I got an email from someone who discovered Carrot and Honey, my other blog, and sent me the following email:
Hello!
I stumbled across your blog and noticed your “contact me” section. There, you indicated that you are willing to answer questions about, well, anything. Considering that you are a writer who has a blog, I would like some advice about starting my own blog. I have been searching for a creative outlet. My friends and family think that a creative outlet would be useful. The problem: I don’t know how to have a blog. I would appreciate any advice you could share on this matter. how does one choose a topic, or subject, for a blog? After choosing a subject, what kinds of things does one write about that topic?
Thanks for any advice you can offer.
Here is what I wrote back:
Dear ____,
Thank you for your kind words about my blog.
It’s easy to start a blog. I use WordPress. Click: http://wordpress.com/ then click Start Your Website, and follow the instructions. The site is very self explanatory. Before starting your blog, I suggest thinking of a name for it which means thinking a little about what you’re going to write about.
I appreciate having a need for a creative outlet. I suggest that if you start a blog, don’t make it another task or assignment to get done. I’m guessing you don’t need more work nor more things you are required to accomplish. My hope for you or anyone who writes, whether in a journal or a blog, is that the experience would be fun and come naturally.
Here’s a thought: Call the blog My Place To Write or maybe just A Place, or possibly: “The Creative Outlet My Shrink Suggested.” Or maybe don’t call it any of those but keep the “subject” broad so you can write about anything you want. Don’t sweat the topic too much if nothing comes immediately to mind. It could be something as obvious as your thoughts and impressions of life, or maybe simply random sentences and ideas that pop into your head. Then decide a minimum amount of writing you’d like to try to accomplish, even one sentence every other day. No one is judging or grading you. Just write something, anything, without caring about much else than the fact that you’re writing. See what happens from there. I once made a commitment to write a sentence a day and I could hardly stop at a paragraph. I think the very doable goal was an important part of starting to write regularly.
One more suggestion: don’t worry about making blog entries perfect. Read over what you write, do some editing, then click the Publish button. Then, as some say in Brooklyn, fuhgeddaboudit!
I’m anxious to hear what you decide to do. I think everyone has a creative impulse that is important to use. I wish you well.
L.L.
P.S. You can also add things you are already writing, such as emails, to your blog. I do that (obviously) and it makes me a more careful, creative email writer.
