People who read this — God bless you — know that I had to overcome a lot of fears to set up this blog. Would you like to know why?
Because writing for the public is similar to public speaking. You talk to people and they can smile, judge, laugh, agree or disagree. Sometimes they throw tomatoes right at the computer screen. I don’t suggest it.
I like to emphasize the learning by doing aspect. For example, if any of you have ever travelled, I bet that what you saw first hand is different than what you read in books.
It’s like a thousand reflections in a mirror. Until you go and experience something first hand, they are all just stories on a page.
Writing a blog is an ongoing learning experience. Please don’t think I know what I’m doing. I’m rather new to this @$#% blgng bznss.
It was the exact same feeling when I first showed my art work. Sure, some people have no problems writing and talking and showing off their work.
I do. That is exactly why I feel like this blog is growing steadily. It’s because I’m so darn afraid of failing, I’m putting every ounce of myself into making it succeed, doing the best I can do with the knowledge and awareness I have.
I am willing to take a risk and show you my work. Put down that tomato. If you want to succeed in today’s market, I believe you must be willing to talk about your work.
It is not the critic who counts — not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.
The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena whose face is marred by dust and sweat and bloody.
Teddy Roosevelt
I don’t see what is wrong with blogging. Like I told my blogger friend, it’s fat free, unless, of course, you are eating a lot of food while writing.
I also love reading and studying and learning from other people. That’s why I spend a lot of time on other people’s blogs to see how they approach the same question as mine.
How do you, as a blogger or website owner, reach an audience, connect with them, share information, and grow as an individual?
I’m willing to try. I’m willing to learn.
this is my blog 
Since my blog is a food/cooking blog, I think that I can reach people with the universal language of food. But then I have to ask myself what sets mine apart from all the other blogs like mine? Well I give personal stories, not just a recipe. I give step by step tutorials from a real person in a real kitchen. I don’t have it all together. I don’t have a staff to chop and dice. I am naturally a transparent person, to a fault at times, so sharing inner thoughts is not hard for me. I had a blog for over 4 years that was more of a journal and had a small readership. I am used to putting myself out there. It’s just me. I grew through that experience.
I still find it difficult to believe you are new to Blogging!
I say if you are passionate about something, everything else just melts away. You find a voice and talk to just a few and the others may listen. It helps in blogging if you are sharing with the world what you love to do best or love the most… be it whether you are just down right funny, a goat raiser, reader of books, a traveler or in my case someone who wants to play with the Italian language all day long. It is important to have a point of view. I made my blog as an extension of what I want to accomplish…to meet more people as passionate about the Italian language as I and to have a place where I can swim about in the language and keep learning from my mistakes, express myself usando la bella lingua and learn learn learn.
I say also…if you build it, they will come. And if you are true to your heart and have something meaningful to say, they will stay.
ps…I read somewhere about your twitter comment and I don’t really get twitter either. I looked at it once and then said…nah! I’m good with FB and updates there…there comes to a point where just too much constant info is a little annoying…I like a bit of mystery and a chance to be a little more selective in my posts (that is not to say I’m not hopping on the FB site 50 bizziolion times a day though! 🙂
Julie, I may not comment much, I do always read and appreciate. I remember being a beginner and all the fear that went with it still exists.
You are doing marvelous!
Kid I think you write just fine and all you gotta do is just be yourself.
Dr. B
Hi Julie,
Yes. Blogging is fat free. WooHoo!
Blogging should also be fun. I think most bloggers worry their blogs won’t “make it”, but what does that really mean? For some bloggers they feel they made it if their words helped just one person, whereas others don’t feel they’ve made it until they have a gazillion readers. It really comes down to the purpose of your blog. What do YOU hope to accomplish with it?
