A Writing 101 Production - Part 6 Blogging Lessons

See?  Said I'd Beeeee Back Sooooon!  Still alive, if now with more rare and exotic metals pinning my vertebrae together than Bionic Woman.  I'd share the gruesome x-ray photos they gave me in the hospital (so that I can show the nice airport security people I'm not a terrorist hiding an Uzi along my spine when the thingy pings as it inevitably will).  But then you might sue me for making you throw up your breakfast (or lunch or dinner or whatever the hell the timezone it is that you're in when you're reading this).  Well, I don't know, do I?  The ex-morphine effect is probably making me more mad and ditzy than before, as I warned you it might.  Posssibly hard to believe--but sadly true.

Anyway--what pearl of wisdom was I going to give you today?  Ah, yes.  Blogging.  It's just over a year since I started this one.  What are the THREE MOST IMPORTANT BLOGGING LESSONS I have learned? 

1. FIND YOUR VOICE: I was a blogdabbler at the start, writing about all sorts of stuff--whatever took my fancy that day (and it was nearly every day at that stage).  Some sample titles of the early days are: Muse Wrestling (A Bit Like Mud Wrestling), Writing Trials and Tribulations (Part1) and (Part 2), which were at least about writing, as well as Seeds of Promise and The Poetry of Trains, which were, frankly, just a bit random.  Nice--but random.  Now, a year later, I know exactly what I want to say, how I want to say it, and who I want to reach, hence the advent of Writing 101 Productions late last year, which I hope will build into a nicely eccentric-but-useful Library of Writing Tips and Hints and Other TechnoWritery Stuff for those wot are interested in such things (a surprising large group of diverse people, as it happens).
2. BROADCAST YOURSELF SHAMELESSLY: Yep.  Time to find your inner blogslut.  It takes work and time and energy to spread yourself widely around the webiverse, but YOU MUST DO IT! What?  Did you expect people to flock to you, yea verily! and marvel at what thou has written and comment thereof as liberally as the waters cover the sea?  Nah-ha. I have news.  Ain't gonna happen, baby. See all those crazy buttons on the right of the page from BlogCatalog and Fuelmyblog and Blogged and Technorati  etc?  They represent hours of time getting my blog verified and filling in forms and all that boring stuff.  But it casts the net into the webwaters and scoops up people who won't otherwise know or give a damn, my dear, who you are or whether you exist blogwise.  Entice and blackmail your friends to promote you.   Put your posts on Facebook and Twitter.  Sign other blogs' comment pages with your own blog address (yes, I know I've said that before), if they're good and interesting, follow them (and they'll probably follow you)--if you really really like them, put a link on your blog (see Blogs Wot I Like to right of post).  Put quite simply, ENGAGE WITH THE OUTSIDE WORLD. Stranger danger?  Take the normal security precautions.You can always block or moderate inappropriate comments.  If you don't want to interact, and instead be some mysterious Salinger-esque figure, don't blog. Easy.
3. FOCUS AND PLAN:  As I said above, at the beginning I used to blog nearly every day.  I didn't find it sustainable, I found I was running out of interesting stuff to say, and it was becoming a millstone round my typing fingers.  Can't cut off the blood supply to those, so guess what?  I stopped blogging even mildly regularly and then panicked because I wasn't doing it.  Pointless, eh?  Throwing away all that hard work?  Feeling pressured and rudderless? Not at all conducive to creativiy of any kind is it?  So once I had taken a long hard lookie-look and decided I wanted to continue on my new Messianic path to bring Writing Wisdom blah blah blah see previous, I began to focus and plan.  Now, at any one time I have at least 6 or 7 potential Writing 101 titles in my drafts box--I just put 'em down as they come to mind, plus any scribbled notes or ideas.  I also try to plan writing time once a week or so to put them together, and I plan to put one up about that often.  If it's once every ten days or longer than that, well, fine.  The last weeks are a case in point for me.  Stuff happens. It's called Life.  Just let your readers know you'll be away and back--they'll understand. 

Now I'm knackered from all this thinking stuff and I'm going to turn the 'bednet off and do the rest thing.  Got to obey Surgeon's Orders--or most of them anyway.  I'll be back when I am.   You'll understand, won't you?  After all, I am worth waiting for (modest, you see--always modest and unassuming).  Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

See all my other Writing 101 Productions
Part 1 An Overview of Author Platforms
Part 2 Author Platforms (Facebook)
Part 3 Writing Resolutions
Part 4 Spambush or Tweettack?
Part 5 To Plunge or to Plan?

Feet First

Blogging. I knew it would get me eventually. In July 2008 I dipped a toe into the waters with An Awfully Big Blog Adventure--20 children's authors blogging about life, the universe and assorted literary wisdoms. I liked it, rather. What writer wouldn't relish the thought of pontificating on the page, and being read by the countless millions who had hitherto missed out on their talents? Well--maybe not millions. We have approximately 40 faithful followers, and many more lurkers in the shadows. But.... It's not my personal blog, and the blogging bug has bitten me badly--infected my blood and brain with the desire to put my rather disorderly life on the page and share it. So here I am, jumping into the rushing waters of the blogsphere feet first, where I shall, most probably, promptly drown. Whilst I am, first and foremost a writer of children's books, I am also a creator of culinary marvels, a composer of furious letters in my head, a taxi service to teenagers, a stargazer, a bard, and other things too numerous to set out on one page. This is only the start. I hope that you will come with me on a journey of discovery, and I look forward to creating a world of wonders for you, dear reader, whoever you are and wherever you come from.