Aquatom’s Guide to Starting Blogging

This was meant to be a quick post aimed at any visitors to this site who currently do not write their own blog, but have always wanted to. I got so carried away with it I couldn’t stop typing, and it grew and grew and grew.

So, ‘new’ blogger… why not just give it a go?

For some, the reasons for not starting blogging may be:

• I can’t spell
• I have nothing to write about
• Nobody will read what I have written
• I don’t have the time
• I’m not a writer
• I don’t trust the internet

Apart from the first one (most of the time, anyway!) all of the above apply to me.

I’m a private person, so use my online character of Aquatom1968 to write behind. My name is Tom, but don’t feel too comfortable with my full identity being broadcast all over the world 24 hours a day. This was one of the reasons why I closed my Facebook account, but writing behind an assumed name (even a rather strange superhero name as mine) makes it a little more comfortable. Apart from my name, I write a lot about my life in general anyway, and if anyone I know happens to read one of these posts, they’ll probably think that it could be me anyway. Besides, authors use noms de plume all the time, and they do OK with it. So, if you don’t feel comfortable sharing your identity, you don’t have to. Create your own online personality!

I’m not a writer. I enjoy writing my thoughts down – no, I enjoy typing my thoughts. Before I started blogging, I kept a little journal where I would write any ideas or thoughts that came to me, but that didn’t feel enough for me. I wanted people to see what I had written; maybe to provide some possible kind of inspiration, or maybe receive an answer of sorts. This wasn’t possible from within the pages of the book. I don’t know if all of my posts have this same effect now that I publish them online, but I like to think that some of them do.

I’m not a writer, but I am a writer at the same time. I’m a paradox. I’m a traveller, a dreamer, a magician, a tourist, a teacher and also a student. I’m always learning. I’m an Englishman with a strange imagination who loves to write about impossible journeys to faraway planets, long forgotten memories and events of days gone by that may or may not have happened. I like to write about mundane events that happen to me in a way that isn’t mundane. I like to try and spread a little of that ‘feel good’ feeling in what I write. I like to play with words. I add colour, create rhymes, mix things up a bit. Sometimes, I think I do it well. Sometimes, not as well. But I do it because I like it. You don’t have to be a writer to write about what you like.

I always have a problem with time. Not enough time to work, eat, sleep and write (and read!). I always manage to find some time, however, even if it is just five or ten minutes in the evening. Weekends are usually better for me at this moment in time, so I try to start a couple of posts then, to add in the week if I am short of time. I use Windows Live Writer for my drafts, and publish them from there when I need to. What’s handy with Live Writer is that you can format the messages in ways that (for me!) are easier than doing it through the post editor. When I have more time, I may have a look into formatting through there, but for now, I’ll carry on as I am. You may prefer the in-built editor that comes with whichever blogging service you choose to use, the Live Writer is merely an option. So, there’s one way to save a little time on writing posts anyway.

When I first started my blog, I felt as though I was writing in my journal. I wrote what I thought, and sent it out to the wide world, and nobody came. For months, I was writing like this, but I persevered. Eventually, other bloggers found me, and have been finding me ever since. This also has an upside because I too was being introduced to other bloggers all around the planet. Each one offers something different. There is always room for one more! And not every blog will have a start as slow as mine.

Very often, I have nothing to write about. So, I do just that… and write about nothing! Occasionally, I don’t post (we don’t have to post every day), and on the odd occasion I repost an old post, slightly edited for the modern audiences! Not starting a blog because there is nothing to write about is similar to staying asleep all day as there is nothing to do (well, they’re nothing alike, actually, but I couldn’t think of a better metaphor to use!). And, if you have read this far, you must be interested in starting a blog, so there must be some kind of idea lurking in the subconscious somewhere, even if you don’t know what it is yet. That subconscious is a great realm when you get to know it better. Start writing and see what happens! When you get going, you just can’t stop, and you’ll want to go on and on and on and on. And on.

But, Aquatom (I hear you say – and you can call me Tom, by the way!) my spelling is atroshus. I’ll be a laughing stock if my words, that I really want to write about, are published in that state. Don’t worry (I reply), most words that are spelled incorrectly are highlighted with a red squiggly line – right click, and look for the suggested correct spelling (You’ll be howling with laughter at some of the suggestions!). Also, you can check online dictionaries and thesauruses (should that be thesauri? – no squiggly line so it may be both!) for alternative words. I think that the more you write, the more your spelling will improve. You start to remember words, and phrases, and use them again and again. Don’t be put off by spelling. Have a go. Create your own part of cyberspace. And have fun doing it!

Also, part of the fun of the blogosphere is reading other people’s posts. Not everyone writes. Some display photographs or paintings and artwork. Some publish poems. Some write their own web log as a daily diary, and others just write about what they want to write about. Everyone’s different.

On the menu bar at the top of this page, there is a link called ‘Blogs I Visit’. Click it, and there is a selection of the blogs I visit (funnily enough!). Have a look at any of them, and be inspired. ‘The Blogging Collective’ also contains other links, but if that isn’t there when you look, it is because I have combined them into one page (when I had the time!)

I hope you enjoyed this little post about the reasons why you should start blogging but didn’t feel that you could. You can do anything when you put your mind to it!