For most of my life, I’ve learned in isolation. For many years, it was just me and my books, and then just me and my computer. This doesn’t really make me self-taught; the books (and computer, and videos) help a lot. I’m learning from others, even if they have no idea that I am.
But every now and then I have a chance to learn with others, as part of a group, with feedback and a teacher who is actually there.
Right now, I’m taking advantage of that. I signed up for Blogging 101.
Hello. My name is Robin Wood, and I’m a lapsed Blogger.
I’ve been trying to blog for years and years, but I just can’t keep the momentum.
I think part of this is because, as far as I can tell, no one actually reads my posts. They certainly never comment. (I’ve had one comment on one of my posts here, because I asked a friend of mine to please comment, so I could see how the comments work. As far as I know, she’s never read another thing.)
Without any comments, I pretty much feel like I’m not blogging at all; I’m just keeping a journal.
And leaving it on a park bench.
Unlocked.
A good part of the reason I want to blog in the first place is to have some kind of discussion. I would like feedback.
I’m a creator. I write books. I draw pictures. I take photographs. I create 3D content for Second Life®. I design websites. I make quilts. I knit.
It would be really fun, I think, to share all of that.
I have a gazillion ideas, and a severe tendency to run off in twelve different directions at once. (My Secret Super Identity is Tangent Lass. Shhhhh… don’t tell anyone.)
I’d like it, I think, if I could bounce some of my ideas off someone who wasn’t in my family. Find out what sort of things other people find interesting. Discover what sorts of things people would like me to write tutorials about. Get some input about what kind of things people would like to buy from me. Not just one or two people, several of them. Perhaps even tens of people.
The thing is, I have no idea why people don’t read my blog. Perhaps it’s lost in the crowd. Maybe the posts aren’t very good. It could be that I simply don’t write often enough to get a following.
Hopefully, during the next month, as I do the exercises and talk with other bloggers, I’ll figure it out.
What do you think?
Well, now you have one follower, me. Like you I shoot off on tangents every so often. Some days more often than others.
I’m retired (65 years old), a mother of two, grandmother of 5 (and hopefully not a great-grandmother for at least two more years), a wife, a daughter (my father’s still alive and kicking at 85,) a cat-lover (have two), a dog owner (we have two, the poodle is mine), a writer, a scrapbooker, and a card maker. I’ve just recently, in the last month or so, started blogging again. You can check me out at frncnseal585.wordpress.com.
Yay! Thanks.
I’m 60, but I don’t think I’ll ever retire. Then again, since I work from home, and would be doing exactly what I do if I was retired, there wouldn’t be much point to it. 😀
I have two stepsons, 4 grandchildren, and a husband. But we’re pet-less at the moment.
It’ll be nice getting to know you!
I’m a fairly new blogger, too. I think it takes time to gather a “following”. I recently read a fantastic post on how to write “evergreen posts” on your craft blog, on one of my favorite blogs to follow: http://www.whileshenaps.com/2014/04/how-to-create-evergreen-posts-for-your-craft-blog.html
I think that part of getting comments is to build a good reader base, and to be consistent with your content and posts. Then again, writing from your heart is far more important than writing what other people want. If you’d like to know my current strategy (albeit not yet madly successful), it’s to post consistently, work to take fabulous aesthetically pleasing photos, and make myself a frequent presence on my favorite blogs–liking and commenting, etc. Maybe one day Sew Mama Sew or Bijou Lovely (or the people behind those blogs) will think, “Hey, that nightquilter chick always has the best input! I wonder what she’s working on now?” And they’ll visit my humble blog 🙂
Good luck, and keep with it!
Thanks so much! Very good advice, and that’s a great link!
Umm.. I’d like to follow that blog, too, if it is a blog. But I can’t figure out how to do it. Do you know, please?
In the right hand column of her blog, it says “Subscribe by email”… Click it, add your email, and you’ll get an email every time she posts. Dig into her archives, she has some GREAT almost always helpful posts 🙂
Ah! Okay, thanks. I did that right away, but I guess I was looking for some kind of “follow” button, too. 😀
I’m really just starting this whole “blogsphere” thing. It’s not easy, when you’re a dyed in the wool introvert, like I am.
Another way to follow a blog (I think it works on non-wordpress, independently-hosted blogs) is to add their web address in the space provided at the top of your Reader. It’s the first thing that shows up when you login to wordpress.
So I’m a fellow Blogging U. 101 participant and found you from your post in The Commons. You have a new follower here as well. Greetings from Texas.
Yep! I found that a few days ago. Thanks for taking the time to let me know about it. I appreciate that.
You have a new follower, too! Greetings from Michigan. 😀