A personal first!
For some reason, I find the
thought of blogging intimidating. Right from the first moment that ‘social
media’ came onto my personal radar, and I read in Kristen Lamb’s book, We Are
Not Alone, that she advised blogging in order for an author to build
precious social platform, I’ve stubbornly refused to jump in the game. The
thought of writing a blog scared me. Who was I to talk? Why would people listen?
What would I say? I told my cohorts over on Writing for Children, that I couldn’t
imagine I’d ever start my own. Privately, I was also afraid that if I took a leap of faith into the world of blogging, that no one would be
there to catch me.
However, a few years have gone
by now. I feel that I’m part of a happy thriving online writer’s community. I’m
managing to work on my own middle grade fiction, and participate in my critique
group, the Magnificent Five, and raise my kids, and renovate the interior of my
house myself, as well as to put out a newsletter to my mailing list twice a
month. I feel that now, I could try to add a blog to that list. So I asked folks on the mailing list, to blog or not to
blog in last week’s newsletter, and the ‘yay’ vote was nearly unanimous. I
said to my mates on Writing for Children, ‘I may actually start a blog - the
rock of Gibraltar is slowly moving!!!’
They say that the reason social
networking works is because people love to show off pictures and videos. On my
blog will there be pictures?
Yes, there will be pictures! My
two youngest boys watch a movie on their I-pad last week.
They say that social media
works because we all love to tell stories, and it provides proof of our social
value. Will there be stories?
Yes, there will be stories!
Like the one about how my
family says ‘you shouldn’t be on Facebook, Aunty,’ because I always put my foot
in it. This week, I commented on a friend’s Easter pictures of her family, to
say, I thought her father had a great smile. She messaged me later to say that
he was her husband. Aunty struck again. Don’t tell my family, or I’ll never hear
the end of it!
They say another thing we
love about social media is the chance to share jokes. Will there be jokes?
Yes,
by jingoes, there will!
Q Why did the
elephant paint his nails red?
A I don't know, why?
Q So he could hide in
a cherry tree. Have you ever seen an elephant in a cherry tree?
A No.
Q See how good they
hide!
That’s a joke I borrowed off
my pal, Lynn Kelley. And I’ll also borrow one of her send-offs too because I love
it. See ya’ in the funny papers!
Yvette Carol :-)
p.s. Thanks so much for reading my first ever blog post.
