Things to consider if you want to become a blogger.

As I reached my 300th blog post on this site last week, I was thinking that perhaps I could write something about being a blogger. I thought that I could give some advice, so that one could know a little bit more about the craft.

Below are some specific things that you should consider if you're thinking about becoming a blogger yourself. Even though the advice is pretty basic, it's still useful when it comes to blogging and being productive as a writer.

1) Choose a topic that you know of and that you're interested in. 

When you start blogging, you should choose a topic that you know a lot about and that you're interested in. Whether we're talking about fashion, music, food, television, movies, sports or something else, it's good to know what you're talking about.

After all, the better you know your stuff as a blogger, the more your writings will be based on facts and reality. This way you won't run out of things to say that easily and people have a reason to visit your blog more often.

In my case, as a tv spec writer, since I knew quite a bit about the craft and since I was also interested in sharing my thoughts, I thought that coming up with a blog would make sense and would be the way to go as a writer.

2) Have a consistent writing routine and publish regularly. 

When it comes to writing and publishing stuff, the best way to get things done is to have a steady writing routine. By having a solid writing routine, you'll find it easier to write and publishing articles becomes a second nature for you.

At the same time, you shouldn't write so often that you'll get burned out. There's no reason to write so often that you'll get so stressed and so tired of the whole process that you'll simply give up and stop posting stuff.

In my case, when I started writing this blog, at first I tried to write every single day. Not surprisingly, it didn't take more than a couple of weeks before I got so tired that I went for like a two month break from publishing anything.

3) Pay attention to the quality of your articles.

As a writer, you should make sure that you always value quality over quantity. You should understand that quality comes first and that there's no value in publishing stuff when you don't have anything meaningful to say.

Instead of forcing yourself to publish something that has little to no value, you should understand that less is usually more. You should spend enough time writing and rewriting your posts, so that they would be worth publishing.

In my case, over the last four years or so, I've been writing one article per week (4 every month). This way I don't have to rush things and I have enough time to make sure that my articles are readable, informative and entertaining.

4) Try to be as truthful and fair as possible.

It's important that as a writer you're always honest and that you don't worry too much about what others might think of you. Your advice and critique should be truthful, even though you might be stepping on other people's toes sometimes.

At the same time, there's really no point in being negative just for the sake of being negative. There's no value in being too cynical, so you should find ways to be constructive in your criticism, as long as it's only possible.

In my case, I try to make sure that I don't write about television shows and movies that much. I try not to critique and review them that often, because I know that in most cases I wouldn't have much, if anything good to say about them.

5) Be respectful towards others. 

Finally, when it comes to interacting with others and receiving feedback, pretty much everyone is going to get negative feedback from time to time. There's really no way around this and you just have to be able to deal with this fact.

So when you get negative feedback, don't let yourself get too worked up over other people's comments. As long as it's only possible, try to reason with the commenters and try to explain where you're coming from as a writer.

In the end, the truth is that when it's all said and done, you should treat people with respect. You should treat them with respect, because the more friendly and the more helpful you are towards others, the better things are going to be for everyone.

Writing helps take care of your mental health.

Over the last couple of days or so, it has to be said that I haven't felt good about myself. I have more or less felt that something is missing from my life and that I should do things that would make me feel better inside.

After all, over the last ten days or so, I haven't actually managed to do anything meaningful. Even though I have thought about writing something almost every day, I haven't spent time doing the actual writing at all.

The biggest reason that it's so important for me or anyone to write is that writing - at least in my opinion - helps you feel better about yourself. It helps you take care of your mental health and helps you in having a more positive outlook on life.

After all, when it comes to writing, one of the best things about the process is that when I'm writing an article or a screenplay, I feel that I'm doing something that makes sense. I feel like I'm doing something that has value and meaning.

The writing process is beneficial for me, because when I'm writing, I have to pay attention and concentrate on my task. I have to come up with ideas that have the potential to make sense and that are worth exploring and going through.

It simply cannot be overestimated how important it is to be able to concentrate on this process. It helps me find my inner self and the 'flow effect' makes me forget my worries, my fears and those other things that might make me depressed.

Instead of being overly worried and feeling confused about things, I get to use my energy on something constructive. I'll notice that I have certain abilities and tools that help me in processing those frustrating feelings that bother me.

So in most cases, by using these tools and by working on my writing project, I'll manage to come up with ideas and solutions for my task. I'll manage to produce solid stuff on my computer screen that makes me feel better.

Still, even though writing is good for you, this is not to say that writing is also something that is always easy to do. I'm not saying that writing stuff is always going to be easy and that it doesn't require effort or hard work. 

In reality, writing as a craft is most of the time genuinely challenging. Most of the time you tend to have problems and you struggle when you're trying to come up with something that might be worth your time and worth reading.

Nevertheless, when it comes to this process as a whole, it can't be denied how important and beneficial it can be for you. At least in my case, writing has been so good for my mental health and has given my life purpose and meaning over the years.

In that sense, if you're thinking about becoming a writer or simply thinking about writing as a hobby, you shouldn't be afraid of giving it a go. You shouldn't be afraid of giving yourself a chance to see what you're capable of as a writer.

After all, if you manage to give yourself a chance, you'll notice that writing is not about being perfect and about not making mistakes. It's not about thinking that you're not allowed to make errors and that you're a bad person if you screw up.
 

On the contrary, writing really is about giving yourself a chance to make mistakes. It's about trying things, making mistakes, learning from those mistakes and knowing that you can fix things later and that you don't have to be 'perfect' right away.

Make sure that your story has a good ending.

Even though I have had problems watching tv lately, last week I managed to watch a new episode of The Big Bang Theory. I watched the episode, because I wanted to give the show a chance and see if it was even remotely watchable nowadays.

