Tuesday, December 16, 2014

But What Do I Write About?



Trust me. I know writing causes anxiety in a good number of people. 
We all want people to like us and like our product. We all want to play nicely and get along.

We want a safe place that nurtures us. One where we can be who we are and come out to play with others who have the same interests.

Saying that, how do you create a positive environment on your blog? How do you make it interesting and provocative enough to share what you want to share while not getting involved in discussion that drag your audience off of the topic.

First of all, remember that this is YOUR story.  Everyone wants an honest story or a really well embellished story.  You clearly don’t have to give up all your information and we will never know if you have embellished or not.  Instead, think of blog posts like a Polaroid snapshot. Tell about moments.  Paint a picture with clear concise words. Don’t worry about order or days of details.  Tell it as you would to a little one.  A simple story.
One artist, whom I will not mention, but would love to have a bit of her creativity, sometimes writes poetry with her blog posts. And it is off the wall and beautiful and serious and as filled with expression as her jewels.

You might want to start to start by telling us about yourself. How did you come to the creative process?  How did you realize you had this in you?  Why jewelry now?  

Write about whether or not you consider yourself an artisan.  How do you see yourself?  Why do you identify with this at this time in your life?  Some of the people I see who are B’Sue’s groups, and yes, I am a member of more than one of them, just outright fascinate me. I see their pieces and want to know how they imagined these coming together like that. I see people adding comical elements and love it!  I am not at the point where my mind goes to that type of design.  I am way too serious about things sometimes.  I like the reminder that it is allowed to laugh at beautiful things.  That’s why I think the WTW (Work Table Wednesday) posts showing pieces in transition and then FUF (Finish Up Friday) are amazing.

 Show pictures of your messy workshop—we had a blog hop about that one time—FABULOUS! It helps us all see who we are and how different the processes are.  And that all of that is okay.

And then when you have written about all of those things, ask people, what are you interested in reading about?  Did you find a good tutorial?  Post it!  Talk about what you learned from it.

Using stampings in new ways?  Show the process. Talk about colors you love or color combinations you love.

But start telling YOUR story.

Easy Peasy Blog Makering with Blogger



Ehow.com ( and, I added in my two cents worth!)


The primary instructions for this are taken from ehow.com  at http://www.ehow.com/how_4548512_set-up-blog-bloggercom.html.  I did this to share because primarily, if it’s already been done, why do it again?  I did , however, put in my own side comments to let you know if I tweek it a certain way and why. . .and I said tweek. . .not twerk. . .


On we go. . . 

Oh, and if you need to enlarge any of the pictures to see them better, they will enlarge.  Then you simply have to close them with the X in the right hand upper corner.

  
     Create a Google account by visiting Blogger at  http://www.blogger.com 


2    On the Blogger webpage, there is a button that will allow you to create a new Google account in minutes. If you have an existing Google account, you can skip this step and move on to the next. When creating your Google account, you will be asked to provide some basic information, including your current email address. You will also be asked to create a password that will afford you access to your Blogger account. 




Return to Blogger, where you will be asked to sign in using your newly created Google account and password. For convenience, you can set the site to remember your password so you will not be required to enter the information on each visit to the site.

Choose the "Create a Blog" option on the Blogger dashboard.  You will be taken to the dashboard each time you log into the account.  You can create and manage as many blogs as you like from the dashboard.





Blogger will then ask you to Title your blog. So, name your blog.  This could be the name of your business or if your blog is about the many and varying types of creativity that express themselves in different ways you may want a name that expresses that.  Make it creative and make it a name that reflects your brand (as in the name of your store) or identifies with  you and your work or play or other bliss. The picture above shows you what the page looks like and what it will ask you to do.

The next line will say Address.  This is asking you to design a new URL that you name yourself. You can find an example of this on the pictures that follow.


This is where things get real cool because as long  no one else has it, you can use the name of your business which means your brand again is out there waving your name like it’s on a huge flag making it easier for people to find. So, before you choose it looks like this.  http://________@blogspot.com.  For me, it might look like this:  http://therosesword@blogspot.com .  That takes you to my defunct old ugly blog but it also is the name of my store front AND it comes up in the Google search with my name and/or the name of my store and a link to it. It says my brand name And THAT is very important.


Next, you will choose your template. Blogger provides many templates you can use to set up your initial blog on the site. If you don't like the template you choose, you can go back later and change it to another of the premade layouts or design your own after you learn more about the template-formatting options.



For the purpose of this post, I chose Watermark.   




Write your first post and submit it using the template provided. You can add pictures or links to your posts if you like. After you have submitted your post, you can view your new blog or edit your posts.  


Make the blog unique to you. Thousands of bloggers use Blogger to host their content, and you want to separate yourself from the masses. You can add things to your blog to make it more fun and interesting for others to read. By clicking on the "Layout" tab, you can move elements like your profile or any widgets you add. Experiment with different layouts and options until you find one you like. 


Now, if all of that was as clear as mud, and if you learn best by listening or by hearing, here is a link to a YouTube video that you can stop and start as you work on your blog. 



creating your blog:



My sincerest wish is that this helps you as you develop a blog and start writing about your pieces and your process.  It really DOES inspire the rest of us. . .every word of it does.