The One Agency: Blog It Out by Abiola Bello

Saturday 2 March 2013

Blog It Out by Abiola Bello

When I first started writing, I was extremely private about it. I didn’t want to share it with anyone, it was like all my stories were part of a diary. This was a strange feeling for me because I’m a very confident person and I’ve been dancing and performing for years. Why could I dance in front of hundreds of people, yet couldn’t read a four page short story? I didn’t realise at the time that because my stories were so personal to me, I was scared that someone would read it and think it was crap.

I did a Creative Writing degree at University and one of my classes was called ‘Life Writing.’ My teacher Peter, would make us write about our lives and he would randomly pick you out to read your story. I dreaded this. One day, I got picked and I read it feeling so self-conscious, so I was very surprised when I was told that my writing is very humorous and real and I have strong dialogue. Even after this is amazing feedback, I still felt awkward sharing my stories with a group of people.

Before Emily Knight I AM was due out, I decided to start a blog - www.lifeofastreetdancer.blogspot.co.uk

I didn’t do it to get loads of traffic and comments, only to get used to writing something and knowing that people were going to read and judge it. I write about everything in my blog. I’m not afraid to rant, have a laugh or share something embarrassing. It’s important to feel free when you blog. And it worked! It helped my confidence, people would tell me how fun my blog was and I have people reading it all over the world. Pretty good for a girl that just wanted to build some confidence.

So if you have a dream to publish your big story but in all honesty, your pretty scared. Blog it out. You’ll be surprised how good you will feel afterwards.