{"id":117,"date":"2012-02-17T09:29:51","date_gmt":"2012-02-17T09:29:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/grahamdinton.com\/wp\/?p=117"},"modified":"2012-02-16T22:27:27","modified_gmt":"2012-02-16T22:27:27","slug":"blogging-101","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/grahamdinton.com\/wp\/?p=117","title":{"rendered":"Blogging 101"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"wpid-48698seh5hvco7q-2012-02-17-09-29.jpg\"<\/span>
\nhttp:\/\/www.freedigitalphotos.net\/images\/view_photog.php?photogid=2280<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

When I started this blog at the beginning of January, I was a little sceptical. Yes, it may be good for writing practice, but if no-one else is reading it, then what\u2019s the point?<\/p>\n

Is it possible to be a writer without a reader? Well, of course it is, but I don\u2019t want to be a writer just for that. The fun of writing is in the reading. I want to write stories that people will read.<\/p>\n

So I listened to all the wonderful advice from Joanna Penn of The Creative Penn<\/a> and others, and I decided to set myself some goals and to write my novel in parallel with promoting my blog and myself. I\u2019ve written plenty of short stories but never a novel and I know it is a massive project that will take some time. Close yourself off in a small room and write, distraction free. But where\u2019s the reward in that? It\u2019s not about the money, money, money. There\u2019s no price tag, but you do need feedback.<\/p>\n

There is huge motivation from readership and recognition. Pressure = Motivation.<\/p>\n

So, I set my goals and I expected to labour away for six months or more, unseen in the vast webosphere that is life.<\/p>\n

Rules of blogging, they say:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Blog regularly. \u2713 Twice a week like clockwork.<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Don\u2019t worry about the format to start with. \u2713<\/span> How bad is this template!<\/li>\n
  3. Say something. \u2751<\/span> Jury still out.<\/li>\n
  4. Focus, focus, focus. \u2713<\/span> I think I am. Friday is advice day. Tuesday is a bit of fun – a story from a song lyric.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Anyway, enough of that. The truly motivating and exciting news is that my blog has already been spotted by www.writing.ie<\/a> and the fantastic, very professional and inspiring Sam Blake (@writersamblake , http:\/\/www.bloodredink.com\/<\/a>) who requested that my blog about the Hockney exhibition appear in their weekly newsletter. So, there I am with my nine lessons from Hockney, just below a photo of Sophie Hannah, a favourite author of mine. How cool is that?<\/p>\n

    \"wpid-88d258d2c4eaea21cd000c54b17e197a-2012-02-17-09-29.png\"<\/span><\/p>\n

    Perhaps you can tell by now that I\u2019m quite chuffed<\/span>.<\/p>\n

    I\u2019ve only been blogging a month or so. And tweeting of course, which is where @writesamblake found me – the twittersphere – that weird and amazing place to make contact with other writers.<\/p>\n

    So here\u2019s my Friday advice. If you are thinking of writing a novel or a short story of two, and looking for motivation, here\u2019s what you do:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Start Twittering.<\/li>\n
    2. Watch #amwriting and #writetip and some people who you regard as good. Follow them.<\/li>\n
    3. Tweet a bit. What are you doing? – make sure you talk about your work, your writing. We don\u2019t want to hear what you had for lunch. Don\u2019t mix personal gossip with professional – this writing thing is a job now, not flippant fun. Be serious. Be creative.<\/li>\n
    4. Start a blog – it is simpler than you think<\/li>\n
    5. Oh, and write. Write a lot, write every day, and get going on your stories and novels.<\/li>\n
    6. Someone will notice. I\u2019ll follow you \ud83d\ude42<\/li>\n
    7. When people notice you, it makes you work harder and that\u2019s a good thing.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Have fun and be lucky. That\u2019s my Friday advice.<\/p>\n

      Thanks for listening today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      http:\/\/www.freedigitalphotos.net\/images\/view_photog.php?photogid=2280 When I started this blog at the beginning of January, I was a little sceptical. Yes, it may be good for writing practice, but if no-one else is reading it, then what\u2019s the point? Is it possible to be a writer without a reader? Well, of course it is, but I don\u2019t want to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-skill"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nBlogging 101 - Graham Dinton<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/grahamdinton.com\/wp\/?p=117\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Graham Dinton\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/grahamdinton.com\/wp\/?p=117\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/grahamdinton.com\/wp\/?p=117\",\"name\":\"Blogging 101 - 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