Late to the blogging party: Why I’m going public with my writing

 

On July 18, 2024, just before I left work, I hit the "publish" button on my first Medium article. The article, or some form of it, had been sitting in my Google Docs folder for over two years. By the time I wrote it, a lot had changed, and I had to rework it.

 I'm late to the blogging party, I know that! Which might be surprising, considering that my background is in communications.  My background has a lot to do with that.  

As a copy editor at a national newspaper, I edited stories to improve their readability; proofreading copy to fix grammatical, spelling, and punctuation errors. I verified statistics, making sure facts were accurate, and that stories didn't include libelous content. I was responsible for creating layouts and coming up with headlines and suitable pictures to accompany stories. As a communications officer in the not-for-profit sector, part of my role was doing exactly what I did at the newspaper: editing stories submitted by field officers.

 One specific aspect of this part of my work was particularly challenging.  At times the stories I received lacked critical background, statistics, and context. I would have to crosscheck with a colleague, in-person or by phone to try and fill in these missing details, with varying results. At times the engagements were successful, yielding the required information, other times, not so much.

  On these occasions, I would have to try and find the find the information myself. At times I rewrote stories, digging through mountains of research and scientific studies; making phone calls to and emailing experts, to ensure figures and quotes were accurate. Of course, this was my job, I was paid to do so. But I put my heart and soul into the process.

 And, it often made me question if I had to rework an article that much, at the end of the day, was it still the original writer's voice or mine that was published? 

 

  When Covid happened, I kept a journal. During the lockdowns I wrote about anything and everything, to help me to cope with the endless losses and utter confusion that was the pandemic. I never published anything from there, it was really just about putting my thoughts down on paper. Or rather in Google Docs.

  Early this year as I read through my Covid journal again I realized that I had become so used to trying to perfect other people's work it took away the joy of just writing for myself. Anything I wrote I would subject to endless scrutiny as if I were back at the copy editor's desk.

 My Covid notes were disorganized, haphazard, and all over the place. But they made sense. They gave me a sort of reference point for what was a very confusing period in our history; something I could always go back to. To perhaps help me understand how I felt and how I reacted during those strange years when the world was turned on its head.

  And no, there is nothing wrong with wanting to get things right and to be accurate when you write. But there is everything wrong with trying to be perfect.

  Interestingly, coming to this realization has a lot to do with me becoming a parent. Parenting has somehow freed me from the need to be perfect, because it is, of course, an unrealistic and unattainable ideal. It's okay to be good. Or not. What matters is that you show up.

 So now I'm showing up online.  I feel ready to share my thoughts, free from the need to be perfect.   I am both the writer and the editor of my stories and that feels great.

 Instead of always lending my voice to others, I get to share mine.

By Martha Songa