Yes, you should write that first post!
Tags: firstpost, motivation, beginners, writing
Published: 2020-03-11 18:09:52

Dear reader who has not started writing yet, 

I want to encourage you to start writing your first post and see where it leads you.

In fact I have thought about this for a long time, and procrastinated hard on this, until I saw this tweet

{% twitter 1237738185351770117 %}

I have no special insights on how to make babies or avoid divorce.

But redirecting your anxiety into something potentially as meaningful as _starting to write_? 

Hell yes. That seems like a good idea to me!

# Why?

To be honest, I'm not sure that you can answer this question at that point of time. 

You can see where the writing journey went for some people:

{% post https://dev.to/justaashir/dev-is-amazing-for-me-it-changed-my-entire-career-1a74 %}

But at this point, _you have probably no idea what you are doing_.

That's OK. 

When I started, I had no idea what I was doing either.

Just get started and you will see where it leads you.

If it leads you to write three articles and that's it, that's OK. 

But it would be sad if it didn't happen only because you never tried.

# How do I get started?

That's a better question! 

Here is a simple guide:

<img width="943" alt="firstpost-how" src="https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/459464/76444336-18db8180-63c4-11ea-8907-1e7adc67e2c4.png">

Add the `#firstpost` tag so that people who follow it can encourage you.

{% tag firstpost %}

<small>By the way, has anyone the courage to implement this? [issue 5274: automatically add the firstpost tag to make it easy to welcome first post writers](https://github.com/thepracticaldev/dev.to/issues/5274)</small>

# But what do I write?

It doesn't really matter. 

> Your first post probably won't be your best but it will probably be the most important one.
> Because all the posts that could come after this one will never exist if you never get started.

The main danger is to get stuck in fear.

# How to write with fear?

Steven Pressfield has written a beautiful book on the subject that paralyzed pretty much all writers before you: [The War of Art](https://stevenpressfield.com/books/the-war-of-art/). 

Resistance, as Steven Pressfield puts it, exists to prevent you to do what is right and meaningful to you.

But don't buy this book today. Don't even follow my link. 

You have a first post to write. 

Today.

For your purpose, it's enough if you know that **fear builds up any time you give it time and complexity**.

So, just write something simple right now.

# But seriously, what do I write?

If you have ten articles on your mind and are in analysis paralysis, _pick the simplest one and get it done_.

If you have written another article elsewhere, do like what I did, _just cross-post it here_.

If not, you _write a short description of yourself_ plus some topics you may write about. _Later_.  

# But how do I add pictures?

You don't. 

Finding the *right* picture would be the perfect excuse to procrastinate. 

You have no time for that today.

Write some text and hit publish.

# But I don't know Markdown

Stick to plain text for now. 

You will have plenty of time to learn Markdown after you have published your first post. 

# What do I do after I hit "Publish"?

Post its URL in a comment here. 

Who knows? That may inspire another reader to write her first post!

Bonus point if you can use that syntax

```
Hey I did it! Here is my article:

{% post https://dev.to/yourusername/your-url-here }
```

Then close your computer and go outside.

# Recap

<img width="943" alt="firstpost-how" src="https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/459464/76444336-18db8180-63c4-11ea-8907-1e7adc67e2c4.png">