The first three months of blogging have passed, and I want to give you an update on what it has been like for me. Technically, since my first post was on June 3rd, the 100th day was September 10th. But you know, I like nice even numbers like 100, so I thought it would catch your attention. Right?
Being a newbie, I learned from other bloggers about how to write a blog that people will enjoy. Here are some things I gleaned:
What is the purpose of the blog? Experts say that to have an effective blog, you must, must have a specific purpose. Duh. That’s in my title. They say you shouldn’t have too many categories or that the categories can’t be too diverse. My six categories are CREATIVE, FOOD, HOME, MONEY, REFLECTIONS, and RELATIONSHIPS. So far, I have only posted in four areas.
Hi, I’m Nanci and this lifestyle blog is about inspiring and being inspired to live a more purposeful life.
What are some suggestions from professional writers? Set daily word counts. Okay, I set mine at 500 words. I started writing and The Art of the Open-Ended Question was written in a couple of hours. Cool!
Another suggestion. Only post excellent work. Starting out, I’m going to disagree with this one. If I waited until I felt a post was perfect, well, you get the idea, I wouldn’t have any posts. I will say that my first posts were a bit rough, but I think I have improved, and it is getting easier.
Another. Show your personality. At first, a friend said I was being too scholarly, and I wasn’t giving people much of my background. It could be all that home-schooling affected me, or maybe I just like academics. My son had six APA format essays with word counts of 1,000 to 1,500 words. It was an ordeal for him; for me it was fun.
How long should a blog post be? It depends. Some say posts can be as few as 100 words or as long as 2,000 words. My word counts varied between 188 and 1,148, but most were around 450 words. Don’t want readers to get antsy.
How do you write dialog? Stick to simple speech tags like “he said’ and ‘she said’ and avoid being descriptive like “I guffawed.” It sounds amateurish.
My first post was June 3, 2018. The title, Hey World, Here I Am! is an adapted line from the song Don’t Rain on My Parade, from the movie Funny Girl. This introduction outlined my desire to have a blog and what categories I planned to incorporate in my lifestyle blog. It was late at night and I finally posted it in the early morning hours. My reaction: Ecstatic!
For a rousing rendition of the song, listen to Linda Eder on YouTube.
I was so excited; my second post was the very next day! Called Peruvian Food – El Tesoro del Inca, it was a review of a down-home restaurant in Irving, TX.
Wow! There was a streak going on, and I published my third post the next day. Ah!! Called The Art of the Open-Ended Question, this was based on my need to improve my communication skills with my son.
Two weeks later, my fourth post in June was called My First-Time Homeowner Lawn Care Experience.
My fifth post, in June (amazingly) was called Struggles with Lawn Care Part 1. It was about my current home’s front lawn that had been woefully neglected and about my efforts to revive it.
Uh oh, something happened to my momentum, probably life, but I was only able to post once in July. My sixth post, called Struggles with Lawn Care Part 2 showed the progress of the lawn after one month of constant, loving, attention on my part.
My seventh post was called 10 Reasons Why I Love Lists, and it appeared from the comments that I am not the only one who loves lists.
My eight post called 100 Self-Care Activities for Body, Mind, and Spirit was born from my need to recover from burn out after home-schooling my son.
My ninth post called Struggles with Lawn Care Part 3 was a short update on the front lawn.
The tenth, eleventh, and twelfth posts were called Fall 2018 Cleaning Challenge, 2018 Fall Cleaning Challenge Week 1 Review – Getting Rid of 1,000 Things, and 2018 Fall Cleaning Challenge Week 2 Review – Getting Rid of 1,000 Things.
I would like to thank all of you, dear friends and loved ones for patiently reading my ramblings. Your comments to me personally and on the blog have been so supportive. I hope to continue creating more content to inspire living a purposeful life. If you have suggestions for more topics, please reach out to me.