own words:
“I was tasked with writing what I initially thought was a short story. The story was to be a mystery but with a horror twist. I was told it could be something like ‘Saw’ or ‘7even.’ So I started writing.”
It wasn’t long before our writer friend was thrown a curve ball.
“The client informed me that the short story had to be significantly longer. It was to be, basically, a novella. In order to figure out how to make it longer, I created new characters and wove those characters in with the first storyline in a ‘B’ storyline. I understand that this is a pretty common format used for screenwriting. It allowed me to add more plot and length to the story. Then, when I was all done, I started intercutting the two story arcs and made some adjustments along the way.”
All of this, however, had unexpected consequences. Our author friend wrote in an email, “What I didn’t anticipate was what I was creating. Because I created the story in parts, I discovered two things when I put it together and re-read it to make edits. One, it was a really, really powerful horror story, something I didn’t know I was capable of before then. But… the second thing I learned was that this was easily the most f—ed up thing I’d ever written.”
“You never change your life until you step out of your comfort zone; change begins at the end of your comfort zone.” – Roy T. Bennett
Our writer friend went on to explain that horror really was outside of his comfort zone. Quite unintentionally, he discovered that he had the capacity to write gripping, disturbing horror stories. He might not have learned this had he not approached it in this detached format. Starting out to write a horror novella from scratch might have had an entirely different result.
You can use your blog to do the same thing. Take it in small, bite-sized chunks… or blog-sized chunks, if you will. Push yourself to write things you’re not sure of that you don’t know if you can write. See what you get. The fact that your audience will read the blog means there’s some accountability and some stakes. Push yourself.
This way, your blog can push you outside your comfort zone. You might be shocked and pleasantly surprised by the results. Have fun!
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*This blog was written 100% by a human and contains no AI-generated written content.
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