The First Year of Blogging - a rambling collection of thoughts

There is no cake, but I may eat a tomato to celebrate.

I'm thrilled that this blog has been in existence for a year now. A year and a month actually, I'm a bit slow with my celebrations. I'm so glad to have the first year under my belt now though. Because I think that unless you're already a blogging superstar, there is quite a learning curve, and the only way to learn is by doing. What I mean to say is, there's likely to be some crappy content on a new blog in the first year - and you just have to go through it anyway.

Does that make any sense to you? It's like being a beginner at anything. No matter how much 'natural talent' you may possess for something, there is always a place for learning. And in blogging it's no different - learning how to take better photos, learning how to edit those photos better, learning how to write consistently, and how to engage readers when you write. And I don't for a second think I have any of those things figured out by the way, but they are things I work on improving.

And that is all you can do at the end of the day, just keep working at improving. One step at a time. Getting help when you need it is important [google is good for that]. Getting assistance and advice from more experienced people is great [I just finished doing this Blog With Pip course and it gave me so many things to think about]. And I enjoy this business of being new at something. When you're still new, you have so much enthusiasm, you haven't blocked yourself in with your own boundaries, you just 'do' and see what happens.

In another completely unrelated role in my life, I am a mountain bike skills instructor. I love nothing more than going out with a group of complete beginners, and giving them the tools and confidence to mountain bike. And beyond that, everyone, even the very best riders, can use some instruction. I love working with my fellow instructors because I come away riding better myself. And more than anything, I love that people, adults, show up at a course - ready to be open to learning, open to making mistakes, maybe having a crash and absolutely open to having a great time. 

But what has this got to do with blogging? Everything, really. It's just another 'thing' that you can do. So whereas in one area of my life I'm doing the instructing, in this area of my life, I'm learning the ropes, and maybe having the odd success and the odd fail. And mostly being somewhere in the middle. And I love it. It keeps me on my toes, it forces me to take photographs, to improve my writing, to go out and 'meet' people on the internet. Because blogging is about community, at the end of the day. And it's just plain old good fun. Just like when I was a brand new mountain biker. 

Thank you so much to all who take the time to read my blog and leave the odd comment. It means the world to me. 

Do you blog? What's your favourite thing about it? Or have you tried being a beginner in other areas of life? How do you find it?