How to Hug a Blogger - Part 1 of 3

To me, blogging is pretty normal. A lot of my friends blog to some degree. Most of my friends read lots of blogs. However, to others (like my dear mum), blogging is a strangely odd thing for someone to do. I have been dancing around blogging for only a year or so and still don't get some of the nuances involved. So - I thought I would write what I know (and have Googled) about blogging.


Firstly, what is Blogging? Blogging is essentially a weblog, like an online diary or journal. It can be about anything and anyone can have one. I use a program called 'Blogger' which makes it easier for me to feel as if I am a 'blogger'. Wordpress sounds too hard to me! (That is a bloggy joke - not a good one mind you). Google is the brains behind Blogger and Google helps to promote blogs through their search engines.


Blogging can be a lonely task. There are bloggers all over the planet sitting all alone writing blogs about everything from craft to business and everything else in between. Some bloggers find success and reach the giddy heights of samples and companies scrambling over themselves to sell their wares through their blogs. Others, strive silently along, tormenting friends and family for ideas, experiments and endless feedback, picking up followers in dribs and drabs.


One thing that all bloggers have in common - is that they love a bit of love. A bit of encouragement. A bit of a pat on the back. A bit of a hug. They like to know that they are not alone out there in the blogosphere. But how does one do this? How does one find and then follow the mysterious being that is 'The Blogger'. Here are some ways to 'Hug a Blogger'....

1. Sign up with 'Google Friend Connect' - this is the first step.  This simply involves an email address and a password. Google does not send you any junk mail, you shouldn't get spammed, you can sign out anytime you like etc. If a blog has a link like the 'Google Friend Connect' widget above, just click it and plug in your details. This then allows you to have a Google profile. This is simply, a picture of yourself and some details like; your favourite movie, favourite vegetable and perhaps your favourite colour. Be careful though, don't add your street address or your PIN numbers, this is the internet after all!
2. Then, when you come across a blog you like - you can 'follow' it. What this means is that you can have a cute little picture of yourself somewhere on the side bar of the blog and you are considered one of the faithful. Look out for the little 'Google Friend Connect' widget on blogs you like and simply 'Click' it and 'BoomBa' - you are a follower of that blog!
3. Once you have become a 'follower' - the blogger will feel warm and fuzzy on the inside and will know that some success is being made in the world of blogging. The amount of followers a blogger has is a good indicator of a blog's success. However, numbers aren't everything (I say this as a new friend of mine has more followers than I do, I just don't want to admit my utter jealousy of her popularity - that is too uncool)it is the quality of writing and development of a writer's style that counts.
4. Finally, the best way to Hug a Blogger is by leaving comments. This shows you have read the post, thought about it and felt compelled to comment on it. This can start some fabulous dialogues between readers and it is all terribly exciting! Please note: bloggers do not really appreciate being sworn at, verbally abused, being corrected on punctuation and/or grammar (save that for the inbox) or being told that they are mean, nasty, smelly, ugly, dumb etc. So keep things positive and/or constructive.

Being a 'follower' does not mean you will automatically get any notification that a new blog post is posted. To get blogs in your inbox is another matter, I will explain this in the next exciting instalment of.... How To Hug A Blogger - Part 2 - which I will post tomorrow night...


So.... would you like to Hug a Blogger right now? Really? Well, click the 'Google Friend Connect' Widget above right and go right ahead!

Why oh Why am I doing this?

I literally typed the following into 'Google':  'Why do people blog'?  As you would expect, a H.U.G.E list of articles came up. I have since come across articles giving some fabulous advice, funny things to do, quirky things to do, inspirational things to do and absolutely outrageous things to do, it was quite educational.


For those of you who know me and/or have followed my diatribes on Facebook over the past few weeks, you will know that I have been trying to rejuvinate my blog. What a comical disaster of errors this has been. I have searched high and low for a new funky background, I have 'Skitched' and spliced, Picasa'd and Googled, I have deleted and added, changed fonts, swished colours, chosen and un-chosen templates, and even updated my blog roll. I now have a new look and a new focus and I have been all gung-ho to .....


Oh pfft... What the heck am I doing here?  Why on earth would anyone care about what I have to say? Who is reading this anyway?


I know that this sounds a bit weird and a bit self-loathing, but I have had to basically decide whether this blog thing is for me. I mean I could leave my little ripple in the blogosphere and take up cross stitching cat decals on socks and be done with it. Then a Crafty friend reminded me of why I started this blog. I love to write.  No, no, I know YOU love to write too.... But I L.O.V.E. to write.


At night when I wake up, I am in the middle of thinking through story plots, or I am thinking how I can improve a recipe format, or I am remembering something that made me really mad and a letter I could therefore justifiably write (I have a very interesting 'Draft' section in my email account), I am coming up with anonymous letters to people in my street to get their cats desexed, their lawns mown or letting them know that if I stand on the very tippy corner of my bath and lean 32 degrees, I can see into their shower. I love to write. About anything.


So... writing is my first passion when it comes to my blog. But my other passions fit into my blog too - which is handy. I am passionate about 'cool' - ridiculous, right? Not cool for the sake of being cool, but cool as in maintaining a good attitude, keeping good peeps around me, experiencing new things and constantly learning learning learning. I am anti-settling. I am not ready to settle into my hair-cut, shoe style, jeans cut or my 'look'. I am not ready to say I am too old for things (I will not be listening to Beiber and wearing jeggings by the way, don't worry). I am passionate about continuing to discover myself and life even though I have kids and a mortgage (or two).


Therefore, (I wanted to start this paragraph with, 'So', but the previous one was....) within the html of this blog you will find things on fashion, shopping, my somewhat quirky homelife (just wait until you meet 'Fern'), my feeble attempts at crafty things and sewing, and I am going to add cool things about my kids. I was not going to blog about my kids because EVERYONE blogs about their kids, but, you know what? My kids are really cool, and we do really cool things together. Therefore, they get space on my blog.


But you will hopefully find my first love, writing. I give myself little topics to research and write about and things to think about all the time, which send imaginative sparks shooting through my brain.  Topics coming up in my Drafts are the history of Birkenstocks, lists of what you need to get your cool back if you have lost it, rules for shopping, the difference between 'Style' and 'Cool' and the list goes on and on and on and on....


Cool....