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Blogging has been around since the 1990s, but has become widely accepted and popular over the last few years; from large scale sites to niche and very personal there is something out there for just about everyone.

If you want to join the trend and be a blogger you can quickly set up a site on Blogger or WordPress. However, just because its easy doesn’t mean it is right for everyone, for example what if you don’t think you can write regularly, or you are not interested in looking after the site upkeep. Can you still participate? Of course you can, you just need to existing blogs you can write for; here are a few ideas:  ... Read more 385 words, 1 image

• Ask friends and family – Do any of your friends or family have blogs? Are they on topics you are knowledgeable?
• Work or associations – Does your company or association  e.g. sports club, school drama club have a blog?
• Blogs you interact on – If you’ve written several good quality comments on a blog the owner is likely to have noticed you and has already seen your writing style. Get in touch and explain why you’d like to write for their site and the topics you’d like to cover
• Blogging jobs – There are frequently blogging jobs going on a variety of blogging boards. However, these are often for several posts a week so are not suitable if you want to write irregularly plus they usually need track record.
• Guest post services – Sign up to a site like Myguestblog that provides a forum for blog owners and writers to meet

Its the first of November and that means two things; it’s time to grow a mustache and to write a novel in a month. As I’m challenged in the facial hair area, I concentrate on Nanowrimo.

At first it sounds daunting, writing 50,000 words in a month, but after thinking a bit harder the enthusiasm kicks in and you think yes I can write 1600 words a day, so you sign up and then reality hits. However, the great thing about Nanowrimo is, it is about quantity and not quality. It can be difficult at first to accept it, but it means the target for the month is to get as many words written as possible and it doesn’t matter if it is not your best writing, or whether you’ve missed out all the difficult scenes because you have a first draft you can revise over the next 11 months.

I have completed Nanowrimo twice, but have not participated the last two years; in 2008 I gave birth to my daughter at the beginning of the month and 2009 I returned to work after a years absence. As I don’t have any major life changes this year, I’ve thought hard about whether to participate knowing it will encourage me get words on paper instead of them just going round my head.

However, I’ve decided not to participate because I just don’t know where I will find the time to write the words. It was tricky before, but now I am working longer hours and have my daughter to look after, so is likely to take most of my free time. I thought about signing up and seeing how far I got, but in the end I decided that it would become stressful and remove the fun. Plus I want to work on an idea I’ve already started and that is against the rules.  ... Read more 385 words, 1 image