If you read more than 30 blogs on a regular basis, you need to start your own blog! It doesn't have to be great. You don't have to have anything profound to say. Just start a blog! It's free. It's easy. We bloggers can't really "meet" you until you have your own blog, even if we love all of your wonderful comments.
Here are some tips to get started.
1. Blogs are free. I use Blogger. Wordpress is also great. A good host will walk you through all the step easily. You don't have to be a "techie" to start a blog.
2. Don't get hung up on an awesome title. Name your blog something simple. Get started. If you come up with a more awesome title later, change it. Your readers will follow you.
3. Privacy. Pray about privacy issues with Jesus and chat about them with your spouse before starting your blog. My blog is all "out there." I use my real name and my kids real names. Some blogger friends use their real name and then have greater privacy for their kids. Shoved to Them refers to her kids by their position in her family, so her posts refer to kid #1, or kid #8. Minnesota Mom gives special blog nicknames to her children. You can also be totally Anonymous. You can use a nom de plume and not post any pictures of spouses, kids, or pets on your site.
4. How to write posts. Go simple at first. Write about your day. Write about your favorite blog to read and why. Find a meme that you want to finish. Then go juicy. It's writing, go bleed a little. Tell us about your cross. It can be infertility, a NICU stay, the stress of being single while hoping to find a spouse. Whatever little piece of heartache that feels unique to you--that is a something universal that everyone wants to hear more about. You best friend gets bored when you talk about the stress of the NICU yet again, but the internet never does. Go be real and find your people!
5. Be calm about having no audience. For a long time. If you feel super lonely about having no one read your blog, go send me a link in my email. It is better to have no audience than to pass your infancy blog around to many people who might be the wrong "audience."
6. Writing is good when it is authentic. It doesn't have to be perfect. It doesn't have to be interesting. It does have to be real.
7. The blog is there to serve your life. Your life doesn't serve your blog. It is totally okay to take long breaks from blogging. You do not have to post every day. You don't have to have a "plan" or a theme. Just let the blog hang out there, awkwardly, and catch whatever pieces you throw at it.
8. When you outgrow your blog, its time to write a book. You know readers know which ones I am talking about! You don't have to write a long book. A book can be a lovely 30 to 45 pages. If you've established your writing voice, if you have your story, if you have hungry readers who want to know more, then its time to "graduate" from a blog to a book. Don't let the success of your blog limit you. Don't tell yourself "I'm just a blogger." Say "I'm a writer." Because you are!
Happy Blogging!
