Introduction
Recently I've completed the #2Articles1Week Challenge for four straight weeks here on Hashnode. And there are a few things I learned from the challenge which I want to share with you. However, I am not an expert blogger. But I felt that people like me, who overthink a lot before doing anything, might get inspiration from this post.
My First Encounter with Hashnode
The first time I heard the name Hashnode was in the Lockdownconf organized by freecodecamp. So, I visited the Hashnode portal just out of curiosity. I created an account. Till then, I didn't think of posting a single article on my blog. The first thing that caught my eyes was the design of hashnode. The simple design of the blogs looks cool to me. Also, it's free! And, you can set up your blog with your domain! How awesome is that! Also, they have a discord server where you can get instant help if you face any problems. Even many paid services do not provide such a service to their users! 😉
The Challenge
I started writing on my blog when I heard about the #2Articles1Week challenge. Before that, I was reading posts published by others. I thought, at least, let's try to write something. And I started writing for my blog.
GIF from Giphy
The Problems! The Opportunities!
The Language: The first problem when I started writing was the language barrier. My native language is Bengali. I've studied all my life in Bengali until college. So my grip on English is not very good. The writing was an excellent opportunity for me to experiment with the language. After writing in English for more than a month now, I can confidently say that my English has significantly improved.
Markdown! What the Heck! Before Hashnode, I never used a Markdown editor. The places where I wrote articles before usually use some WYSIWYG editor. But after exploring the power of Markdown, now I feel like why all the programming blogs don't use it! It is so easy and convenient, especially when writing code! I also prefer writing my articles offline first. So, I downloaded this fantastic markdown editor called Typora.
What should I Write? A big question for a beginner like me. Thinking and writing about two articles in a week for a month is a tough job, to be honest. Though, there are some incredible people like Daily Dev Tips who have decided to take this challenge to another level and have decided to go for a #7Articles1Week! 😎
This challenge opened a new angle to my thinking skills. It has become much easier for me to think about a topic to write. And also, hashnode has a request for article(rfa) section. We can always choose a topic from there as well.Researching the Topic: When you are writing something to explain things to someone else, you've to have a good understanding of the topic. I study the subjects I write from various sources to clear my concepts more. And try to make it easily understandable for the readers. And through this, I also got the opportunity to know about the topics in-depth! If you don't like researching, I'd suggest you to start writing about it. Make your personal notes. You'll find that researching something new you learned has become second nature for you.
Who Will Read My Articles? It is something that I was never worried. My sole intention in writing is to improve myself. My thought about this is,
Either We Win, Or We Learn.
And learning is always my topmost priority. 😁 But obviously, you need someone to see your work. After all, you are devoting a fair amount of time to this. Here comes the most beautiful part of the Hashnode community. It has its own userbase. So, you'll definitely get a fair amount of traffic from there. Also, It's like a family. Many helpful people are around here, who are willing to read and suggest about your article. Not everyone knows about everything. Maybe your explanation helped someone to understand something better. Even if a single person benefits from your writing, it's an outstanding achievement, I believe.
Pushing the Limits. There were multiple times when I didn't felt like writing a single line at all. But the challenge and the dedication to this challenge made me push my limits. Even in such situations, I managed to write an article. Pushing myself helped me increase my willpower. Sometimes, it is vital to challenge your potentials. It teaches you more about yourself.
THE BADGE! And finally, the biggest achievement of doing this challenge is the badge 😍! After completing this challenge, you'll be awarded the GOLD BADGE. And this honor will be showcased in your blog!
Final Words
In every way, this is a win-win for all. And if you are not motivated yet to start, here's a great article on freecodecamp about why every programmer should have a blog.
I shared with you what I learned from the challenge. And I hope you'll also find it motivating to take the challenge. And, if you are the one who has successfully completed it, share your learnings from the challenge! 😀