Less than a week left

I have bad news, dear readers. National Blog Posting Month is nearing its end. There is less than a week left of this exercise in wordiness, and I admit I feel accomplished. The first week, I had to remind myself (almost hourly, as I often put it off most of the day) to remember to write a post every day. But now, as I surf the Web in my downtime, I am constantly coming up with new ideas for posts. I've even found myself remembering to take a camera places so that I can write about that experience later on.
I set out in this endeavor with no clear goals, except the whole one-post-a-day-every-day-for-a-month thing. As I went along, in the back of my mind, I began coming up with what I hoped would come out of this experience. Here's what I've been thinking:

• Write something REAL in every post. Whether I am pointing you to new Web sites, showcasing inspiring photos from Flickr or sharing my review of a book, I decided almost at the beginning to make sure I wouldn't disrespect you by offering a lame post.


• Make regular posting a habit, so that I end up wanting to post and share my thoughts. In essence, I'm trying to train myself up for my other (more professional) blog.


• Come up with a theme or at least a general idea of what the point of this blog is. If I want to grow my reader base beyond my friends and family (and I would like to, one day), I have to come up with a "brand". Essentially a brand (a very popular term when it comes to blogging) is what you, as a blogger, are all about. Maybe your brand is sharing recipes and photos of healthy and organic meals, or your brand is showing your picks of the best new interior design finds in the Internet (both are brands of blogs I currently follow). In any case, brands are meant to not only attract readers with the same interests, but to also give them structure, so they won't be unpleasantly surprised when you start blogging about something that they have no interest in at all.


• Connect with people. I am a self-professed loner. But I do enjoy debating with people, sharing in a worldwide conversation about this book, or this food. I want people to comment on my blog, to respond to the crazy (or boring) things I have to say.

I haven't accomplished all of these goals. I have definitely passed even my own expectations on number one and two. I haven't quite accomplished number three, but I admit I have discovered that there are certain subjects that I enjoy posting about more often than others. The comments they generate are also more interesting. Maybe that's the first step in figuring out what this blog will become? And, slowly, I am getting you all, my faithful readers, to join the conversation that I hope this blog will become. So thanks for helping me get closer to that goal.

As we enter a new month, I can't promise that I will have a new post every day, but right now I can see myself posting three or four times a week with regularity. From food to Web sites to photography, know that I will continue to share my finds on the Internet. Please stay with me on this journey.

~Beth~