Unoriginal

It can feel daunting to come up with ideas for things to write about because someone else has already written about it before and it’s probably too obvious anyway, right?

Wrong.

It’s OK to write about stuff that other people have already written about.

There is always going to be somebody who’s interested in what you’ve got to say.

There is always going to be somebody who doesn’t know as much as you.

That person is your audience.

If you’re not sure exactly who that audience is then try to consider a single person in a particular situation that would value what you know.

Then just write for that one person.

Take me, for example.

I’ve worked in the web industry for a while; I know some stuff. But if you were to ask me to give you a quick run-down on the difference between – say – Grunt and Gulp, I’d have no idea what to say. Something about front-end development and build/automation?

You might think it’s obvious, but a post comparing the differences between them (and other similar technologies) could potentially be interesting for me if I were looking to do any front end development (I’m actually not, so please don’t send me lots of links!)

Another example: responsive web design.

Of course I’ve heard of it and I know that if I resize my browser, stuff moves about depending upon the available view port; all very clever. However, I’ve not touched CSS in a few years now and wouldn’t know where to start if I had to actually build something using the techniques that any contemporary CSS developer knows instinctively. Something about break points?

What I’m trying to say is that all the way from rusty old web developers like me right through to people just starting out there are going to be people out there that will value the knowledge in your head.

Don’t get hung up thinking that things are too obvious or have been done to death.

It’s not like your front-end developer mates are going to be reading your intro to RWD anyway, is it?

Words: 351

Time taken: 1.5 hours. I re-wrote this about 5 times and I’m still not happy with it. It doesn’t flow well and I feel like it’s confused about the point I’m making.

This post is one of 30 I wrote daily during April 2016 as part of the 30 Day Writing Challenge.