Ayu Adiati

Posted on Sep 28, 2021 • Edited on Mar 25, 2022 • Originally published at adiati.com

I Have Been Writing A Blog For 10 Months: Here Is My Story

#watercooler #writing #codenewbie

Hello Fellow Writers & Codenewbies 👋,

What made you think to become a writer, and how did you start?

That is one of the topics that never bored me!
I love to hear people's stories about their journey to become a writer. Especially technical writer.
People's journeys are unique and very inspiring!

But in this article, I want to share my writing journey in the past 10 months. How I decided to write a blog, keep writing, and my goals in writing 😊.

How Did I Start Writing?

Fall In Love

That was the beginning of all. I fall in love with writing!
I organize my schedules and tasks on the agenda. While scrapbooking, I write my notes on notebooks and dump my brain in a bullet journal.
I. Love. To. Write. About. Anything.

I Tried, But...

One of the things that inspired me to learn web development was I wanted to create my own website. I wanted to write a blog and showcase my photography hobby as personal documentation.
But years passed, and I got busier with learning, and I completely forgot about my initial purpose.

Whenever I read technical and non-technical articles around tech, they remind me of what I wanted to do.
To write a blog and put my notes out there.

One day I pushed myself to write my first article on DEV. Then my second, followed by the third. All in one month.
No one gave reactions. No one read my articles. So I stopped. I stopped because these thoughts were lingering in my head:

I'm unqualified to write any articles in public.
Maybe people don't understand my English.
Maybe my articles are not attractive because someone already wrote what I wrote. Why did I write it anyway? What should I write then?
Maybe because I'm a newbie, my articles sound mediocre or even stupid.

And the list went on until I hit the imposter syndrome.

Changed My Purpose

My community, Virtual Coffee, holds monthly challenges for its members. It was November 2020. They had the "National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)" challenge, and I participated.

This time around, I changed my perspective and purpose in writing.
I write for myself, for the future me.
I put my notes out there to get back to them whenever needed.
It helps me a lot in writing without burden. I don't mind if no one would read my articles or if my articles aren't good enough.
Having the whole community write together also boosts my motivation. I have become more confident in writing.

I bought a domain and made an account on Hashnode.
I also participated in the #2articles1week and Crazy Blogger challenges on Hashnode to build a writing routine.
I then cross-post my articles to DEV, and later on, CodeNewbie.

Since I changed my purpose in writing, I don't think of anything else but to write whenever I have an idea in mind.
So it surprised me a lot when some of my articles get recognized across blogging platforms. I never imagined any of these.

What Motivates Me Keep Writing?

It's Fun

Yes! Because it's fun! Writing is very relaxing to me.
Even though it takes me 3 to 4 hours to write an article of 500-800 words!
I'm not a native English speaker. So I need more time to think of the vocabulary, grammar, and how to plan the sentences.

Learn In Public

Besides doing #100DaysOfCode on Twitter, writing is also a medium for me to do learning in public.
Sharing my notes and experiences has connected me with great technical writers and many readers. We learn together and from each other.

Retain My Knowledge And Gain New Knowledge

When I learn something, I always take notes with pen and paper.
Then I will draft an article. I always do more research, mainly when I write technical articles. Most of the time, I learn something new along the way.
These writing processes help me retain my knowledge and gain a new understanding.

Help Others

This is my biggest motivation to keep writing.
Many content creators have been helping me in my learning journey through their content. And I want to give back through my writing. I want to help others who are in my shoes.
The happiest moment for me is whenever I hear that one of my articles is helping or inspiring someone.

My Goals In Writing

I don't have any particular goals except to be a better writer and have a better writing style.
I want to improve my technical writing skill so people can enjoy reading my articles even more.

How about you?
What inspires you to start writing, and what are your goals? Do share them with us in the comment below! 😄

📢 A Little Announcement

I do enjoy writing in these past 10 months.
Due to life, writing an article or more in a week is no longer doable for me.
I will reduce the time to publish my articles to one or two articles a month with a heavy heart.
But I will continue writing! 😊

Thank you for reading!
Last but not least, you can find me on Twitter. Let's connect! 😊