writing – Page 46 – Linda Nelson

You have resisted creating a blog for months now and after all this time you have given in and created one. What now, you ask?

I for one was very overly conscious about my blog in its beginning days. It was nerve-racking to think of anyone visiting or reading it, and I wasn’t even sure what I was going to do with it.

At first I used it to post excerpts to my stories or to post a sample short story I had written.

Then I began visiting other people’s blogs and noticed what theirs was all about.

I think it depends on what your thing is. Do you like to take pictures or write? Maybe you like making movies for you tube. It doesn’t really matter. If you have something you want to share there is always going to be someone who will be there to enjoy your creation.

Me – I like to write. That is my thing. Then there are the books that I have read. Those I want to share too. I have to let you know which ones were great and which ones are oh – hum.

So you have made your blog. Now what?

First off, don’t get to concerned about people visiting your blog. In most cases they won’t even find your blog right away unless you tell people about it. So now is your time to play with it.

Play with the themes. Each one can give your blog a unique feel and look. Try them all if you need to and then pick your favorite one. You can even tweak the themes to make them more your own. Background pictures work great for this.

Next you will want to check out widgets, if you are on WordPress. These widgets will let you share even more content with your readers. Move them around and change them up until you have your blog looking the way you would like it to.

When you’re done with your designing you will want to add some content. This can be a thought, a quote, a picture, a video, or just about anything. It just needs to be something you are ready to share.

Blogs in the end can make a great tool. They have the ability to help improve one’s writing skills even if you are just a photographer and learn to connect with other people of like minds.

During the last round of Round of Words in 80 days I never really made any of my goals consistently.

First I tried to blog more, but that got in the way of my regular writing time.

Then there was the inspirational post about keeping a log about what our daily activities are throughout a day. This was to help us discover if there was any where one could become more efficient in their daily writing activities.

What I discovered was I was doing more blogging, but less writing and not setting aside any time for the other things I like to do in my daily life.

So for the new goals this round I will include the things that I like to do besides writing. Hopefully I will be able to find some kind of consistency with not just my writing. That means I now need to set aside time for knitting mittens and hats for my grand-daughter for Christmas. And then there is my other favorite thing to do – World of Warcraft.

Blizzard Entertainment just released a new expansion for World of Warcraft. I now have a Panda Monk named Musuu. I love that panda. It is kick ass with round house kicks and fists of fury. So I have to be able to find time to play this game too, maybe a minimum of three nights a week and one day on the weekend.

Knitting will be for only an hour or two a night. The rest of my time I will try to dedicate to writing.

Blogging will become limited to three nights a week instead of everyday.

Fridays will still be set aside to recap my favorite books of this past year.

If I can write a minimum of 500 words a week, that would be good for me.
Maximum word count will be set at 5k in a day. (But if the muse takes over, I promise not to argue with it.)
Post on Facebook at least once a week.
Post on Twitter at least once a week.

Hopefully I will be able to finish up Road Salt before NaNoWriMo happens next month.

Stop by the Linky List to see more ROW80 Goals for round 4.

Oh and I almost forgot to mention the Book Signing Event – I will be hosting my very first local book signing this Saturday at The Toadstool Bookshop in Peterborough, New Hampshire. I will be there with my friend, Linda Kepner.

<- See previous post for more information about this event.

I’m excited and nervous. But I am sure it will be fun.