RE: Twitter. I used to get on Twitter a lot more than I used to, but soon found a ten minute Twitter break would turn into an hour. With it being such a time sink, I’ve cut back on my tweets. I go on Facebook, but even that can be awfully time consuming. So now I’ve kind of gone back to where I started. Spending time on my blogs, visiting others and working on my newest project. That makes for a full schedule for me and it’s one I’m happy with.
Julie, soon you will find a blogging rhythm that works for you. Just give it time.
Happy Blogging!
Julie, I look back on my articles from last year when I started blogging for real, and I just cringe.
They are seriously bad.
Now, they’re ok on average. I think.
And I used to think I was a pretty good writer. I’ve been published. I’ve won awards!
Blogging is distinctly different, though. The medium influences the message, and vice versa.
I don’t take criticism well either.
I recall someone said something really nasty about one of your guest posts once. I invited her to never return, an invitation, thankfully, that she accepted. Good riddance.
Very impressed with all your work lately.
Hey Dave,
Thanks for dropping by my blog. Dave is such a nice guy he featured two of my articles on his blog website in a weekend as a guest contributor.
Thank you so much! 🙂
Julie
did you do that painting Julie? its very pretty!
“For example, if any of you have ever travelled, I bet that what you saw first hand is different than what you read in books. It’s like a thousand reflections in a mirror. Until you go and experience something first hand, it’s all just stories on a page.”
What you wrote here is so so true!! That’s why I love travel 🙂 you’ve inspired me again when I find my inspiration lagging and I think that’s what makes you a great teacher to your students.
The beauty of blogging is that it pushes all of us who thought we weren’t “good enough” or “worthy enough” or “interesting enough” to share with others that bit of our soul we pour into our writing. Now that anyone can have a blog, there’s no excuse for keeping what we write in a locked drawer. Of course, that opens us up to all kinds of criticism, because it’s really true what mom told us: you can’t please everyone. But the fear of being judged kept me quiet for the first half of my life; damned if I’m going to let it silence me for the second half.
Keep on writing, keep on painting!
‘We spend the first third of life complaining that nobody really knows us and the second two-thirds trying to keep it that way.’
Maria ~ you have a good point that there is no reason to keep our thoughts locked up. Although I have to admit sometimes when people write for the sheer saking of filling up a page it all seems a bit futile.
I tend to look behind the words and try to get to know who is writing them.
You are absolutely right that you can’t please all of the people all of the time.
Julie
I don’t know if it’s a writer’s thing or maybe a creative person’s thing but I too suffer from being extremely insecure with what I post and even with what I write as a freelance journalist. But as someone very rich once said: Feel the fear and do it anyway! Keep blogging away 🙂
I have been addicted to blogging for years and years although until 2010 I was mostly just blogging really insignificant things for friends (like some sort of mass email). In 2010 I decided to step it up: instead of using a blog as some sort of extended texting platform, I was going to use it as a way to practise my writing and put down my views and opinions on the world in a way that would make sense to other people.
I find blogging a hell of a lot more relaxing because I can write them and publish them myself and get feedback from other bloggers easily and painlessly, as opposed to submitting my writing to various online/print publications and having to wait and wait and wait and get depressed or insecure.
I think blogging is a great in helping me grow more and more into the writer I want to be. 🙂
Hi Julie
I’ve seen your avatar on a few sites around the web but this is my first visit to your blog.
“…writing for the public is similar to public speaking.”
Know what you mean. In both you put your reputation on the line.
In Public Speaking we look for laughter and applause and in blogging, we look for supportive comments.
Not heard you speak Julie, but your comments look pretty healthy to me.
BTW – thanks for visiting easyP and leaving a link to Kate Winslet’s acceptance speech.
Makes me proud to be British.
I love this post, Julie. I was smiling and silently cheering for you as I read it.
This reminded me of a conversation I had with a friend last night. He thinks I’m too open about my life because he doesn’t trust people enough to share his true feelings. I told him that wearing my heart on my sleeve (or, at times, my blog) is not just about me… When I’m vulnerable with other people, it gives them permission to be vulnerable and lean on me too.
