Photo credit – Shlomit-Wolf via Unsplash

As part of this blog I am engaging in some blogging projects.  I completed a photo 101 project some months ago and learnt lots of new tricks.  Now it is time to fine-tune some blog writing skills.

What will happen?

Each week day there will be project topic, and I will compose a response in a blog post. Topics are going to be about exploring the blogosphere, how to use it and ways of approaching blog posts.  Today is a series of questions to be answered.

Why am I blogging rather than keeping a personal journal?

Blogging offers a platform to write for a bigger audience than a journal offers. Personally I like this mode of writing because for me it is like having a conversation with that audience.  And – what’s more there is opportunity for interacting with the people and using media enhancements to improve the attractiveness of posts. I find it presents a great opportunity to learn from others in on-line communities.  It is my experience that people are often happy to share their thoughts, feedback and perhaps wisdom through these on-line environments. This is a great way to learn from people across the world.  It doesn’t have to be limited to people I know in real time or in my own backyard.

The topics I think I’ll write about

My blog is about lifestyle, learning and lots more.  I have had a lifelong interest in learning. I am happy to share what I learn, but also want to learn from others and share that learning. Be they a child or a child at heart, curiosity in learners is a great quality.  To me it suggests a mind-set about life.  And, you will see how important that is if you read my blog post “Are we ever or never too old to learn?”

The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.
~ Albert Einstein

I am trying a new lifestyle – one with more flexibility and less certainty.  I am on a quest (not alone, with my partner) to find out about others with similar goals, how they manage it, and the different ways they got there.  Where’s there? Getting to the decision to change.  Finding the place that they want to be.  To the lifestyle they have carved out. This is probably not a logical, linear process.  There are many other factors that come into play.  There are flips, and turns and changes of mind. Mindset is one of them.

What are all the others?  I’m not sure yet – still investigating and blogging about it …

Who would I love to connect with via my blog?

I would love to connect with other people living a life they love. People living their dream?  Perhaps they are searching for it? People who have chosen to lead a life that calls them to be in a better space rather than staying stuck in a rut.

You can apply this to many things – so why is my blog different?  Perhaps it isn’t. In the 21st Century we talk about flexibility, tele-working and hot-desking.  You hear people talk about the global village made possible by social media channels making connections between people easier.  I also hear about knowledge economies and how we will need people with knowledge and skills that will be in demand for some time. So, I am thinking, it must be possible.  It is those possibilities that interest me.  I want to tap into how people are managing these dynamics.

If my blog is successful throughout the next year, what would I hope to have accomplished?

I hope that I will build a following in the months to come – that there is sufficient interest in these topics and in my presentation of them.  I hope that people will come to me with stories they are happy for me to share.  And if this happens, can it be a commercial thing?  A monetised blog?

Most of all, I hope I learn a lot about sharing, social learning and social networking through engaging in the process.

Will I succeed?

Does it matter?

Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.
~ Winston Churchill

What do you think?