There are lots of blogs out there and some of them, if not many of them, probably have content that is similar to yours. So how do you make yours stand out? How do you write great content that will separate itself from the pack? Its all about style, baby. Or more specifically, knowing your own style and taking ownership of it.
Not everyone is Dave Barry. Nor is everyone Abigail Von Buren, or Carl Sagan, or Noam Chomsky. And none of these people are anything like one another. Well, except, of course, for the fact that they are, or were, all hugely successful writers.
And, even though you are none of these people, and might not be overly funny, or able to solve a persons life altering social problems in a few short sentences, or able to break incredibly complex astrophysics concepts down into language everyone can understand, or able to get people to read you even though no one can actually understand what you are trying to express, you can be successful in writing great content for your blog. All you really need to be… is you.
When people ask me what single step they can take that would most improve their writing, I tell them to forget everything they’ve ever read. Of course I don’t mean this literally. Hopefully there will be something in the writing that you have learned through reading and want to pass along to others. What I mean by it is to forget all about your favorite writers and how much you like and want to emulate their styles, and to simply say what you want to say the way you would say it.
One of the biggest mistakes you can make in writing, whether you are a novelist or a blogger, is to try and be something, or someone, you are not. You may love to read Ann Coulter or Tony Bourdain, but that doesn’t mean you should try to write like them. They write the way they do because of who they are, the life experiences they have had and the way they feel comfortable expressing themselves, and that is how you should write as well.
There is no best or even correct writing style. A writers style is who they are, so be who you are. Take ownership of your you-ness and write your blog the way only you can. If nothing else it will guarantee that those who read your blog won’t confuse you with anyone else. And, in the blogosphere, that is a huge victory in itself.
We would love to hear your thoughts about this writing series, comment below!