Dear bloggers (and everyone else):

There’s a reason why every writer cries when they first see their work in print.

This is it, they realize. No editing. There’s no going back from this point. These words are for anyone to read, praise or slander.

With blogging, there’s a similar concept, in that there’s a tempting edit button, but your words are broadcast more universally across a global platform.

There has never been a more pressing time to be unapologetic about what it is we do. We have the audacity to put our words and opinions out there, while thinking of new ideas and big projects behind the scenes that we want to tackle in the future. No one knows why we do what we do until they too publish that first post themselves.

We bloggers are brave humans.

Yet, sometimes the greatest hindrances to our own ambitions are the ill-spoken words of others, or even the mere fear of them. We are afraid to put our voices out there because of the potential reactions.

It broke my heart when I heard about high school students bad-mouthing another student’s blog. They made fun of her, saying that she was looking for attention. The words that they don’t carefully consider can force her to retreat into herself, discouraging her from writing.

You’ll never feel free until you can hit that publish button without picturing the faces of your critics or the words of your petty enemies. Getting to that point will be the most liberating feeling. You’ll feel in control.

To the haters who know where the dislike button is, fuck you.

To the eloquent haters who know how to craft hurtful comments, fuck you.

To anyone who thinks bloggers do what they do because they want attention, fuck you.

Too often we refrain from using strong language or expressing strong opinions out of fear of backlash and criticism.

Instead we color within the lines, stick with what’s trending in the mainstream because we feel the need to people-please or post with the main goal of increasing our followings and bettering out stats.

Yes, an important part of blogging does include consideration of these factors, but you end up losing your love for blogging when you’re most excited to check your stats instead of your comments.

We all blog for a reason. If you decide to blog for stats, you’ll quickly lose interest. You want to start discussions with others, not just be another article on a feed.

With this I present the concluding point of this open letter:

Be unapologetic about your blogging.

No more wavering voices or timid vocabulary.

You are not obligated to justify any decisions you make, whether they be content related, format related, or author related. Your social media posts too.

Just make sure that you believe in your opinion and can defend it. Believe me when I say that there’s weight in your own words.

One lesson that I’ve learned from the past few years is that I can’t expect much immediate gratification. There would be days when no one would read my blog, and I felt like there was no one to blame but myself.

There are forces beyond our knowledge that are out of our control. As long as we have the right mindset about this whole community, we can’t be too bothered by this.

In the long run, you will be thankful to have created a collection of work that you are proud of. With every article, you can detect own progress, whether it be in writing or personal growth.

Blogging is all about growth.

It is rooted in the idea of looking back at past versions of yourself and reconciling the similarities and differences. You can see the improvements made and those that need to happen in the future.

Sincerely, Catherine

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