A Blogging Milestone ~ 500 posts

Who would have thought that I would ever write 500 blog posts? Certainly not me! One reason I tried my hand at blogging was because my boss at work was thinking of starting a blog for our department and, as I had no idea of what a blog actually was, I figured I had better find out in a hurry. As it turned out we never did start one but I did learn a few tips about the process along the way. Now that I am retired I use mine as a visual diary which I can look back on and see what I have grown in the garden in past years, what the weather was like during each season and so on.

My first post which was made on the 1st June 2013 featured two of my favourite photos of our granddaughters. My oh my, how they have grown since then. They are both at school now and also have a little brother as well.

Don't you just love this one of my youngest granddaughter with the peacocks? She loves the wildlife and it will be interesting to see if she ends up studying to be a vet when she has finished school.

As I mentioned in that first post I had received a lot of help from other members on the Down to Earth Forums and that help has continued to this day. I have been able to help out some others as well who are new to blogging even though there are still lots of things I don't understand in this field. 

Rhonda at her last book tour presentation. 

Recently we have had a few members who are considering whether to start up a blog or not and Rhonda has given me permission to copy her advice to them:

'My first post was on Brandywine tomatoes because I didn't know how to start. After that I just posted about what I was doing but over time I tried to not only write the facts but also the meaning of what I was doing. I remembered the rules of journalism I'd learned at uni about thinking of my readers as intelligent people who didn't know much about my topic - but I tried to put that into practise with humility because I didn't want to lecture anyone. I wanted to create a feeling of my posts being a conversation with a good friend. After a while I developed my own style and it became second nature.

I think everyone has their own style but you can't develop that unless you keep writing. Just be honest, write your facts, add photos because they add authenticity to your words, and if you can add some meaning to your facts you'll give your readers genuine insight into you and your topics. If you remember to write about who, what, why, where, when and how you should cover all you need to write well. Those six elements are the basics of every post. It's what you do to add to the basics by injecting meaning and grace in your own particular way, that will satisfy your readers. It will probably satisfy you too'.

That is very good advice from a very well known and experienced blogger. So if you have ever had a yearning to start a blog why not give it a go. If you would like some help then join us on the forums and don't be shy to ask questions. You would be most welcome.

 I have never been interested in photography until recently but am now keen to take some better blog photos. My son and I have been keeping an eye on a row of trees in a park near us as I wanted to take a photo of them before the blossoms appeared as well as afterwards as they look absolutely stunning when they are covered in white flowers. I noticed as we drove past that one tree was starting to change so we raced home to pick up the cameras and headed back to try and take some really good photos. Unfortunately most of them were very ordinary and, as it turned out, one of the best ones was taken with my little point and shoot Canon. :-) So obviously more practice is needed. Of course it might help if I read the instructions too. Oops!

  
 A new addition to our family of wildlife since last Christmas has been silly Sally who currently has taken to laying her eggs in the middle of the clivea plants which grow under our camellia tree and which is very difficult for an adult to get under to pick them up. She keeps us entertained and is good subject matter for the stories I write for my grandchildren. I hope to make an album of stories for them one of these days so that will be another learning curve. I need to watch out for specials at BigW and Snapfish so perhaps that will happen before Christmas as I think there are a lot of photo album specials around then.

Mandy from The Old Dairy

Over the past three years I have made a lot of online blogging friends which has been a lot of fun. I have met some of them in real life at our Simple Living Toowoomba workshops. By the way, Racheal is now writing the blog for our group and has some new entries there including details about a new Op Shop she has found, Collectables Boutique Op Shop, which helps the disadvantaged. I must check it out.

I wonder if I will still be blogging in three years time. Who knows what the future holds but for now I am quite happy plodding along with my little blog and I hope that my readers find something interesting here now and again.

Have a wonderful week!