I’ve blogged for four years now and I started when I was eight. I didn’t know how to code; I didn’t know about design or programming. All I knew was that I wanted to write, and I wanted my voice to be heard.
That was a while ago. I’m now twelve, the creator and writer for three blogs, each on diverse and different topics. One of them, my literature blog, was the original one I had. It now has over three hundred articles (325 at time of writing) in its archives, all written by me.
Yet still, nobody knows about me. My literature blog, with its many articles, barely registers views at all.
The world is cruel yet reasonable: it makes you learn every single life lesson painstakingly and with great price. I thought I would become the next Seth Godin of blogging. To keep it short? I didn’t.
But in these writings, I’ve found out so much about how people perceive those who blog, and so much about how not to write a blog. I’ve tripped over so many cracks and stumbled over my own feet so many times.
For a while I changed the blog name to something spicy, wrote up a few graphic design tutorials, and posted them to Digg, just for people to actually come to my blog and read it. And you know what? It helped.
Marginally. I also bored myself to death writing about topics I knew people would come and read but that I hated writing, things like “53 Ways to Put a Picture in a Post” or “20 Textures You Will Love”. While it was amazing the great stuff I found, when I put it together, it felt like trash.
So now I’m changing. The next website redesign to come will come to this blog first, so my viewers who love me because I’m 12 and I’m awesome will see the new site look first. And this blog will change.
I’m not going to be yet another design blog and write boring stuff. I’m not Seth Godin. I’m Brandon Wang. Look out, world!
Dude. Let me just tell you, YOU’RE AMAZING.
3 years of commitment towards a blog that no one reads. 3 years of dedication towards an unnoticed site. That’s is amazing my friend.
AND THE BEST PART IS, you’re only 12. Imagine 4 years from now, what you will be doing. I mean, I’m 15 and just barely starting to program. You amaze me with your prodigal talents, your amazing sense of literacy and grammar, and most of all YOUR DEDICATION to what you do.
I found this sit through lifehacker… and kid, I just wanted to tell you… you’re a role model. I’m looking down on a kid that’s 3-4 years younger than me, and I can confidently say, “Dang, I wish I was as hard-working as this Brandon Wang. Maybe instead of Pokemon, I could have gotten a headstart on programming or something.” You’re definitely gonna do great things in the future, don’t give up!
Hey there Brandon,
Old person talkin’ to ya here (36 probably seems ANCIENT to you, considering all that you have accomplished in 12 short years!).
Found your blog through lifehackers. You can thank them- seems they have sent some traffic this way- I hope they sent LOTS of traffic your way, because you are quite a neat young guy. Haven’t read through a lot of your site yet, but am working my way through, and just thought I’d drop a note of encouragement. As the not-quite-so-ancient guy commented, you are quite a prodigal, and you are sure to go far in this life. Keep up the great work!
NJHeart2Heart Dawn
Kevin
Wednesday, 30 September, 2009 at 20:13I feel your pain, man. I really do.