In a previous post, I introduced you to the book that made me liberate my pen and commit to the daily Morning Pages.

This practice of ‘writing without thinking nor editing till you fill 3 pages’ is the best I found so far to put residual thoughts and negativity out of my mind before starting the day. 

In this post, I wanted to present you the drivers and resources I used to finally create LiberateYourPen blog. 

NB: Tools and technical aspects are not mentioned here; they could be subject to a future article. Sign-in to my newsletter to get posted. It’s FREE!

First: Curiosity & First action

« It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. » – Albert Einstein

We are all curious about something – and even many things – when we decide to achieve a healthy and balanced life.

But we tend to overlook our curiosity within a conventional society and after submitting to a formal, and sometimes, foolish education.

Despite that, our curiosity could easily arise from an unexpected moment, like an entertaining hang-out, an outdoor event, a new encounter, a trip, a movie, a strong need to solve an issue, or even just a virtual travel through an amazing book.

For me, they were mainly some books that stimulated my curiosity. And obviously, it became a big dream for me to write one someday. 

To not leave the dream as an eternal wish, my curiosity pushed me to start investigating the question: « how can people like me become writers? »

« Satisfaction of one’s curiosity is one of the greatest sources of happiness in life. » – Linus Pauling

So I started googling about my favorite writers, like Paulo Coelho, Albert Camus… Then quickly thought it would make more sense to focus on another type of writers: The one I called The New Writers; the contemporary ones who successfully switched from a conventional career to the Writing World. 

Those ones achieved one of my biggest dreams! I was sure they existed and I had to know them! 

What I found was astonishing: Most of the New Writers – if not all – started as bloggers. They simply built a blog from a willing to release ideas and to share them with like-minded fellows. 

Most of them didn’t expect the future writing career they were creating with their blog, and that was awakening for me…

Second: The Dream to be(come) a Writer

« I blog because I have something to say. » – Eddie Huang

In an interview, Thierry do Espirito, a French writer and tourist guide in Paris, previously a digital marketing consultant, was asked on how to become a writer.

He answered: « It has been in the back of my mind for a long time, and one day, I just started. », then he added: « An idea should face the reality. […] Learning how to write is also capital. And blogging was very useful for these, it is like a daily practice ». 

You can find the interview (in French) here.

That was captivating for me. And I found many articles, this one on lifehack.org for example and others on other websites highlighting the benefits of blogging. It became then understandable why The New Writers, and even many traditional and well-established writers, took the leap and created their own blog.

Last but not least: BYOB guide by Matthew Loomis

« I cannot emphasize enough the importance of a good teacher. » – Temple Grandin

Build Your Own Blog (BYOB) offers a step-by-step guide to create a blog from scratch. It also gives helpful tips and tricks and a direct support.

I recommend this guide to set-up your blog for many reasons. To name a few:

• The guide gives a clear guideline with many visuals organized into ordered steps with multiple videos, screenshots and funny caricatures
• It is FREE and gives you many tips and tricks once you sign-up to BYOB newsletter
• It is dedicated to newbies as well as newly established bloggers; so you don’t need to be techie to understand it and use it 
• It offers direct chat support, which is very appreciable whenever you have a doubt or a quick question at any step

Apart from the direct chat, you can easily reach the owner, Matthew Loomis, via email and on social media. Matthew is very supportive and responsive. 

Anecdotally, I remember the day I was brainstorming about my blog domain name. I spent time making a big list and googling domains’ availability, to finally end up frustrated.

Most of the names I truly liked were already used and when I stressed myself to book the first available name, I lost all enthusiasm about it the next day.

That was the perfectionism ghost, manifesting itself as a block against my first  creative initiatives.

I was about to give up, but thought to ask Matthew via the direct chat before turning off my laptop. His answer was not long in coming, and it just said: « Don’t be rude with yourself ».

Few months later, after LiberateYourPen launch, I was pleasantly surprised to get an email from Matthew offering to feature my blog in his quarterly post the Blogger Success Bulletin – Spring 2017 on BYOB! 

That was a generous gesture that brought me my first subscribers, and you could expect the same from him if you only follow his guide.

Again thank you for that Matt! 🙂

And you? What holds you back from taking the leap and creating your own blog?

If I can help you with anything at your first steps, just leave me a comment below!

Cheers to your liberation!

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SuccessfulMigrant

I believe "in every intellectual migrant is the seed of entrepreneurship".
SuccessfulMigrant intends to help intellectual migrants embrace a new country, a new career, or become entrepreneurs.

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