The First Post Experience
Tags: writing, firstpost, motivation, meta
Published: 2020-05-21 23:01:58


As developers, it's common to reach a time where we want to start writing. It doesn't matter if we are experienced or we just started our career, we always have something to say, something to share, something to teach.

Well, today was that moment for me. After some time thinking about it and doing some research, I decided to sit down and write my very first post. And what better way to do it, than by sharing what I learned from all this?

That's right, my very first post is about how I wrote my very first post (or how I call it: the post inception). And hopefully it's going to inspire other people, feeling insecure about it, to finally start writing.

## What should I write about?

Choosing a topic for your post can be overwhelming, but it shouldn't be. You can start with something general, that will help you to feel comfortable and prepare you to increase the level of your next posts.

You can ask yourself some questions to help you identifying the topic of your post:

* What do I feel comfortable enough to write about?
* Is there a new project, tool or technology that could be useful for other people and that I could teach them?
* Any recent news or articles that I would like to discuss about?

Answering those questions helped me a lot to decide my topic. After all the research and thinking, I realized that the whole process of writing your first post can be intimidating, so I decided to write about exactly that to help other people get over it.

At the end, no matter what topic you choose, the most important thing to remember is that it's your first post, it probably won't and doesn't have to be perfect.

## Organize your ideas before writing

Before even typing the first word, it's important to estructure your ideas. Once you start preparing your post, you will notice that the amount of information available out there is overwhelming, and you can lose your flow really fast.

Start by defining the title of your post. This could be one of the most difficult things, but it will help you to have a more clear idea of what you want to write. Even though, the title you decided at the beginning may not end up being the final title, it will help you narrow your topic enough to focus on something specific.

Define the main ideas that you want to cover on the post and play around with them to identify the best order. You will know you are ready when you outline your post and can use it as a template that just need the gaps to be filled.

## Write your post

At this point you already know what you're gonna talk about, how are you gonna structure the content and it is time to start filling the blanks. There's not much to say here, but here are some advices that I found really useful:

1. **Write short paragraphs:** big pieces of text can be hard to write and read, so make it easy for you and the readers.
2. **Find the right format:** a post can be structured in different ways depending on what you are writing. It could be a step-by-step guide, a few sections, etc.
3. **Add images, video or graphics:** if possible, include some images or interactive content. That creates engagement and helps you break the content.
4. **Proofread and adjust:** always proofread and edit your content as many times as you need, and make sure it has no typos or grammar errors.

## Encourage feedback

Last but not least, make sure to let everybody know that suggestions and comments are more than welcome, at the end you are writing this for them. There is a lot more to learn now that you are getting into writing, and there is people out there with a lot of experience willing to help you.


Thanks for reading! I hope this really helps you.