The "Blog Cos You Want To" Club

Time for another meeting? After all, I am trying to get going again. Cos I want to...

Want To No 4: Don't Strain Yourself, Don't Explain Yourself

Here's a quick one (and you might find it has surprising results...). 

Don't sprain yourself, don't explain yourself

Simply post a picture of your project. Maybe something you made years ago? Something you'd like to revisit? You don't have to say how long it took you to make, or where you bought the supplies, or what you ended up doing with it. Just show us the photo! All crafty bloggers love to look. Reading is dandy, but looking, some days can feel just right.

But wait - here's what I found; and maybe this will work for you too. Freeing myself from thinking about a post with words .....helped me to come up with some words.

WHY WILL THIS WORK?  I told myself I just needed to find the felt hat and take a picture. And as I looked, I remembered why we made it, all those years ago now and it was an easy story to tell.

There was a hat competition in school. And that's fun if you are a five year old girl. But an eight year old boy wasn't quite so enthusiastic. It had to be a good hat. So we decided on a rugby playing theme and, for inspiration, we used ideas from a felt "league table" wall hanging he had seen in a magazine. The plan was that you could move the flags round your hat, or put on new ones, depending on who you were supporting that week; so he coloured and I sewed on some velcro and made a rugby post from a bendy foam hair curler thing and we created a rugby ball shaped pompom for the top, and he took it into school - and he won a prize. Job done!

So, deciding not to tell the story had me - telling the story. And it did something else, too. It made me realise that, over the years, I've made lots of things (and the rest of the family has too) that have gradually worn out, or been passed on, or donated; and each of those things will gradually slip from view and be lost..unless I take a minute to take some more pictures. This hat was lying in the bottom of an old toybox. Next stop? who knows? I think we know where it was probably heading. But, even if I do end up moving it on now, I have a picture. And the story. And a post, too.

So, go on, give it a try. Find something you made. Tell yourself you aren't going to right anything. Then wait. You might find yourself unable to walk away. You'll start typing, maybe just a little, but you'll have some words. because you told yourself you didn't need them. Push yourself a little and you'll end up with an entry for Abi's One Photo & Twenty Words. Two photos, and you'll have something for Helena's Zoom in, Zoom Out.

Oh, the possibilities...

Blog Cos You Want To - also found here (Play on the Popular), here (Five Things) and here (Leave a List Lying in Limbo)

The "Blog Cos You Want To" Club

Want To No.3: Leave a List Lying in Limbo

Maybe it's time for another meeting of the "Blog Cos You Want To" Club? How's the blogging been going for you in January? It's been busy round here, and I've been finding myself with a little less time than usual for thinking about what I'd like to post. Usually I enjoy flying by the seat of my pants - wake up, do something, write about it - but it doesn't always work. Yesterday something came up, I had to go to it, I didn't have time to write. So, with that in mind, I'd like to suggest a bit of thinking ahead.

 I know lots of you do plan, and there are plenty of very pretty, printable blog planners out there to help: but there's planning, and there's actually opening up that new post window and putting it all together. Something non-seasonal, something timeless, something just sitting there, ready to go when you need it. Leave a list lying in limbo.

Some years ago now, when I started blogging, there was a trend for posting "bucket lists" or wish lists. I had a go at writing my own - 49 Things, I called it. Not really a bucket list, more a "rite of passage" note: not things I desperately wanted to achieve, more an everyone-has-to-think-about-doing-that-once-in-a-lifetime. I'm going to revisit that list and post it here so that you can make it the starting point for a list of your own. Go on - open up a new post, paste this is, and then take a few minutes to tailor it to your own life. Pick and choose what you want from it, add some ideas of your own, then highlight the ones you have done and - here's the thing - do not publish it this week! Or next week! (unless you really have to). keep it for half term, or when you have the flu, or any other time when you need something fast. Save it up. Just don't post it yet. Promise?

Here it is, then...