I see that in you too, Julie. I think the bravery in your blog will inspire others to be brave. I know I feel inspired after stopping by your page.
Have a blessed day. ❤
Hi Julie. Well the comments in the other replies say it all.
As another new blogger I sometimes wonder if I am being too open but then IRL I am an open person. I haven’t come across anyone in the blogosphere who has taken advantage of my open-ness. So I will just continue being me and I encourage you to do the same.
Sometimes when i’m blogging I feel like my style is stuck in a rut, but at the same time I want to be an authentic as possible..and just be me 🙂 Your post made me think more about blogging.
I have been away from the blogsphere and am now trying to catch up, you have certainly been busy in my absence. Some interesting reading with lots for me to think about, although the post I clicked on in my reader is no longer here! Anyway hope you are enjoying your own trip.
To be honest I never actually think of the criticism, I mean whenever I add a Script to my Space it is exactly how I wish it to be and anyone that chooses to read or view it can form their own opinions from it, whether they are positive, negative or whatever, and as each person adds their comments a clearer picture emerges.
Now whenever I visit a Space for the first time I don’t just read the one blog as one cannot realistically form an opinion by reading in this way, instead I like to browse several of the Authors blogs before making a comment, if a theme is not desirable to me at the first reading then I simply move onto the next and try to familiarise myself with the Authors style of writing, keeping in mind that all of us have much to offer here in the wider community. Some bloggers tell us about their daily lives or perhaps add poetry, while others choose to write stories but all with the same enthusiasm and hope, hopeful that someone will enjoy their efforts and in doing so generate the daily following that adds to the excitement of blogging.
On the whole I don’t believe that criticism is such a bad thing, as long as it is constructive criticism and not a direct attack on the Author for writing something a tad different. Here in WordPress we can all express ourselves and use our abilities towards creating wonderful blogging arenas, and if the writing and the reading of that writing is of an optimistic nature then all of us can build upon that success and be a part of something rather unique.
Have a lovely rest of weekend now and keep blogging…
Androgoth
I don’t mind the writing part but finding, growing and keeping an audience is just out of reach of my limited technical grasp. My stats move up and down in a baffling manner and the reason for the change is quite beyond me. Despite all that I enjoy writing my blog and regularly reading others I have found. Yours is one I look at daily. It often stirs a smile or emotion from me and what more could you ask
I love your blog, and your happiness is soo contagious!
I feel so alive whenever I read your posts! I need that once in a while, so thank you.
And you seem very pro, so don’t be modest, your writing is terrific. 🙂
❤
Hey Julie. Hope all is well your way. I’vve had some health issues, but I’m making progress. Thank God for my family; they have kept me going.
My book has gotten better revews than I ever dreamed of, but I certainly saw a lot of citicism in the early days. I always said, “Well, I’ll work to improve, but my wife and children love me so i’m not too worried about what you think.”
Look at it this way; they are proably just jealous of you.
Dr. B
By the way, “The Mandolin Case” is available as a free download right now for Amazon Prime members as part of their promotion of the program.
I love reading your blog. Not only do I learn quite a lot from it, but you also have an uncanny knack for hitting on a subject that I already happen to be thinking about. You’ve been to my blog, so you know that I am in the beginning baby-step phase. I’m terrified of putting too much “out there.” Hell, my real name isn;t even on it. You and your blog posts are very helpful for me. It’s good to see other people who have the same questions, same thoughts of caution
At this point, my “networking” consists of commenting on other blogs. I have a whole 4 followers, and one of them is me… so, from one cautious writer to another, please keep putting it out there, I need the encouragement. =)
Jules, just be yourself in your blog and have fun. Its got to be fun, right? If some person doesn’t like what you are doing there a zillion other blogs out there. Otherwise you got to laugh. Be true to yourself and let the beauty of ‘you’ shine through in your blog. It seems like you are doing very well.