Blogging: Starting Over Part Two

The last few weeks have been a whirlwind of facebook, twitter, blogging and everything else in between. Since I'm beginning to understand some of the language, and how to link, and copy and paste, the whirlwind is starting to slow down. For those of you who grew up since your diaper days with the computer you don't have a clue as to how hard it is for people like me, who are not computer savvy. I must say, however, I've been fortunate to have friends who've been willing to help me with this process.

In my first blog, Starting Over, I said a big thank you to Hope Clark and the Farm at Weatherscreek. Hope Clark led a workshop that I attended there over a year ago. I learned organizational tools from her which has become instrumental in my growth as a writer. One such tool was to just sit down in the chair and write. Easy enough? Maybe. Maybe not.

Now that I'm a writer, and actually have published a children's book, "Tired of My Bath," I'm on to the next phase of discovery and growth, which is marketing. In order to market, you must, and I mean must, put yourself into the social media stream. I learned that from Jeff Elder's workshop. Guess where that workshop was held? You're right, the Farm at Weatherscreek. The website is www.weatherscreek.net.
Fortunately, I've had friends along the way to help me with swimming through the stream. One of those friends is Cyndi Allison. Cyndi is not only a blogspot blogger, but she also teaches a class on social media at a local college. Her students are fortunate to have her as a teacher, and I was fortunate that she helped me set up my blog page. From her, I learned it's important to add tags. Don't laugh. There are others who don't know about tags either. Now, if I could only remember how to...

Blogging and Starting Over

This makes the fourth blog I've started. The first three, I guess, were practice blogs. I hope this one will be a keeper. I've learned a lot in the past two weeks about the social media and how important it is for marketing. Two weeks ago, I didn't even know what a tweet was or how to make one. Now I have followers and I'm following.

Recently a friend on facebook suggested I create a fan page on facebook. So, there is now a "Tired of My Bath" facebook fan page. However, this page was set up by my daughter, Kristin. Why is it that our children know more than we do about the social media maze?

As I navigate through the maze, I feel like I'm learning to ride my bicycle all over again, and it's important to keep the training wheels on for my protection. This ride is one that's a little scary, but hopefully, as I go along, I'll begin to feel more secure and even venture to take off the training wheels. With friends on facebook and twitter, I know someone will pick me up if I fall.

I so appreciate writers like Hope Clark, who systematically write blogs that give advice in detail on how to navigate the social media. There are others, as well, but I'm more familiar with her because I went to a workshop she presented at weatherscreek. Ever since that workshop I respect her writing and advice.

The farm at weatherscreek is a wonderful place in the middle of a pasture in Piedmont, North Carolina. Susan and Cindy Campbell, along with Ann Wicker, host published authors and writers once a month at the farm. These authors and writers present workshops on varied subjects that will help others improve on the craft of writing. I have grown as a writer because of attending these workshops. If interested in more information on either weatherscreek or Hope Clark, they can be found on facebook and twitter. Hope Clark also has a blog that can be found on blogspot.com.