49 Things: My Life in a List

I have (or have not - yet)

• Kept a friend for more than twenty years
• Made my own jam (lots of it, in a Little House kind of way)
• Sewn a quilt
• Learned how to tap dance
• Ridden on a tandem
• Walked up the outside of a volcano
• Found or sent a message in a bottle
• Crossed the equator
• Slept in the open air
• Appeared on Live TV
• Been locked in overnight - or long enough at least for it to start getting scary
• Seen the Terracotta Army in China
• Admired the Crown Jewels in London
• Looked at Paris from the heights of the Eiffel Tower
• Caught a glimpse of the Northern Lights
• Visited a penpal
• Tracked down a long lost relative or friend through the internet
• Set my heart on something and worked tirelessly to achieve it
• Driven from one end of my country to the other
• Flown in a hot air balloon
• Built my own house
• Found a beautiful fossil to take home and keep
• Gone to a school reunion and enjoyed it
• Met an idol
• Been photographed with someone famous
• Held a stranger's hand just because they needed me
• Had a handsome man buy me champagne
• Partied through til breakfast
• Won a bet
• Found something valuable and make sure it is returned to its rightful owner
• Sold something I made myself
• Had an interesting part of my body pierced (or maybe a tattoo?)
• Dyed my hair a crazy colour
• Gone out on the town in an outfit I've made entirely myself
• Spent far too much money on something I've never worn
• Spotted a ghost
• Discovered a peacock feather lying on the grass and take it home
• Been recognised for some kind of community service
• Judged a competition
• Won a competition
• Started a Mexican Wave
• Taken part in some kind of endurance event
• Scored an own goal, figuratively or otherwise
• Discovered disappointment, but found a way out of it
• Got something published
• Seen my name in lights
• Taken up something new and discovered that I'm good at it
• Asked for my money back
• Been treated as an emergency

There you go. Copy and paste it - just don't post it. Yet!

WHY WILL THIS WORK? Well, obviously, to start with you have the satisfaction of knowing you have a post in reserve. That gives you more time to plan something else. But there's more to it than that. The big, clever bloggers talk about the "takeway" - what you give your readers, what they get from reading one of your posts. If you post a quick list, your readers can post it too. You'll have given them something they can use themselves. They might even thank you for it! And there's more - every time you post something like this, with your answers, you reveal a little bit of yourself. And that's what we all want to see. We read because we want to know about the person behind the posts: why not tell everyone if you have climbed a volcano? You never know what conversation it might start...

Are you with me? Blog Cos You Want To..

The "Blog Cos You Want To" Club

"Want To" No.2: Play on the Popular

Today I thought I'd call another meeting of the "Blog Cos You Want To" Club: what do you think? I've spotted quite a few Five Things posts popping up, so maybe it's time for a new suggestion? 

if you are anything like me at the minute, you are busy, with a big list of things to do and people to see; but you are still hoping to keep in touch with everything blog. A quick run around to see what everyone is up to, maybe, a few hello's; and something fast and fresh for your own blog. Sound about right? But wait - today I'm going to suggest you forget fresh and play on the popular. Post something from the past.

Usually I do like to keep it new when I'm posting. I don't schedule  or plan too much, so that what you get is where I am right now. But, once, when I was feeling short on inspiration someone very wise told me not not to worry. You have plenty of posts already there if someone feels a read she said. That's a reassuring thought. You have plenty of posts already there. Give it a minute and think - haven't you got something great in your back catalogue? 

I'm going to suggest that you go back as far as you dare - a couple of years if you can - and find something seasonal (a Christmas project for now!) and something with as broad an appeal as you can conjure. Not a scrapbook layout, then, but maybe a recipe or a general craft project. I have one post which has been pinned many times - it's Christmassy and it's not a scrapbook layout. I'll show you in a minute. Go ahead! Post a popular pin, or a post with lots of views, or positive comments 

WHY WILL THIS WORK? 

- Trust me: not all your readers will have seen it the first time. In two years a readership can change. Bet you have some new readers who would love to see what you were making a couple of years ago if you find the post for them! And think about it - how many times have you spotted something you like and promised yourself you'll go back because it was such a good idea? Regular readers won't mind a seasonal reminder of a great project, especially if they didn't save it or pin it the first time.

- Pinterest has changed the way we look at older material. I have no doubt. It has reclaimed blog posts from years ago, kept them in view and reinforced the idea that it doesn't have to be new to be good.

- It's going to give you a chance to take a look at what you were posting in the past and maybe muse on how your style has changed over the past couple of years. Do you have a different way of taking photos now? what have you learned since then? or were you doing something then that you might like to go back to? Just take a minute to think about it. One thing I noticed in my "popular post" was that I had two differently styled photos - some pin one and some, the other...maybe it's nice to include a choice?

- If you are very short on time you can simply cut and paste. If you have a little more time to spare, you can tweak. I had the link to Tagxedo in my post (below), but I found I was getting emails asking me how to get to the site, so it obviously wasn't clear enough. Look now and you'll see I have added "click here".Why not use the hard work you have already done and take a couple of minutes to add in an extra tip or re -edit a picture or include some useful links? If you do, you have every chance that your project will become more pinnable. So, one final tip: take charge of the Pinterest description which will appear under your photo. Think of a compelling way to describe your project.. When you are uploading your photo into blogger, click on it, click on properties and add your description to the ALT text box. That will be what appears when someone pins your post. Honestly? I think my "popular post" became popular because of the way it was described by a pinner. Get there first.

