On writing on the internet

Read on my website​

Hey Reader, Suraj here –

A couple of days ago, I was going through a friend’s blog. Until then, I had no idea he had a website and that he, too, wrote into the void of the internet.

What got me even more interested was the authenticity with which he writes, his writing style.

There’s this flow to his words, sentences, and to each paragraph. That’s something that I’ve aimed for myself.

For me, however, reaching that flow has only gotten harder over time, which is very different from where I began.

It begged the question:

I started this blog about 4 years ago, and have been writing this newsletter for a little over 2 years now. My motivation to write was pure passion.

I had thoughts and ideas that I wanted to write about, and sometimes I wanted to share random things that were playing on my mind. I did that for a while… until I didn’t.

Why did I stop?

I think I know exactly why.

When I publicly committed to writing this newsletter regularly, in a way, I set myself up for failure. Not because the idea of writing regularly was bad, but because I didn’t prepare well enough for the things it would bring.

With the newsletter, I wanted to share something practical with my readers. As the reader base grew to over a thousand people, I felt more and more accountable to deliver something useful, something tactical and practical.

This expectation, which I set for myself, is the reason why I struggle to write sometimes.

I forgot that most of the people who have joined my email list didn’t do it only for the tips.

So many people are here because they want to hear my ideas, however random they may be. They are here to be a part of this community, to be a part of my journey, and see how I learn and grow.

There are so many wiser and more qualified people to learn from. Some people have chosen to be here, in this email list, because they want to hear my unique voice, my journey of figuring things out.

This is what I’ve forgotten.

I don’t always have to share things with a direct and practical takeaway. I can allow myself to, sometimes, wander a little bit, to go off topic, to share bits and pieces of ideas, even if they don’t lead anywhere interesting.

That’s the whole reason I started my blog—to be myself. That’s the reason I binged through all of the articles on this friend’s blog, because he was himself.

I’ve also noticed that I sometimes have ideas that I am not too sure about sharing in the newsletter.

I have a solution for it, I think: I’m going to create different categories for my writings.

I could have:

• fto (for figuring things out, i.e., this newsletter)
• blog (for random things, including a deep dive into things such as credit card and personal finance guides, international student guides, CS50 stuff, and so on)
• poetry (for my old poems, and maybe some new ones)

This alone would give me the flexibility to include pretty much everything I want to write about.

I’m unsure of how this will pan out, but I’m hopeful that all will be well. God bless.

I will see you next week.

Warmly,
Suraj

If you'd like to hear more from me, here's my YouTube channel where I share lessons, experiments, tools, and resources to make life just a little better.