Writing equipment

With Christmas almost here it means the new year and the traditional time for making resolutions is not far away. I’m not a fan of new year resolutions because I believe it adds too much pressure and you are more likely to achieve the outcome if you set well developed goals at a time appropriate to you and not necessarily defined by a calendar.

However, having said that, this year I have a desire to set some resolutions. As I’ve been doing my Christmas shopping I’ve been reminded of things I’d like to do and have developed a list of things I’d like to achieve by the end of 2012.

Complete weekend novelist – I was progressing well through this book until I wrote a post about it and I haven’t used it since! Therefore I would like to complete the remaining chapters.

Write journal at least once a week – although I have written a journal for many years I tend to go through phases of not writing, sometimes it is days, but sometimes it can be months. I would like to have some continuity in my records and think once a week will provide this without being too difficult to keep.

Write things I’m grateful for every day – I think it is good to finish the day thinking about the good things that have happened or things I’m grateful for, and I sometimes list them in my journal. However this is fairly erratic and I would like to do it more regularly. I’ve dropped some hints and hope I will be given a five year journal for Christmas and this will provide a small space to write each day, but will also enable me to review them easily each year.  ... Read more 543 words

Journals started off as a private record, think of Samuel Pepys, one of the earliest known journals written in code so other people could not read it. With the establishment of mass communications came the opportunity to share journals e.g. newspaper social diaries, television, video diaries. However it is only with the internet that there is an opportunity to share writing in real time.

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Picture taken by vanhookc

It is so easy to share your writing using the web, with blogging sites e.g. WordPress, Blogger, article sites e.g. Ezine, Squidoo and fiction sites e.g. FanFiction, Fictionpress. In 2005, it was said a new blog was created every second, so people obviously like this method of sharing their writing. But can you write the same online, knowing it will be public as you can in a personal notebook or computer?

I’m sure some people can, but I can’t.

My online writing

My first blog was on Livejournal and I never worked out why I should write there as well as in a journal so it became a strange collection of updates and notifications from other sites. This may explain why I didn’t keep it for much longer than a year. I started a blog on productivity and goals in 2007 and most of the posts are on topics that I would not think about including in my journal. Last summer I kept a log of our summer holiday so my family could read how my 1.5 year old daughter found her first sailing trip, but kept a journal at the same time.

So I’ve had several years when I’ve kept a blog and a journal on similar topics, what does it tell me?

Comparison of online and personal writing

I’ve collected extracts from my blogs and journals which were written on the same day and the same topic.  ... Read more 1312 words, 1 image

Photo by minifig

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