When I was a child, I remember going to school, learning my “A, B, C’s”, reading, writing and arithmetic. I remember dinner with Mom, Dad, and my sisters. I remember Saturday mornings hanging out by myself. I remember coming home from school and playing, watching TV, hanging out and doing homework. How much I dreaded homework.

The other day, I had a revelation. I realized that what I learned back then, I’m applying each and every time I write an article posted on this blog. I realized I am writing a 300-600 word essay, each time I write a post.

This revelation brought me back to my childhood when I dreaded writing similar essays in school. I remember the basic structure and objective of the essay writing process. Back in those days, I had zero intention of doing this on a regular basis. Even after the internet came along followed by social media, I never intended on doing this, let alone every day.

Yet, here I am, writing a new essay each day, day after day. Huh? How did I ever get here. Well, if you will indulge me, let me tell you.

A couple of years ago, out of a desire to get this story idea I had in my head out of my head, I wrote a book. That book, ‘The Taste of Honey’, eventually got published. That started the ball rolling and now I have six published books, another in editing and another in development. I also have at least a dozen storylines written out waiting for free slices of time in my day to pump them out. I’ve hired a publicist to help me expand my exposure.

Whoa? A publicist? Yup, that’s right. I’ve hired a publicist and slowly, I’m going from being in the red to being in the black. Ink that is. To expand my brand. Oops, my brand? My ‘name’ is my brand? Apparently so but I digress. I’m told that if I am to expand my brand, I need to talk about it, my books and things that are of interest to me but more importantly, of interest to my followers. And yes, I now have followers. A lot in fact but she tells me that I need more. To get more, I need to blog, daily.

At first, when she told me that, I thought it would be easy. What’s 300 to 600 words? That’s nothing, compared to my novels which number in the tens or hundreds of thousands of words.

Now, after doing this for several months, it’s not so simple. To come up with a fresh thought or idea that would be of interest to others each and every day. That’s hard. This is work. Hard work and I have to think outside the box. I have to come up with original ideas and work them down to just a few hundred words.

I’m not composing an article of random thoughts, flushing incoherent crap from my brain. I’m composing an essay, focusing on a single subject with an objective supported by facts, informed opinion or data. Essays that I learned how to write in school decades ago are now articles posted on my blog. In some ways, I feel like I’m a reporter for a newspaper. Techniques that I learned a long time ago and went unused, unexercised and unpracticed for more than forty years are now being forced into use. Ouch.

I can tell I’m getting better at writing these articles. I’ve made mistakes and I’ll make more. They say ‘practice makes perfect’. Well, I’ll never be perfect but that doesn’t mean I won’t try. I’m more determined than ever to work hard and perfect my skills. My novels are what drive me and I want them to be successful.

As I finish this essay, I would like to close with this thought. Here I am, writing another one and I am very curious.

How am I doing? Am I meeting your needs or couldn’t you care less?  I would love feedback and constructive criticism. I look forward to reading your comments. Thank you in advance for your precious time in reading this article.

This is Richard Verry, writing to you live from Rochester, NY. I trust you will have an awesome day.