Blogging Tips #3 - The Consistent Consistency of Being Consistent

Hello, fellow scribblers, typers, and digital ink-spillers. 

Today I wish to talk about consistency. Not the sort you find in porridge (lumpy), nor the sort in your custard (hopefully less lumpy), but the subtle, often unseen, highly potent art of doing the same damn thing over and over again—otherwise known as blogging regularly.

When I was a lad I thought the only thing that needed consistency was jam. But oh, how the world’s changed. Now, everyone and their uncle has a blog, and their dog probably has a blog too. And perhaps, if you’re clever, your dog writes yours (in which case, ignore all I say and ask the dog).

You see, writing is much like brushing your teeth: do it every day, hopefully not with the same brush you clean the dog with, and you’ll have something to smile about. Blogging, in particular, is about showing up. Not in your best suit, necessarily, but at least with your metaphorical trousers on.

Why is consistency important, you might not ask but I’ll answer anyway? 

Well! Firstly, it lets your readers know you haven’t run away to join the circus (ditto, if you have, blog it—everyone loves a clown with Wi-Fi). 

Secondly, it gives you an excuse to write utter nonsense with impunity because, as every reader knows, Thursday is “Utter Nonsense Day”. 

Third—and this is important—it frightens away the goblins that lurk in the Drafts folder. They hate routine.

“But Andy,” you say (at least, I do, in the mirror, wearing my writing hat (a tea cosy)), “what if I am not funny, not interesting, and not good at following through?” To that I reply: perfect, you’re halfway to being a proper blogger already.

In conclusion, be consistent. Write often. Write well, or ill, or indifferently—just write. Your audience (and your muse) will soon catch on that you’re not going away, and that steadfast refusal to fade quietly into digital twilight is, in itself, a sort of genius.

So keep typing, readers. After all, the only thing stranger than going on and on forever is not doing it at all.

Now, I must go. I’m melting in the Midlands sludge that is only loosely described as air.