how to blog | Myths of the Mirror

pixabay free image, Petra Osterreich

After 4 years I still feel like a clueless newbie in the blogosphere. Blogging for me has been more like an adventure without a plan, a book without a plot where the protagonist stumbles willy-nilly through random scenes, hoping for the best.

I pay little attention to stats, and if the insights page didn’t occasionally rear up on its own, I wouldn’t look at it at all. The glimpse is good for a chuckle. I feel a bit like a kid who’s getting close to sitting at the grown-up table.

In 2012, I blogged for a whole year. I had 7 visitors, 1 like and 0 comments. You would think I’d worked hard at being that bad. Nope, just clueless.

In 2013, I employed the same winning strategy of non-engagement, but my stats improved – I earned 13 comments for the year!

Toward the end of 2014, I realized that perhaps this wasn’t very good. A light flickered on in the dark cave of my brain, and I began to watch what the pros were up to:

Offering engaging content
Posting regularly
Supporting others
Reading and liking
Commenting and replying to comments
Making friends with the humans behind the blogs

I was determined to apply my observations and, needless to say, the shift toward engagement made for more successful and enjoyable blogging. Duh.

Blogging serves various functions and means different things to different people. For me, it’s changed/changing over time. I still don’t care about stats – they’re only numbers. They don’t make me laugh, or move me, or entertain me. Blogging had become increasing about human connections and community. In fact, that’s all it’s about.

I’m still stumbling around, seeking my bloggy niche while trying to be true to myself and what I care about. I’m striving for balance (always), committed to my new sphere of friends while honoring those closer to home, clumsily carving out time for family and my need to write. I’m still learning…the story of my life…but perhaps not quite so clueless anymore 🙂

I’ve been posting for 3 years now, and most of you savvy bloggers might assume I learned a thing or two about this art and craft during that time. The wretched truth is, until recently, I floundered in a quagmire of cluelessness. I blogged for the sake of blogging, because someone (my publisher, probably) advised me it was mandatory. Every month, I dragged myself away from my latest writing endeavor to spend a full day laboring over a few hundred words that maybe someone would read.

Now, you have to understand that back in the olden days we had typewriters…yep. Computers existed, of course. They hummed in the secretive cellars of IBM and flashed on Captain Kirk’s console. Don’t get me wrong, there was life before cell phones, microchips, and social media, but it wasn’t wired. Social, in my day, was trespassing at the reservoir with a bonfire and keg on Saturday night and hoping the police didn’t break up the party and send us home.

Once I graduated from keg parties, I toiled in business where keeping up with technology was routine. I spent my waking hours on spreadsheets and typing with all ten fingers. After that, a switch to mental health counseling, followed by a decision to write, began a rather rapid descent into technological fossilization. The social media thing, when it reared its monstrous head, felt overwhelming. It didn’t come with instructions. I was supposed to learn it by osmosis without a teenager’s eye-rolling guidance.

Then this great thing happened.

Nicholas Rossis, awesome blogger and author from the far side of the planet, read one of my books and reached out through social media.

Huh. Tiny synapses flickered in my primordial brain as I pondered this curious event. You mean…social media is supposed to be social? Yeesh. Took me long enough to figure that out.

Rossis offered advice on blogging and writing, as well as other features that intrigued me. Determined to climb the evolutionary ladder, I started following his blog (http://nicholasrossis.me/). This was a giant leap forward. Up until this point, I didn’t know how to follow blogs without provoking cryptic computer-generated warnings riddled with exclamation points.

Well, I clicked the button and nothing crashed. I dodged the chilling meltdown anticipated by the technologically primitive, and propelled by this remarkable feat, I started poking around. I discovered blogs that shared invaluable information and was swept up in the sublime words of immensely gifted writers. Who knew?

It’s been several months since my mini blogging enlightenment, and I still find the left-brain advice on how to market through social media somewhat overwhelming. I read it and tuck it away for later, content to just be me and offer you a peek inside my writing and my head.

But, I follow lots of blogs now.

I read your stories, pour over your advice, share your trepidation, laugh aloud, and hoot for your victories. I “like” often and comment when something strikes a chord. Who wouldn’t marvel at the talent out there in the blogosphere and want to be part of the vast, supportive community of writers, artists, and readers? Little by little, I’m making those connections. I found an island of solid ground in that quagmire of cluelessness, and I’m leaving a few muddy footprints behind me…finally.

Happy New Year!