About a year ago, I attended a business seminar and was introduced to a woman who stated that she had her own blog. I thought, perhaps I would like to start a blog one day, but I did not have either the time or the “know how” to do so.
Fast forward to the spring of 2020, when I started writing e-mails (with a few photos inserted) to friends and relatives, in an attempt to stay connected with them during the pandemic. So then in June 2020, while #AloneTogether in the Pandemic, it was time to take my first step into the blogging world.
Setting up a blog was quite complicated to me as a non-IT expert. I tried to set up my blog after I watched videos and read a few articles on the topic. I chose a name for my blog, set up a password and tried to “design” or guess how to organize the blog.
By the second day, blogging seemed a bit more familiar to me and I started posting content and quickly backfilled my blog to January 2018. I posted essays that I had previously written and included some of my favorite photos. This earlier starting date sounded wonderfully productive, until I called the helpline, and they thought I was way too experienced of a blogger to be asking such obvious questions.
Technical issues aside, I am enjoying the whole blogging process. I type up essays on my iPhone, pick out just the right photos to accompany my ideas, and then organize everything on my site. Finally, I click the publish button to share my content with the world.
One random email message that I received yesterday, was from someone in my field, who contacted me to state they enjoyed reading my words. This out of the blue e-mail was a pleasant surprise (Thanks Don!), especially on a day that was so similar to all of my most of my other recent days.
But there was one portion of the blogging experience that I had never anticipated. I wasn’t prepared to deal with all accompanying non-writing tasks. Now, I call web designers for assistance on the helpline and have to provide my domain name. I didn’t ever imagine doing any of these things before the pandemic rearranged our lives. Having a domain name, sounds to me, as if i am suddenly ruling a small country in cyberspace.
Let’s also discuss the new lingo I have become more familiar with. No one warned me about terms, such as widgets and verification tokens, before I began this process. These two phrases are terms that I may have learned about, or at least I am pretending to understand.
Blogging causes problems that I now mull over each day (and sometimes even at night when I cannot sleep). But, these challenges are more productive than worrying endlessly about the the news reports. Blogging is also less daunting than trying to decide if it is safe to go to the grocery store each time my refrigerator is empty.
As a blogger, I have developed some new skills and hope to continue to learn even more about the whole process. I heartily recommend that if you are feeling nervous or unsure about our crazy world, that you also jump feet first into a new project yourself, or at least consider following my entertaining new blog.
