To blog or not to blog? That is the question

I have been struck recently by the number of entries that mention how nervous people feel about dipping their toes into the blogosphere and ‘exposing themselves’ to others.

My first thought is that it is not that kind of website – Dirty Den may well have some tips if you are looking for that sort of thing! But my first serious thought (I do have them) is that I can understand how daunting it feels, having been there myself only a few short months ago. Yes, constant reader, despite my highly polished style and elegant turn of phrase I too have quaked in trepidation.

So I have had a think and I hope the following helps those of you who are on Wired In and teetering on the verge of your first blog. I need to stress that there is no expectation on community members to write and if you are happy reading and thinking that is cool.

Grammar
This can put people off. Apostrophes are pesky things, as are commas, colons, semi colons – in fact all punctuation can be a pain. As can tenses – present, past, past-perfect – the mind boggles. All this grammar talk puts be in mind of a joke that I have known for years.

A teacher calls round to a pupils house as she has been absent from school without explanation (shows how old this joke is – wouldn’t be allowed these days) and knocks on the door. The girl answers.

Teacher : “Hello small child. I would like to speak to your parents. Are they here?”

Small child: “They was in, but now they is out”

Teacher: “Tsk, tsk. ‘They was in, they is out’, where is your grammar?”

Small child: “She’s in the front room watching telly!”

Well, it makes me laugh but the point is grammar is quite funny and what does it really matter if you have a few random dots in the wrong place? My ex-partner, and present good friend, has no idea about apostrophes and just scatters them around liberally in the hope that at least some of them will be in the right place.

So don’t let grammar put you off. What you have got to say is ten zillion times more important – and the reason we edit your blogs is to support you. And I will confess that we don’t get it right all the time either.

Spelling
Ditto. I used to teach English as a foreign language to people from all sorts of different nationalities, and their uniting question was why English spelling is such an almighty dogs breakfast. My erudite and learned answer was because it is such a mish mash of words nicked from other languages and the fact that the bloke who invented the printing press also invented his own quirky form of spelling.

So again whack the word down and if it’s not correct we will correct it. My brother is severely dyslexic and this put him off writing for far too long when he is, in fact, an amazing writer. OK he still can’t spell my name correctly – one memorable letter had six versions – but hey, who cares, he wrote!

Reaction
Now this may be the real clincher for many people. Wondering what people will think, how people will react or respond. Will the ‘brainy’ ones but on their brainy hats and rip me to shreds?

The first point is that recovery has nothing to do with being brainy (whatever brainy means). We have all heard the phrase that we are experts in our own recovery and, while it is one of those phrases that does get on your nerves after a while (a game of two halves, anyone?), it is actually true.

I can see it may be a bit tougher coming at things from a professional perspective where things may not be rooted in personal experience in quite the same way. But I guess it boils down to what you want from your blog. Just because people disagree with you it doesn’t mean you are wrong and a bit of healthy disagreement makes for great reading and learning.

You will note that I said healthy there, and we are aware that there have been occasions on Wired In where things have strayed into the unhealthy and the personal.

I can only reassure you by saying that the systems that we now have in place should not allow this to happen in the future. With my editor hat on I have to say to anyone who thinks it is a laugh to put people down and/or make themselves look brainy at other people’s expense, this will not be tolerated.

Any accusations of stifling debate I will take on the chin and give my standard response that, largely, it is not about what you have to say but how you choose to say it. And if you choose (and I stress you and choose) to comment in a way that denigrates others well, hard luck frankly.

Phew – felt a bit masterful there!

On the flip side you may worry that you will get no reaction at all! As I have said before lots of people look at blogs – hundreds sometimes – but only a small percentage will leave a comment. Although I have to say that since I last wrote about at least leaving a ‘calling card’ the community has been brilliant and the average number of comments has gone from one or two to five or six.

A massive thank you to everyone for that – it is really important to feel acknowledged and long may it continue.

So you will get a response and people will be interested. You will be surprised at just how much.

I hope this is reassuring and encourages some of you to break the blogging ice. Like most things that are a bit scary, once you actually do it you wonder what you had been worrying about and get really into it.

If you still have any worries or concerns do get in touch with me on .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) and I will help in any way I can. As will Sarah. If you want to send me something to have a look at prior to putting it on the site I am more than happy to do this.

If you don’t know how to even start putting a blog together we will be working up some top tips and a blog template as soon as we can. But in the meantime if you need some advice just get in touch.

I am also looking for some of our more experienced bloggers to be ‘blog buddies’. This would involve supporting new or less confident community members to feel able to contribute. We are still working on the finer details but essentially if people indicate they want some support we will link them up to you.

Communication can take place through the friends private message system on the site or through personal e-mail addresses depending on how you want to operate. Wired In will not give out any personal details in any circumstances. If you want to be a blog buddy, or want a blog buddy, just let me know.

Soooooooooooo – I hope this helps. Blog ‘til you drop!

Onwards and upwards

Michaela