Many of you know that I greatly love writing and started setting up a blog since 2010 so I was thinking to remake its look and content to give a fresh touch. When I decided to work as freelancer a year ago, I have plenty of spare time during the day. And so I began reviving my blog with my own hands despite my zero experience in IT-related field. But things were not as easy as it may seem. I knew that WordPress-related technical things are pretty confusing and energy-consuming. I was a bit frustrated knowing that my blog couldn’t be redesigned as I had expected.

However, the good news is coming.

As mentioned earlier, I aimed to improve my web appearances as well as its content by only displaying compelling and uplifting stories. Having said, I decided to delete some old posts that were lame and useless for they only expressed bad emotions that would never benefit my readers. It took time to delete each and every post yet it really was worth the effort. Furthermore, while deleting the not-so-worthy posts, the process showed me one exhilarating fact: I grow up.

It was a throwback to past years when I was emotionally unstable and lost the sight as seen on some personal and depressive writings. There I knew how the old-Septa treated her blog like an open diary rather than a web for public. I know I am not the only one who feels this. My friends and fellow bloggers admitted they owned embarrassing posts and had childish attitude when it comes to blogging.

Lesson #1: Not all of personal stories are blog-worthy because the readers won’t even care.

As I continued deleting countless useless posts, I understand that every single thing shared, every word spoken has to be fruitful and elevating to our surrounding. This may sound too naïve. But, when we are gone, our creations remain for a lifetime. Our beloved ones will keep reading them. The future kids may find them amongst those old heritages. People from the year of 8000-something living in other side of the planet may use our creations as their references. By carefully displaying positive content means you care about your readers. You consider their personal growth as a part of your writing goal. You treat your blog as a channel to nourish people’s soul, more than just gaining booming stats or countless compliments.

Lesson #2: We need to ensure that only positive and enlightening things are shared.

In terms on writing, I vividly see how my skill metamorphosed. The old-me was having trouble in constructing the idea into paragraphs. Besides, I also lacked of adequate research and thinking when I was blogging. I also found some writings did not convey good messages. The ideas were scattered and had no significant point—thanks to my professional job as public relations consultant: I know what key message is.

Lesson #3: Writing is 10% talent; the rest is continuous practice. The more we practice writing, the more we improve ourselves.

Photo: hedgecraftstudio.com

Despite finding my unstructured writings, I am thankfully delighted that I never lose my style of writing. I have always believed that writing is not merely about sharing your idea, but rather how it is delivered. It’s not only about what to communicate, but how we communicate it. And I enjoyed the rhyme I created, the words I chose, the feelings I described, the flow I dived into.

Lesson #4: when you find your writing style, it stays within you. It never leaves you. It grows old with you.