Obstacles, Writers Block, and Showing UP

I went to Charlie Gilkey’s blog yesterday where he wrote about showing up and blogging even when you don’t think you have anything important to say.  It was so helpful to find out that someone whose work I have so much respect for struggles with this also.  And his courage to put it out there!  So today’s Love That! is for the always delightful Charlie Gilkey.

Synchronicity is definitely at work here because right now the biggest obstacle for my business is that I’m not building a following for my blog because I don’t show up on the page enough.

My blog is just out there flappping in the wind and it’s really getting me down.

Writing is like anything: the more you do it the easier it gets but I’ve been mostly getting intimate with writer’s block and starting to really resent the whole situation.

But for now, here’s the problem:

I want to attract and keep readers coming to my blog.
The catch:  I feel that no one is reading this blog (OK, well no one is commenting so it looks like no one is reading it- but a few people are reading)  After all I do compulsively check my site stats!.

The obstacle: In my head I feel as though I’m just writing for myself.  Talking to an empty room.  Not feeling supported or validated.  Totally ignored.  Just like childhood!

The result is that because I feel that I’m just talking to myself,  I’m not very motivated to write and the less new content I have, the less likely that the readers that I do have will stay engaged with me.

Also the infrequent blogging is not helping me develop the voice for this blog at all which so far has been all over the place.

So what is my motivation to write if I feel no one is reading and I know for sure that no one is participating in the conversation?  Well what was my motivation to work my butt off in dance classes so that I would become a better dancer all those years?  Was I really doing it for anyone but myself?  It was about transcending my own limitations, improvement, and the pursuit of excellence–all for myself.  So maybe that’s how I have to think about blogging.  Wow, a paradigm shift right here in cyberspace.

I just love when I remember to use coaching techniques on myself.

We write because we have something to say, not because we want to say something.

And…

90% of life is showing up – Woody Allen

So here I am “approaching the horse”.

We’ll see what tomorrow brings.

So I’ll keep writing because I have something to say regardless of who is or isn’t reading or commenting.  I’m going to keep focusing on what I have to say, crafting content that is helpful, and being transparent.

But in the meantime, the little kid in me just keeps singing this song…