Rigozo
My experience blogging has been one of a kind. I’m more comfortable reading than writing. You can find me curled up with a book and I’ll stay that way for a long time. But I wanted to own a blog, so I had to write. It was not as easy as I thought.
What I thought blogging was in the beginning
When I started blogging, I wanted to share stories and pictures in this space. I was really excited to begin the journey because of all that was happening at the time – wrote a memoir about it. What I wasn’t aware of was that I had to be intentional about blogging.
After my first blog post, it took me weeks to write another. Hah! I did not have any inspiration on what to write. Lol. All I knew was that my friends had blogs and shared the links with people. Tada!
It would take me months of researching blogs before I could make sense of what blogging was all about.
Sidebar: In retrospect, I should have done the research first before googling, ‘How to Open a Blog on WordPress.’ It would have saved me the headaches and confusion.
What blogging is like for me
It was such a relief to find out that I could write about anything. That I could blog about my experiences on this blue-green planet and everything that it involves.
The most important thing should be that my content is relatable and connects with my audience. However, by the time I realized that another worry had set in.
Already I had posted a couple of stories and shared the links with friends and family- usual. I got comments, which was awesome. As people started getting involved, I had to become committed.
When my close friends pointed out typos and grammatical errors in my work, I had to improve my writing (got a long way to go). I was getting obsessed with the number of likes and views. And google was feeding me articles like – How to Grow Your Blog in a Month; How to Write SEO Optimized Articles; 10 Ways to Make Money from Your Blog, etc. Stuff that I wasn’t even thinking about but the algorithm thought I needed to know.
It was crazy. It was another hurdle I had to face. Several times I just wanted to walk away from everything.
Sidebar again: It was chaotic. I didn’t know that so much went into writing – all kinds of writing – or blogging for that matter. I was spending days trying to complete a story. Did my favorite authors have to suffer like so? I see why writing should be a full-time job, please.
I tried and tried, again and again
Two years after and I’m still blogging, and I still face challenges – I’m not so disciplined and I did not grow my audience in one month. I’ve since read books on writing and experienced the biting wind of criticism.
Sometimes I hide behind the characters in my stories. They reflect my inner turmoil, my faith, my dreams, my photography, my excitement about life, and the things that make me come alive. I started an interview series – why not? I got to know a lot of people and make great connections, and I plan to do more interviews this year.
Still blogging and loving it
My blog feels a lot like raising a first child. It has also been a lot of fun and a lot of tears. One thing I love-love the most is the people that encourage me. And I’m grateful for the feedback I get. The experience has been amazing, and it has helped me in a way to grow into the person that I am. I’m still testing the waters, and have a lot to learn. The good news is, I look forward to it with stars in my eyes. Cheers!
Waking Dreams Unmasked 