I have the monkey off my back… for now anyway!
One of my fears as I finished up my Long Service Leave, was that I would simply go back to my old habits. It still concerns me a fair bit, but I have to say, this past week and in particular yesterday morning, has given me a bit more confidence.
Overall it was a solid first week… very productive! I feel as if I am back into the swing of things, if not completely on top of everything on the agenda at the moment. I got to the end of the week fairly unscathed and having really enjoyed catching up with my young charges and colleagues once again!
The highlight of my week has, by far, been the anticipation and then the meeting of the blogging group of which I am a part. Thanks to Judi… a seasoned gatherer of people, we met and talked about all things blogging – where we are up to, any concerns or questions we have, feedback to each other and a sharing of what we are each enjoying the most about the process. By the sounds of the interest in the group who met, coffee every couple of months may become a regular occurrence!
I really enjoyed catching up with where those who could make it are up to…
“Threads in the Needle”… completed the much-anticipated quilt… photos will be posted shortly.
“Social Graces”… inspiring a number of us to read, think and share concerns.
“Early Retirees”… celebrating retirement in style while prompting people to consider things that really matter.
“Beach Blogger”… inspiring people to set goals and stick to them – no matter how cold it gets!
Leslie David… loving his relatively new-found hobby and the medium for sharing his experiences.
William Kostakis… enjoying promoting his novel Loathing Lola. Thanks for bringing some copies along, I’m looking forward to having a read and very pleased I have a signed copy that shares our “in-joke.”
Eric Stanley… his “Be Happy Be Rich” blog has now been created and he’s preparing for his book launch on Wednesday 23rd June at Berkelouw’s Bookstore, Leichhardt. All are welcome!
Helen McNab… using her newfound freedom to write her book and develop her blog.
Thanks to a suggestion by Helen, I’d like to open up this post to anyone who came to the gathering or to anyone who couldn’t make it, but who would like to have, join in a post-coffee discussion about the most important things we have learnt about blogging to date.
I’ll kick off with one of my ideas, but am looking forward to us creating a list of ideas from this now quite skilled group of bloggers… Thanks to William and a lot of hard work on our part!!!
USEFUL BLOGGING TIPS:
- I created a twitter account called “LouiseSerenity” connected to this blog, then “followed” the NSW Writer’s Centre… about a month later they started following me! (Needless to say, their tweets will be more useful to me than mine to them 🙂 )
Click on “Add a Comment” if you would like to add to this discussion…
I was sorry to miss the get-together it sounded great. I was off the air for a while in search of inspiration and nursing some war wounds. I have learnt that I need to make my titles more catchy using the active voice and humour to attract readers and to have some shorter more contemperory posts in amongst the more serious ones.
I also want to search further afield in the blogging world.
I have subscribed to Share the word on WordPress and am finding some useful hints there.
Well summarised Louise … it was great to get together with everyone.
Perhaps you all know this, but my tip, for what it’s worth, is to spend a bit of time browsing the themes … you might find one that suits your blog better. I was totally intimidated to start with till I realised the ‘preview’ button was there. It gives you the chance to see how your blog will look in a different format.
When you’re ready to change, hit ‘activate’. After that just check your widgets, put them back in if they’ve vanished, and then if, like me, you decide you don’t really like it two days later … you can change again!
Great post, Louise. It was great catching up with you in person at the blogging group’s coffee break. It was incredible. We were unstoppable talking about our blogging topics and experiences.
As for useful tips, I’m still working it out. I did change my theme but not realise I’ll need to change it again (I chose, unknowingly, the same theme as Blogging the Beach!).
I guess, from a learning experience, my useful tip would be: Short and engaging posts.
Keep on blogging … Social Graces
May you keep it off your back! Well done. 🙂