Setting Goals

A Course On Blogging

I am recovering, I have two weeks off.  I have to rest my body but my mind does not need to or want to be still.  I started to write here, late 2015, in part because people said I should, apparently, I am a great raconteur, partly because I wanted my children to listen to me, partly because I am lazy and wanted to put all the recipes people ask me for in one place.  Mostly I write because there is so much inside me that needs to come out.

It is so easy for me to write, I mean to find content.  I write linearly, as I think, for the most part, rarely going back over my words to edit.  Once made, the marks stay.  I am not sure if I use the bricks we learnt at school metaphors, similes, personification, imagery, hyperbole, and alliteration, were there more? I just write.  No themes, no goals, no expectations, I just sit down and start typing, it is a case of who is first in the queue, pushing at the barrier to be heard.  This has always happened, I just keep my mess in one place now.

I do not follow others but want them to follow me??

Then I started a new job, so consuming, my writing stopped.  It continued, as always in my mind, but never pressed hard enough be released, no time, the lock said.  I came back here to find a cocktail recipe and found two pieces of writing in my draft box.  I set them free and came back to stay. There is time, I just need to choose to use it differently.  The floor is not as clean, the jars not as full, but I have realised the writing is part of me, I need to write,

I digress, I told you I write as I think. I said I have time, a guilt free 14 days and sleep is sometimes difficult. I began to explore my site, navigating, found a page that said I have, no views, visitors,  likes or comments. It made me feel bad and I was not sure why, as I have never seen or cared about these statistics before.  I wanted to see if other people felt the same as me, there must be thousands of us talking to our screens, am I normal? Do I need to be viewed? I hit the READER button on the top of my page and a new world opened.  I have been so impressed, so humbled, excited, enthused.   I now understand that I am tiny, one of the dots that join to make the picture on my husband’s 60 inch T.V.  I have not viewed, visited,  liked or commented, I have been too busy to lift my eyes from my own keyboard.  I have missed the point in sharing.

On one of my night walks through this community I joined a course, Blogging: Branding and Growth.  No idea why or what it will bring, I might not finish it, but here I go, I am diving in

Day One: Set Three Goals for Your Blog

1. Write regularly because I want to –  not feel guilty or scared that I will loose something when I can not. Forever.
2.  Visit new sites, read, like, and not be afraid to comment. Learn from others.  Edit my words. Weekly
3.  Gain followers so my voice can be recognised. Listen to comments, grow and improve.  I do not feel comfortable putting a figure here, maybe I am just so insecure, but let’s just say 20%.  Ultimately when I retire I would like to make money from writing, just enough to feed the chickens

Now I have to tag this.  I am learning already.

COURSE DAY 2

COURSE DAYS 3 & 4

COURSE DAYS 5 & 6

COURSE DAY 7

COURSE DAYS 8 & 9

COURSE DAY 10