Before reading Billy Collins commencment address I associated writing with stories and telling someone something that they’re interested in, giving people something that makes them want to keep reading. Successful writing to me would be being proud of what you wrote and not wanting to change anything about the peice because it was perfect. If I were to write something myself I could see myself writing something that would sound more like a conversation between me and my reader. I would not like to be super professional writer, it would just be more fun for me this way. After reading the commencment address, I learned that this speech had so many more readers and listeners than expected when it was written. The intended audience was high school students but the real audience was the teachers, families, and everyone else who read this speech after it was given. In my opinion, this speech is very successful, but not in the way I described earlier. The speech is successful because it reached so many more people than the theoretical audience it was intended for. I was asked to create a list of terms that I thought defined writing. My terms were appeal, detail, characters, hook, and imagery. After reading and talking about this text I would add audience, genre, and interperation.

Be yourself; Everyone else is already taken.

— Oscar Wilde.

This is the first post on my new blog. I’m just getting this new blog going, so stay tuned for more. Subscribe below to get notified when I post new updates.

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

• Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
• Because it will help you focus you own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

• Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
• What topics do you think you’ll write about?
• Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
• If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.