Write it anyway

I was reading James’ blog and on one of his recent posts, How a blog post came to be: Behind the scenes, he wrote about the uncertainty of posting when others have already written about the same topic:

I have wanted to write about this topic for a few months, but one thing stopped me: my wonder about whether the topic had already been covered enough, for other bloggers have written calls to action to start a blog. With that said, the more such content is available -- and the more we explore ways to articulate the importance of personal websites! -- the more we can get the word out. My core takeaway: don't let the fact someone else has written about a topic stop you from writing about it, too. Your perspectives matter.

When I started blogging a decade ago, this was one of my main reasons to not write about something. Whatever (technical) topic that came to my mind as a possible blog post, I would think: “Others have already written about this and much better than I would” and not write at all.

I did get over that thinking a few years ago but only recently I’ve really found a satisfying reason for myself to do it. And it’s in the similar vein as James’ takeaway.

Even if someone has written about the same topic before, having more blog posts about that topic written

• Increases the odds that someone finds a blog post about the topic
• Introduces more perspectives, voices and ways of explaining topics

Not every post in the Internet need to be completely unique about a topic nobody else has ever written about. So share your insights and experiences and views on the topic, link to others that expand or contradict your views and make it easier for people to find out about new things as they run into your blog post.

Additional reading

• If you can't find it, it needs to be written by Artemis Everfree