One year of blogging

While helping a friend create a secret blog, (that will be revealed to the world as soon as it has defrosted, marinated, cooked and placed on a pretty pink platter, can't wait!) I was inspired to reflect on the lessons I've learned about blogging since I started approximately one year ago this month. I came across a great post by The Queen herself, P-Dub. I'd like to share.

1. Be yourself.

Write in your own voice.

Write as if you’re talking to your sister.

Unless you don’t get along with your sister.

Or don’t have a sister.

2. Blog often.

Whether you write a sixteen-paragraph essay about the cosmic implications of a free market system, a one-paragraph description of what happens to your soul when you walk into your godforsaken laundry room, or a simple photo and caption, consider your blog a precious bloom that requires daily nurturing.

And watering.

If you water a plant once every two weeks, it will shrivel.

Unless that plant is a cactus, and then it would thrive.

And to tell you the truth, I really can’t figure out how a cactus fits into this analogy, so forget I brought it up.

3. Be varied.

Change things up.

Offer a smorgasbord of content.

Unless you’re, say, a fashion blog.

And in that case, you should probably continue to blog about fashion.

But never blog about the same top twice!

4. Exercise more.

Blogging is an insidiously sedentary activity, and if you blog daily you should take steps to markedly increase your daily movement.

Unless that movement involves eating coffee ice cream.

In which case it would be better not to markedly increase your daily movement.

5. Allow your boundaries to set themselves naturally.

Don’t feel like you have to sit down and set rules about what you will and will not blog about from day one. Just blog, and see what feels comfortable for you.

I did that.

I’ve found, over time, that I tend to blog about the same things I’d talk to my sister about.

I’ve also found, over time, that I tend not to blog about things I wouldn’t talk to my sister about.

For example, I don’t blog about hanky panky.

I also don’t talk to my sister about hanky panky. If I did, she’d cover her ears and say, “Okay, gross.”

And you probably would, too.

6. Bring back retro phrases like “hanky panky.”

But only if it feels right to you.

7. Don’t be afraid to embarrass yourself.

On this website, over the course of the past five years, I have burped, performed Britney Spears songs in Ethel Merman’s voice, misspelled words, posted typos, and talked about ways I humiliated myself as both a youngster and an adult.

At times I’ve wondered if maybe the burps were too much.

But they’re a part of me.

At least they were…until they came out of my esophagus.

But you know what I mean.

8. Try your best to spell words correctly and use proper grammar.

You don’t necessarily have to wig out about it.

But do try.

It’s important.

And if one or two of your readers emails you alerting you to a typo, don’t be offended. Thank them profusely and sing praises for the day they were born.

9. If you have writer’s block, push through and blog anyway.

I posted the first chapter of Black Heels on a morning when I woke up with the most raging case of writer’s block, I couldn’t even type my name.

I was sure you’d hate it, but I posted it anyway.

I went on to write forty-plus more chapters.

What if I’d given in to my writer’s block and decided not to blog that day?

I would never have written my Green Acres-meets-War and Peace romance novel.

And my bottom would likely be a little less jiggly.

Please see #4 above.

10. Value every person who takes time out of their day to stop by your blog.

Tell ‘em you love ‘em. Regularly.

11. I love ya.

More’n my luggage.

Mean it.

P-Dub

I definitely don't have much advice about blogging since I consider myself a rookie. However, I do agree with everything PW says, especially about grammar. Even though I am guilty of it myself on occasion, I cannot take someone seriously who misuses You're and Your.

One rule of thumb I try to follow is this; I avoid writing about events as a whole. I try to focus on something that happened in 15 minutes or less. You are able to go into more detail rather than losing your audience as they try to keep up with you taking them back through your entire day. Most of the time though, I don't write about things that happen to me, just ideas, situations, musings and conversations I find interesting or humorous. Those are the types of things I will enjoy looking back on in the future, which is ultimately why I blog; to record my youth.

Blog for your future!