About Confident Writing

Welcome to Confident Writing, a blog site that’s full of articles and resources on – yes, you guessed it, writing with confidence.

Writing on the Web

The site’s been running for 5 years now, and there’s always been a strong emphasis at the site on blogging and other forms of writing on the web because blog writing is:

• a great way to learn the craft and develop your writing voice
• a medium that’s open to anyone.

You don’t have to be a ‘Writer’ to blog (and this site has always primarily been a resource for those who write as part of other stuff that they do, rather than those who Write).

It’s also just, well, interesting!

Interesting to me as a practitioner.

Interesting because it challenges us to write with clarity and confidence if you’re to stand a chance of being heard (and it’s only going to get noisier.)

Interesting because we’re in the middle of a huge collective learning curve about how to write and communicate on the web and we need to know, learn and understand more about how it works – and how we can do it with other values intact.

Which brings me to the next bit.

Kindness and Compassion

Kindness is my most deep rooted value.

I’d like to learn more about how we can embed kindness into writing and communication on the web, including both technical and linguistic shifts that we can learn to do.

I’m also interested in the relationship between kindness, compassion and confidence:

Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love ~ LaoTzu

That includes learning how to be kind to ourselves, as writers, as bloggers, as human beings who are seeking to build a business, to express an idea, to find your voice, to reach another human heart.

How could the practice of writing change by being more compassionate to ourselves? (To myself?)

How would the sound of our words change if we started to write from a state of kindness and compassion to ourselves, as well as others?

Yes, I know, that’s quite a lot of interesting things to be getting on with and exploring, and that is more than enough to declare that Confident Writing, for now, is ‘about’.

Themes in the Archive and Library

As I mentioned, Confident Writing has been running for nearly five years, since the spring of 2007. The content has developed and grown over the years, with numerous twists along the way!

But there are some recurring themes that you’ll find woven throughout the articles here:

Finding your voice: writing that is authentic, that expresses your values, and comes from the heart

Taking responsibility for your words: looking for ways to stretch and improve, learning from feedback, and creating work that you can be proud of

Trusting yourself: having confidence in your skill as a writer, in your right to express yourself, and in the power of your own words

Writing with positive intention: writing to make a difference, whether that’s to tell a story, communicate a big idea, or express something important to you

Writing to be read: writing that is clear, simple, and easy to read, and looking for ways to connect and engage with your reader

The material has been organised and categorised to make it easier for you to find your way around, including material that’s been shaped into a library for bloggers, and pages with relevant articles on topics like writing practice, and overcoming doubts and perfectionism.

Please do feel free to delve into the archives.

Introducing the Editor

The site is run by me, Joanna Paterson. You can read a bit more about me here.

Other Things You Might Be Looking For

A newsletter: I’m afraid I don’t have one, they’ve never agreed with me. You can though get posts delivered by email, sign up here.

Free give away: There aren’t any magic freebies to download, other than all the resources here which are freely shared

What’s Being Sold: I’m not selling or promoting anything just now, other than, I guess, the idea that we can learn to embed kindness in the way we write, read, and share on the web

You might not have been looking for this, but you might want to read it anyway! Did you know it’s a good idea to have a comment policy on your blog? Here’s the policy for Confident Writing