Well, who would have thought it? I’m loving writing my little bloggie! That’s what my friend Sian calls it, she of http://www.spiritoftheblog.co.uk/. We’ve never met, but she got in touch with me last year about my books on bullying through my website, and we reconnected last week through this blog.
To be honest, I only came to blogging because I wanted to put the word out about my dream book, and I imagined that it was going to feel like any other writing task. But it’s turned out to be completely different, and the reason why, is you.
Already, in a few weeks, I’ve had a number of email conversations with people in Britain, Canada and the US, and I’ve loved hearing your dreams and comments.
It reminds me of when I started to teach workshops, which I did out of financial necessity after my marriage broke up. The last thing I expected was that I might actually enjoy it.
But, almost immediately, I discovered that nothing is more wonderful than sitting among a group of people who are totally absorbed in their writing, and then hearing them read what they’ve written. I think one of the reasons people come to writing workshops is because it answers an ancient need in all of us to come together and tell our stories.
So hello Sian, and hello everyone else who is reading this! Is there anything you would like me to add to my topic list?
Jenny Alexander's blog: Writing in the House of Dreams 
I totally agree with you about blog writing. I was the same and felt quite anxious about blog writing initially. Now, I really enjoy writing them and often find myself writing them in the car while waiting to pick the kids up from school. I love their bite-size-ness! Regarding your blog list, I’d be interested to read any dream analysis, or read about other writers’ inspirations.
It’s not just about the real-time connection you make with people, but also the bitesizeness – yes! I started out thinking my posts had to flow like chapters in a book, and develop my themes, but this feels so free, in comparison. Re other writers’ inspirations, I’ve got several other guest blogs lined up – again, I started with the idea of scheduling over several weeks, but now I’ll publish them as soon as I get the time. I won’t look at analysis here though – I’ve added a post on why to my topic list – thank you!
Hi Jen! I am absolutely thrilled bloggie is working so well for you! You’ll find that your bloggie will organically find a rhythm & shape of it’s own as it grows & develops. I tell people who come to me asking about webby stuff to use other people’s blog structures & recommendations as just a guide ~ try them out & play ~ there’s no definitive rule. Lot of pro bloggers advise structured schedules for blog posts to help people sustain them, but play & creativity is also essential to bloggies! It has to flow from you, in whatever shape that feels best. It’s very very freeing to be open about letting you & bloggie find that shape before trying to impose a particular shape. And talking of shape, my friend, I finally got around to posting up the cave bags & yours is now up their baby! For anyone who hasn’t got a clue what cave bags are, we are trying to statr a new trend! http://www.spiritoftheblog.co.uk/?p=1310 & here is one of the cave bag stars ~ your jen herself! ~ http://www.spiritoftheblog.co.uk/?p=1208 🙂 xxxxS
Hi Sian – I’ve just read your blog about my cave bag *blushes* – it’s so lovely. Thank you! You’re so right about the structure thing. I researched how to blog n all that, and there was a concensus that it’s best to have a regular day and time, so I got half a dozen posts and guest-posts scheduled at sensible intervals, but it felt all wrong for me. So I’m going with the flow now, as you recommend, and letting my little bloggie decide what it wants to be for itself. Let me know when you’re doing the collage thing cos I could send you some images, if you’d like 🙂 xxxx
This is one of the things I love about blogs, Twitter etc – you reach out to so many people you would never have met before and it’s so exciting to find all these like-minded people.
One of my favourite quotes is – “Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: “What! You too? I thought I was the only one.””
― C.S. Lewis
And that’s definitely true of social networking etc!
Nicola xxxx
I love that quotation! I felt that when I discovered other people who were working with dreams in creative ways, not from a psychological standpoint or with therapeutic intentions, back in the 70s. I love the way social networking makes it possible for us to connect up with like-minded people all over the world these days. It’s exhilarating 🙂
Yes – it’s so nice to know you’re not the only one who feels so strongly about things! I think it really helps you to ‘hone’ your ideas when you can talk about them with like-minded people and get perspectives from all over the country and even the world.