After all, over the last few seasons, this popular sitcom about our four nerds hasn't really been that watchable. It hasn't been well written and its storylines and characters have been mostly hopelessly stale and uninspired.   

So based on these things, I didn't exactly have my hopes up when I started watching episode S11E09, 'The Bitcoin Entanglement'. I didn't think that the show could work anymore and that it could even produce random quality episodes.

Nevertheless, as I started watching the episode, it didn't look that bad right away. It seemed as if the episode might actually work and that it would remind us of the good old days when the show was still funny and fresh.

After all, this episode - that dealt with our guys mining some Bitcoins - was about these characters going back in time. The characters were back to their 'normal' selves and were even back to wearing their old clothes.

In the episode, the main storyline was about our nerds trying to remember what they had done with their precious bitcoins. They tried to figure out where they had hidden their laptop that had the keys to their bitcoin wallet.

The only one who could more or less remember what had happened was of course Sheldon with his eidetic memory. He was the one who was able to remember important details about the case and how things actually were.

The main storyline, at least the premise for it, for once felt plausible and revolved around the nerd stuff. It was refreshing to see a storyline that was something else than the usual tired relationship nonsense that had zero energy or creativity.

The episode also felt fairly watchable, because the jokes in most cases were character driven and felt like they were organic and natural. It felt like the writers were inspired and were actually doing their jobs this time.

However, there was one thing that didn't work in the 'Bitcoin Entanglement' at all. The ending for the episode didn't work because the resolution for it - rather predictably -  was so disappointing and that it did not make sense.

After all, there was no way that our nerds would actually end up becoming bitcoin millionaires. It was obvious that there had to be some kind of a resolution that would lead to our guys losing their precious 'treasure'.

So not surprisingly, when Sheldon told that he had hidden the bitcoin key to Leonard's USB-stick, and that Leonard revealed that he had lost the Batman stick years ago, we got our weak ending. It was just a weak climax that didn't have a point at all.

Of all the resolutions that the writers could have come up with, the one that they chose was probably the worst. It did not match with the rest of the episode and how much energy and excitement the rest of the story had.   

In that sense, when I think of the resolution for the 'Bitcoin Entanglement', it's clear that even though the episode did have quite a few solid and funny moments, those moments weren't able to make up for the fact that the ending was just incredibly weak.

As a whole, the episode didn't work because it's not possible to write a weak ending to your storyline and expect that your story is going to work. You can't write a quality screenplay unless you make sure that your 'climax' works too.

In that sense, you really need to pay enough attention to how your story concludes itself. You need to make sure that your ending makes sense and that it can be derived from the rest of the episode and how the characters have behaved.

It simply can't be something that comes out of nowhere and that gets resolved in less than a heartbeat. It can't be something that makes little or no sense and is something that is going to underestimate the intelligence of your audience.

In that sense, it's just too bad that in the case of this TBBT episode, the writers weren't able to come up with a solid ending. It's too bad, because had they done their jobs well, 'The Bitcoin Entanglement' could actually have been a really good episode.

It's important to keep your mind fresh as a writer.

One of the most important things about being a writer is that you're able to be a consistent writer. You need to have the ability to write even when you don't feel like doing that and when you don't think that you can come up with anything good.

After all, as a writer, you don't always have the luxury of choosing when you're going to start writing. You don't always get to choose that precious moment when you're inspired and when you feel like you can get things done.

The reason I'm writing about this is because during the last couple of weeks, I haven't felt like writing that much. I haven't felt that good and have had problems getting myself in the mood to write anything that could be worth reading.

The biggest reason for this lack of focus and lack of concentration in my life has had to do with me not taking enough care of myself. I haven't managed to pay enough attention to everyday basic needs that matter in life.

For example, even though I have managed to exercise on a daily basis, I haven't paid enough attention to my sleeping patterns. I haven't managed to get enough sleep, which has made me less active and less focused than I'm used to being.

What this means is that during the last couple of weeks or so, after I have managed to come back from work, I haven't had that much energy left. I haven't had energy when it comes to writing and thinking about what to do next.

Instead of coming up with solid ideas for this blog or simply having the energy to watch television shows, I have tried to do something else. In most cases, I've gone straight to bed to get some sleep, which hasn't really worked at all.

The bad thing about these afternoon naps is that when I have went to bed to recover from my lack of sleep, I have gotten even more confused and disoriented. Napping has made it even harder to get my head straight and to get anything meaningful done.

After all, it's a known fact that you can't replace sleeping hours during the night with napping hours during the day. In the long run it's not a healthy way and will lead to health problems when it comes to your body and your mind.

So when I have woken up after my nap, unless I had a really good writing routine going on and unless I had a deadline, it was almost impossible to get anything done. It was more or less guaranteed that my day was over when it comes to being creative.

In that sense, when it comes to my well being as a whole, it's clear that I need to change my sleep patterns at least a bit. It's clear that I need to change some of my routines, so that I could feel less tired in my life again.

After all, even though it's true that napping during the afternoons can sometimes be a good thing - like for example when you're writing a screenplay - in the long run it's not the way to go way when you're trying to be at your best.

As a whole, not paying attention to your sleeping patterns and not making sure that you sleep enough is simply going to be detrimental for your health. It won't make you more creative and most certainly won't make you any more productive.

So in that sense, when it comes to my sleeping and resting habits in the future, I have to make sure that I'll find some time to get to my bed at least a bit earlier. I have to make sure that I find a way to change my sleeping habits at least a bit.

After all, there's no point in staying up until 4 am in the morning and not going to bed earlier. There's no point in not getting enough sleep, feeling constantly tired and not having the energy to do all those other things later during the day.