Blog 2025/1

Why am I restarting? Well, in the first place because I stopped.

So, why did I stop? Because, like many people my age (including the late Queen Elizabeth II), I had an Annus horribilis.

Since then, I have had quite a few people say they miss my ramblings and so I thought it would be a good idea to start again. For those of you wanting to dip your toes into the water of blogging, I hope I can inspire you to get going with your own blog. Feel free to follow my format if it appeals to you.

Previously, I wrote between 1,500 and 2,000 words per blog, and I produced these weekly. That is a lot for people to read and I am sure my editor will be happier with less to do.

These days apparently, a lot of people can’t cope with huge amounts of text to read in one go. So hopefully fewer words and more pictures will allow me to share information in a more palatable way.

If you are seriously thinking about writing a regular blog, the first things you need to decide are:

• Why exactly are you doing this?
• Who is the blog aimed at?
• What is it that you want to convey or impart?
• How often will you feel comfortable producing a blog? and
• When are you going to send it out? Daily, weekly, monthly etc.

I imagine that if you are considering writing a blog you already know roughly what you want to write about. For me it is art and so many things which surround the production, recording and exhibition of it.

Plan what you want to say, do your research and create an outline of where you are heading to keep yourself on track.

Hopefully, too, you already understand your audience. If, like me, you are writing about art, where are you aiming your knowledge? Is it at beginners, intermediates or advanced artists.

Is it educational? Are you providing lots of information or are you going to talk about your own work and how you face issues producing it?

If you are looking to monetise your blog, I don’t have that information to share. I have preferred to think about educating people, generally retirees, on how they can improve their skills to be able to show their art to the world.

If you want me to provide information on monetisation, please let me know and I will do the research and share it with you at a later date.

So, get clear on what you need to do and follow my ramblings to gain inspiration and knowledge.