I’m going to tell you a story. I only know a bit of it so far, but maybe you can help me with it as I go along.
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Chapter 1
Once upon a time, there was a couple. Like others, around Christmas time, they wanted to let relatives know what they had been doing over that year, without rewriting it every time in each card they sent.
For a while, they did the Christmas newsletter. (Sometimes it even had pictures.)
After a while, they realised that this could be done just as well online for family and friends we could email. Save time, save paper, etc.
Enter phase one of the blog: the newsletter.
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This is where many blogs start. No harm in that.
At that time, we were both working full-time, I got to travel a bit, we both did some outings we wanted to write about. (We even still read the Saturday papers, and commented on things we read about.)
Over time, we got a bit more journalistic about what we wrote about. Sometimes reministic (I’m coining that now, for the rhyme, at least).
Fairly quickly, it also emerged that I wanted to do a lot of the writing – and did. Dan has his blog posts too, but most of them are mine.
I learned (as many do) that blogging is another of those forms of writing – like diaries, like letters – that allow you to process how you’re feeling. In the writing, you realise what’s happening – make new connections, and so on.
I didn’t particularly plan posts – they mostly went along with things we were doing/reading/thinking about, or chance moments.
Chapter 1 went on for some time, until family stuff beckoned. Blogging ground to a halt.
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This too is fair enough. Plenty of blogs out there that are still available, but that have stopped, for lots of different reasons.
What matters is whether you start again – and who you are when you do.
Rather than write one massive post, I’m going to split this up, and write about phase 2 a bit more next time.
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What matters is that you write because you enjoy it. That you have fun putting your spin on what you write.
It helps, too, if you get comments. Encouragement is always welcome, particularly when you’re putting your words out there for all to see.
When I went back to look at those posts, I liked some – and I got rid of some. I think that’s OK too. We don’t always keep all our letters either – life moves on.
But I found enough that I liked, both when I wrote it, and when I came back to it.
And that is often enough. To begin with, anyway.