Convinced? Let's see what you have in that storehouse of yours! Play on the Popular! This is mine:

Tagxedo: Making Great Cards Just Got Easier

 This started out as an experiment and turned into a little project. Have you heard of Tagxedo (click here) ? It's a word cloud creator, a bit like Wordle only even more fun. As soon as I tried it out once I could see lots of possibilities.

You can paste in any text you like, choose a shape, colours, fonts, themes, whatever. I put in a few lines of "Jingle Bells", picked out a tree shape and came up with this:

Both photos today edited in RadLab

Then I gave it a bit of From High In The Sky and it gave me this:

which I'm pretty pleased with. Both of these are printed out at 7x5 and put into little Ikea frames.

But they would also make great cards or Christmas tags. And there's more: you can upload a photo and shape a favourite bit of text round it. I'm thinking of snaffling some schoolwork and turning it Tall and (Not So) Small shaped. That would make a different kind of birthday card next year. Or a poster..

The "Blog Cos You Want To" Club

"Want To" No. 1: Five Things

Blogging?

• Some days I think I'll never come up with another story again. Other days I can't get the words down fast enough.
• Some days I get unstuck when I try to do something technical. Other days I take a deep breath, start googling and work it out (and that's very satisfying).
• Some days I have nothing to show you because I didn't get it finished, or I have to keep it quiet for a bit longer, or whatever I was making didn't turn out the way I wanted. Other days I discover a page just ready to go

Like this one which just came back from Scrap365 (a tongue in cheek look at my top housekeeping tip, for the "And Finally" column in the last issue)

• Some days I go with short because there just isn't any more. Other days, I discover that quick and snappy can be very effective and gets lots of you talking
• Some days my camera battery runs out, the light is bad and I can't find the tripod. Other days, I nod my head and say I'm glad I took a picture of that even if it's a bit on the blurry side.
• Some days I wonder how some of my early readers are doing, what they're up to, how they are. Other days, I'm delighted to welcome a new face.

Is this starting to sound a little familiar? Maybe you feel like this too? It comes, it goes, it ebbs, it flows..I was talking to my good blogging friend Ruth the other day, about motivation in part; and she said maybe we needed a bloggers-in-a-rut group. I think she's right. Just for fun I'm going to try to pull together some occasional posts with easy ideas, and tell you why I think they work. So even if you don't like the suggestion. at the very least I'll get you talking about why not! That's the Blog Cos You Want To Club. What? You don't blog? Then go on, make it your mission to support someone who does! Pick a blog you usually read and comment on it, follow it, "like" it, pin from it and say thanks...you know what they say: Use It Or Lose It!

So, an idea for today? If you are in a serious blogging bind I suggest the first place you start is with Julie Kirk's excellent series The Push Up Bra Approach to Blogging.There isn't one piece of advice I could give you that she hasn't covered. But if you want someone to throw out a quick idea and say - here, you'll get a post out of this one, read on..

FIVE THINGS
Back in 2011 I ran a series of posts called Five Things.
- 5 Things I've Noticed
- 5 Holiday Observations
- 5 Things I've Learned about Blogging
- 5 Reasons to Love an Uncle
- 5 Reasons to Come Back here Tomorrow
- 5 Things I Need Explained This Week
- 5 Signs of Spring
- 5 Ingredients for my Perfect Weekend

You can see by the titles that my lists ranged far and wide. That's what makes it so much fun to do.
WHY WILL THIS WORK?  Because you can scribble down a list or a half anywhere and everywhere. Treat it like a shopping list and just scribble. Because you can come up with titles first and then fill in ideas when they come, or you can have a thought and create a list round it. Because it gives your readers a peep into one tiny little bit of your world. Because it intrigues. Because it chimes. Because it invites your readers to say Me too! 

Trust me. Try it with a few new fresh-out-of-the-box ideas.

- 5 Useful Things to Know About
- 5 Things to Think About at Midnight
- 5 Products I Love
- 5 Colours in my Home
- 5 Books I Have Read More than Once
- 5 Comfort Foods
- 5 Favourite Comments on my Blog

I haven't used these ones yet myself. Coming to a blog near you soon! The Blog Cos You Want To Club. Are you with me? More suggestions as they happen...