I’ve long bought into the idea that the best way to get better at something is to do the thing.
Want to get better at cycling? Get up on the bike. Golf? Go hit some balls. Cooking? Get in the kitchen. Get your head out of the books, the tutorials, the how-to videos, the seminars, and just go and do it.
Writing is exactly the same. Learning by doing is the best way to learn.
Years back, I want to learn the ins and outs of American Football, and did so by spending two years writing about it. Those articles are long gone, even the internet has a way of forgetting, but I’m still a Baltimore Ravens fan, clinging on to hope that they’ll make the playoffs after a muck start to the season.
Podcasts, radio shows, jiu-jitsu, the lot.
Writing to get better at writing
For me, I want to get better at writing. Not necessarily on a particular subject, but building consistency, getting back to blogging routes and getting the creative juices flowing again. KilkennyMusic.com has had more WordPress updates than posts since October 2023. Ken On Food started 2025 strong, then fell flat on the blog front when life got in the way but in my defence, out of 104 weeks between 2024 and 2025, I hit 98 editions of The Week In Food via Substack, having spent the previous year delivering the same in audio format.
So this year, I’m writing to write more about much more – short form, long form, list form, gallery form, the lot.
While I work away on two other blog projects (one new, one afore-mentioned), I’ve put together Off Topic as a personal blog, and somewhere I can test and develop my writing style, blogging style and put those developments to good use elsewhere. After all, what good is it in developing a skill if you can’t put it to use somewhere.
And so, I write.
For January, I’ve set myself a 31 post challenge. Can I generate that much content across 31 days? No socials, no pushing, no Facebook or X links, no Instagram stories, just writing.
Write it, set it, forget it.
A challenge like this, early in the year, steps through everything from writing about writing in general to lego, trips, pointers, thoughts, music, documentaries worth watching, podcast recommendations and more.
It’s where I go from here that matters, but I’ll start writing as I mean to go on all the same.
