Collecting my arsenal…there’s so much to know!

It’s a good thing I love researching because there is an endless amount of information on how to get started on blogging and that’s once you narrow it down to a few good experts to follow. I could spend the next year learning about blogging and there’d still be so much more to know. The thing is, if you’re looking to be an expert on blogging before getting started, you’ll never get started. My perfectionist self is screaming at me right now. Sometimes you just have to put yourself out there and ride the wave of learning as you do it. The good news is there’s so much out there to teach you.

For instance, YouTube videos are my BFF. You can learn ANYTHING on YouTube. It’s so great to be alive during this era of technology. I’m a Gen X slash Early Millennial cusp baby. So, I remember, with pristine clarity, the days of landlines, no cell phones, and using a book to learn about something. Wow. But luckily, I grew up at a time when I was able to take a computer course in school (albeit high school) and I’m able to keep up with the constantly evolving world of tech. Social media is at the heart of this technological sphere connecting any and every one with any and everything. So YouTube has been a great resource for me to find videos on how to start a blog, how to maintain a blog, and how to (eventually) monetize my blog.

The trick is keeping the motivation up and carving out time to do it. As a busy Mom of three kids, it’s easy for me to say, “I don’t have time” or “I’m too tired”. And maybe that’s true, buuuuut, if you want to really do something, eventually you run out of reasons and just do it. I’m still working on that. I’m not a super driven person. I’ve always wanted to be, and I’ve tried. But, even when I really want something, I often hit roadblocks. I end up hesitating or even avoiding it. It’s probably the fear of doing something new.

Once the motivation is there and you get started (and restarted in my case), it’s not just about the writing. Going back to the world of tech and how my generation manages, there’s been a huge learning curve trying to figure out how to use a blog. The backend has a lot of features that are totally out of my realm of understanding. Once I write the post, I then have to figure out how to post it. Again, Google and YouTube are amazing resources for this. I’ve also reached out to my web designer since it’s their template I’m using, and they would know best how to navigate through it. It does take time. In the beginning, it’s definitely the cost of time that you’re paying. The good news is you get to decide when that time is. Blogging works around your schedule. That’s my favorite part.

I’m currently in the process of setting up a schedule that includes time to work on my blog and how that works with part-time substitute teaching, dropping off and picking up kids, taking kids to their weekly activities, meal planning and prepping, housework, grocery shopping, running errands, appointments, and so on. The to-do list never ends.

So to recap, there’s researching how to blog, carving out time to write, learning how to operate your blog, and working blogging into your already busy schedule. There’s a video, or a blog, or an article out there for everything so rest assured there’s information on how to figure out all those things. And this is where I’m currently at in this new adventure. I guess all that’s left to do is to just do it. Yikes!