13 years ago (!) I began a blog called ‘Reasons to be Cheerful’ with the purpose of sharing my thoughts on “Parenthood, poetry and fights with technology and fashion”.
It was prompted by me leaving corporate life and following the advice of my sister-in-law who bought me a notebook bearing the legend “If you wish to be a writer, you must write!”.
And whilst I’d written poems and stories for friends and family for years, I’d never shared this work publicly.
So I did.
On a free blog.
That’s still live (at https://tonikent.blogspot.com/ if you’re curious)
And people are still visiting despite the fact I last posted on there six years ago 😲
What I didn’t know was that in taking the plunge, not only would it bring me closer to people who shared similar experiences to me, it would prompt people to:
Ask me to write for them
Invite me to speak
Encourage me to publish a book
And whilst what I wrote on the blog was free (and if you check out the ‘Hire Me’ page, it also suggests you can repurpose my work gratis) everything that people offered me was paid for. And the book (now books) sold a few thousand. 🤯
None of this was part of the plan when I started
None of this would have happened had I played it safe and not given it a go.
So why go back to it now? Well, I was prompted to revisit the blog off the back of reading the BRILLIANT ‘Show Your Work!’ by Austin Kleon (https://austinkleon.com/) – an absolute must read for anyone creative or who is trying to build their own community and a lesson in the value of sharing your work with others. For free.
And I was prompted to read the book by the awesome Nyambe “Yam” Sumbwanyambe who, fittingly, I met through the community that exists among people who create their own podcasts. For free. As a means of sharing something positive with the world.
The point of this post?
Do it.
Do the thing that you want to do.
That your heart tells you to do.
That you’re a little bit scared to do.
That no-one even asked you to do.
You never know where it might lead you 🛣️
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