I started to like writing again when I stopped caring

This little blog of mine has been around now for almost 4 years. In that time I have learned a lot about writing, blogging, myself and my son.

I’ve gone through ups and downs with this blog. Mostly because, for a long time I was trying really hard to do it right. You see I have read countless articles on how to write the perfect blog post; the one that ranks high in Google, is chalk full of key words, is the perfect length and will get noticed by new audiences.

I worked on my blog posts in the following way. If I wrote a post and it took me 60 minutes to write it, then I would spend another 60 to 90 minutes working the post’s headline and making sure the first 2 paragraphs has all the write keywords. I would spend time making sure I had the post tagged correctly and that I had a solid promotional strategy figured out around what time I published the posts and when I would push it out on social media.

All of this was done to gain page views but honestly, when looking at these views in Google Analytics the readers didn’t stick around. The strong visual or clever headline reeled them in but they weren’t actually interested in what I had to say.

It became exhausting to plan all of this out for something that isn’t related to my actual job or any other part of my life. Even more so I would get frustrated when a post I worked really hard on got only a small handful of views and comments.

In 4 years the post that has done the best on this blog is a silly 110-word post about how my son looks like a gremlin. Years later it still gets daily traffic because it ranks high on a few Google search terms. It is one of the most pointless posts I have ever written.

All of this made me dislike writing. Which made me sad.

Lucky for me I realized that I don’t actually have to care about all of this shit. I want to write for fun. I want to write this because I like to, because my family and friends like it, and because others with small kids might to laugh at how ridiculous it all can be.

I don’t have to spend my time caring about increasing the audience of the Bangor Daily News. I don’t have to care about reaching new groups with cleaver headlines. I don’t have to worry about what Google thinks of this little blog of mine; and in not giving a shit about any of this, I have once again fond the joy in writing.

To those of you who read my stuff regularly, thank you and I’m glad you like it. You are always who I will be talking to moving forward. Let’s have some fun.

Pat Lemieux

About Pat Lemieux

Pat has it all, family, big old house, dogs, a young son and a quarter-life crisis. He blogs about trying to be who he has always been and be who he now needs to be. He enjoys 90's grunge metal, tasty local brews and the outdoors.