I don’t want to turn The Writer’s Pulse into another one of those blogger’s self-help websites, but since I’m still gearing up this month’s new content (yes, I’m actually planning ahead), I thought I’d write at least one more post off-the-cuff. And it’s about blogging.

I was browsing Google and came upon “Make Your First Post Suck, Everybody Else Does” from mindfeed.org. Here’s the last paragraph:

So do your new blog a big favor and make the first post just suck lemons. That’s what I did, and I’m not looking back. I hope nobody ever sees this post, and I certainly don’t expect them to. I must admit, it feels great to just write your first post like nobody cares, because in reality nobody does! Either way, after all the trepidation and anticipation of actually putting pen to paper, so to speak, it sure feels great to lower the bar and just write crap. No pressure now, only a first post to get the ball rolling..

Overlooking the fact that I just shattered the author’s hopes, he makes a good point. Our best writing comes when we just write and forget about the end result or reward. Especially while blogging.

That’s why our first posts tend to be craptastic — we’re writing to impress and to set the tone of our blog. And while that’s not a bad thing, it also means we’re writing in a mechanical way, to fulfill expectations based upon assumptions.

Bloggers also tend to fall into the trap of mimicking the styles and paths of other bloggers (I’m guilty of this on occasion). We can get so caught up in driving traffic and achieving success that we often forget to be genuine.

If you’re a blogger, who do you find yourself writing for? What are your goals? Why do you blog?