English Student? Here’s Why You Should Blog

As an English student your family either assume you’ll become a teacher or you’re laughed at when you declare you want to be a writer. You’re told in the same break to both pipe down and reach for the stars.

Luckily for students who do want to write for a living, you can be a writer without having a book deal or working for a newspaper. While at university, setting up a blog is a productive alternative to watching three films in one day. So save yourself some popcorn money and get writing instead.

Practice makes perfect

Blogging regularly allows writers to get into the routine of writing lots, writing well and finding their writing niche. Author Stephen King suggests writing every day is essential to a scribe’s development.

Blogging is a far broader sphere than it was, meaning you can explore different topics and styles without fear of being reprimanded by your lecturers. You can develop your voice and go beyond the sometimes restrictive rules to essay-writing.

Publish your own creative work, address that thing in the news everyone is talking about or review every book you read – it doesn’t matter! A blog can serve every English student’s writing goals. At the very least, blogging two or three times a week will feed the hungry wannabe writer in you while simultaneously making you a more polished penman.

Get exposure

What writers really want ─ and need ─ is for people to read their stuff. By promoting your blog on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, you can get yourself a healthy number of views. By generating your own exposure you can get feedback that could improve your writing while also potentially gaining loyal readers!

By the time young people reach university, they’ve already completed what feels like their fair share of lessons, exams and textbooks. It’s unsurprising that many aspiring writers aren’t actually getting their debut novel started, let alone finished. Widely promoting your work could lead to the right people seeing your posts, adding fuel to the flame of your writing ambitions.

Get yourself a page ahead of your peers

English students aren’t hard to come by and this means you need to stand out from the crowd. You want to be a writer but so do a hundred other students on your course. If you can showcase a blog gaining a bit of interest when you go to interviews, you might just have an edge over your peers.

Instead of sleeping in too late or spending an evening learning how to strawpedo, get ahead of the game and keep writing. Employers aren’t always looking for a candidate who looks good on paper; they’re looking for someone who looks good in practice. With technology being everyone’s best friend, someone who looks good on the computer screen is essential.

Monetise and make some pocket money

Running a blog could even earn you a bit of pocket money. Whether that means implementing banner ads or working with affiliate marketing schemes, it’s entirely feasible to make money from blogging. Brands are keen to work with students and you might even be able to bag yourself a few sponsored posts.

Gain a hobby for life

At the very least, setting up a blog could lead to a hobby for life. For those who are fulfilled by creating a narrative, a blog can be the gift that keeps giving. If an English student wants to write, an English student should write.

Naturally, blogging isn’t for English students alone, but it is an obvious step for those who dream of having any kind of work published. Don’t confine your penmanship to your monthly dose of coursework. Blogging could be just the nudge you need to get your writing career started.

Kathryn─known as Kat even though she prefers Kath─studied English Language at Cardiff University and now wants to finally write that book she’s always been meaning to write. Check out her Twitter, Instagram and blog to delve into her mind further.

Inspiring Interns is a graduate recruitment agency which specialises in sourcing candidates for marketing internship roles and giving out graduate careers advice. To browse graduate jobs and graduate jobs Manchester, visit their website.