I did it. I bought a domain and am starting a blog.
My mind is all jumbled with excitement; it’s been a long time dream of mine to blog. Like, over 9 years, long time.
But, what am I doing?
I am so computer illiterate! I have no idea how to even log into my WordPress account!
What is that username: I didn’t pick that! Can I change it? … No, I can’t… How am I going to remember that?
I don’t like this theme. How do I uninstall the preloaded theme? Is that a thing? Or do I just load a new one over-top? Is that a thing?
Why are there so many pictures on here? Who has that many logos and affiliations??
I feel way in over my head. Imposter syndrome set in the moment I bought the domain name. Why do I think I’m a writer? I like to journal and it’s very helpful to me, but nobody reads it and that’s on purpose. How will I write what people want to read? Will anyone read this? Well, not until it’s actually live, they won’t! I have time.
I do want to have this as a business, but I don’t have the first idea of how to do that!
How do I put in a privacy policy? A cookie policy? A newsletter signup? Do I want to write a newsletter? Isn’t that what the blog is for?
You’re thinking too broad. This is a hobby blog. It’s ok to spend money on a hobby and never make it back. Is that the goal? No. But it’s the reality of the starting line. I’m starting at the beginning of a 9-years-long dream. I’m not 9-years-in, I’m starting.
it is different than I thought it would be. I knew it would be work, but I thought it would be easy! Like, 1-2-3, post, boom, profitable business!! There are more steps than that just to log in! I understand why there are fewer bloggers than Instagramers or Facebookers: it’s more work than “write – post”! Will I ever get that hang of all this code?
Ok, don’t get ahead of yourself. Just write something. It can even be bad: you’re brand new to this. You literally tag-lined the site about overcoming perfectionism, so don’t pressure yourself to be an expert yet or include every piece of knowledge in every post.
Write short posts. Write bad posts. Write posts that you just want to write. Your style will come as you keep moving forward. Today is not the day you’re going to write your first viral blog post. There is no other content to give people, yet. While there is a lot to a blog, it’s nothing without the writing.
You’re not a photographer, but there are photos in your phone that you like. Start there. Have them make sense with the topic, but don’t obsess. You’re going to do fine.
And right now, fine is good enough.