10 things my blog taught me in 2 years

It is the end of the second quarter as well as the second anniversary of this blog. For this reason instead of a blog report I decided to have a look at the thing I learnt from blogging. I must admit when I started to list all the things for example you cannot please everyone or everybody always seems to be doing it better or the post I enjoyed writing is never successful seemed to be rather negative thoughts so I stopped and started it again. This time focusing on the positives. So let’s have a look at the

1) Spelling

Of course I could spell before I started my blog, yet believe me it is completely different writing an email to a friend and writing a blogpost which then will be read by many other people (hopefully). Whenever I think I have proof read my post five times and there is no mistakes in it, it is highly likely that I will spot one next they when it is published. In other words even if I check it thousand times, some mistakes will still be in it. I had to learn to put up with this fact, at the same time, I learnt to pay more and more attention to my spelling, especially because sometimes I really have to think how we say things in Hungarian (and English) properly. Since I have been living in England I read and speak much less Hungarian and believe it or not sometimes I struggle to find the right words. Therefore, the blog provides a good training for my brain and language skills and ultimately, my spelling.  

2) Writing

One would think writing is easy. Again it is much easier writing a message or a diary than writing a blogpost, especially about a certain topic. OK, but what if you had some feedback before that, you are a good writer and people enjoy reading your posts. Well, I have been blogging privately for 10 years now and 2 years of it ‘professionally’ and I received several positive feedback regarding my writing style, yet professional blogging is different and can be more difficult. In my case, posts about architecture and some specific topics can cause some headaches, however, with time these have also become easier. Yet again the marketers got it right, the more you write, the better your writing skills become, irrespective of the subject. If I look back on my first posts from 2 years ago, I would love to rewrite them. 🙂 Maybe one day I will have the time for it.

3) Communication

Communication in writing is always different, things can be misunderstood, one can take something to heart that he/she would not if it was said. Just like writing, communication can also be learnt and as the time goes by I started to sense what needs to be said to readers and followers and how. I am not saying my communication is perfect, but I am getting there.

4) Social media is not necessarily bad

I must admit, I had reservations about social media. I had never been on Facebook before, let alone Instagram, or Pinterest. I had no idea how it worked and what potentials it had. But handling social media can also be learnt. If I look back, I started to manage my social media only a year ago and I think I have managed to progress. I still do not have as much time for it as I would like to have, but it is certainly running now, whereby in the first year of the blog it was just there. The funny thing is, that I even enjoy managing social media. 🙂

5) Style

When you start doing something, you do it the way you can. You may not think about whether you are doing it in the right way or whether it truly reflects who you are, you just keep doing it and the style appears with the time. During the past two years I often questioned myself whether I am on the right track, whether my style is good enough, whether I create value. These questions and doubts appear mainly when I look at social media and the internet and I start to think everyone else always seems to be doing it better than me. Everybody has a better style, better writing skills, better photography, better subject choices. But in the end I stay true to myself, because my blog showed me what my true style is, which of course does not mean it cannot change over the time.

6) Persistence and patience

This blog has taught me to be persistent and more importantly, patient. We are all different, some of us are less persistent, some of us are very persistent. I would think I am a persistent person, yet blogging really stretched my persistence to the limits. Blogging is like an emotional roller coaster and I believe even the most determined bloggers can lose motivation at times. Patience is the other bottleneck, as I had read about the difficulties of blogging before, I was sort of prepared for waiting for success. In spite of this, I was impatient sometimes, however, I would like to think I improved in this regard, and now I am not getting upset, frustrated or angry whenever I detect a technical issue with IT and do not expect an instant remedy.

7) Photography

I would not even consider myself being a hobby photographer, as I am using photos only for illustrations and documentation. Yet, I followed bloggers’ advice and I improved my photography as much as I could, albeit an ongoing learning. I managed to take better photos, to use my camera as well not only my iPhone and more importantly to edit them. There is always more to learn and I hope the time will come when I can focus more on photography. For the time being, however, I have to focus on what I can do best and that is creating content and writing – and setting up a business.

8) Editing, planning, organising

Many years ago I had two insurance advisors visiting me at home. When I pulled out the folder containing my documents, tax reports and bills the  were amazed how neatly  they were filed and how organised I was. (The joke is that I did not feel being organised at the time at all. 🙂 ) The blog taught me to be incredibly organised: I am using editorial and other calendars, notebooks, and pay attention to what I select for the blog or social media whether it is a topic or a photo, it does not matter. It is like being an editor of my own magazine.

9) Showing myself

Perhaps the biggest lesson of all was to be brave and to show myself, to show my thoughts, photos and posts, my writing. For extroverts and exhibitionists it is not an issue, but for introverts like me it is not that easy and obvious, believe me. I am not saying, I show myself happily everywhere and in all respect, but it is getting better.

10) To love what I am doing and to love and respect my readers and followers

You love what you create, it is obvious you could say. Well, I am not sure. Because of the emotional roller coaster sometimes you are fed up with the whole thing and start to hate it. You have to pay attention to these feelings and must allow yourself a break from it, otherwise you will burn out quickly. I have been through this and I am pleased I learnt to allow myself a break and to love and return to my blog. Equally, the blog taught me to love and respect my readers and followers irrespective of whether they react, comment or not.

 

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Last but not least let me THANK YOU for reading and following this blog. I am pleased if you like what this blog represents and is about. I am always grateful and pleased post shares, likes, feedback and comments. All in all, thank you for being here, England’s Puzzle would not be possible without you.