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Posted by on November 12, 2007
I think I prefer making these fresh, bright summery books now that the weather is so autumnal, they cheer me up :-)
I played tennis this morning and it was freezing. I woke up to face the first heavy frost of the autumn so far and I wrapped up in many, many layers of clothing but as the game progressed, the sun came up and the layers came off and we had a terrific game – especially as we won – hurrah! At this time of the year, the sun being so low in the sky can be a bit of a problem but never mind! We are hardy English girls who play in rain, hail or shine and we do have a great time :-)
It’s time to catch up with some tagging that has been going on. Ange from Buzzing with Ange and Go! Smell the Flowers has tagged me in a meme which asks me to tell you about why I am blogging. As I have not really asked myself this question I thought it would be an interesting exercise so here goes….
1 How long have you been blogging?
I have been blogging for 9 months.
2 What inspired you to start a blog and who are your mentors?
I had been designing a few web sites for friends and one of them asked me to set up a blog for him. I had no idea how to do that so I decided that the best way to learn about blogging was to actually start one, and so here we are!
My mentors are anybody who has ever blogged – I learn what I would like to do with my blog and how to interact with the blogging community by following the example of all the lovely blogging friends I have encountered these last months. My technical ‘guru’ is my lovely friend L, who is a fount of all knowledge on just about everything – a true new-renaissance man.
3 Are you trying to make money online or are you doing it for fun?
It is really just for fun but as my blog has metamorphosed into a blog about handmade books, the interest that people have expressed in my books has encouraged me to consider selling them online and I am exploring this at the moment. I’ll keep you posted…
4 What three things do you love about being online?
1 I love the contacts I have made – the friendliness and support that bloggers offer each other is a wonderful thing. It’s like having pen friends all over the world.
2 I love being able to get help, advice and inspiration almost instantly from a wide range of bloggers working in the same areas of interest as me.
3 I love reading blogs about subjects I know nothing about. The range of people’s interests is so rich, varied and fascinating.
4 What three things do you struggle with online?
1 Time. Keeping up with my favourite blogs is so time consuming. I want to read everything everyone writes but if I did that I would have no time for anything else, least of all making books! I get around them all eventually but I often feel bad that I have missed something crucial or I only remember to visit when someone comments on my blog. I visit networking sites and join as many communities/neighbourhoods as possible and I participate as much as I can and answer every comment on my blog and try to post regularly. I also write very occasionally for Go! Smell the Flowers but often have no time to find things to say over there. It can be exhausting – but it is still always fun!
2 I have a weakness for widgets and get frustrated that WordPress.com doesn’t allow me to have any that use Javascript. I am going to have to move to a self-hosted blog soon I think but I am very sentimental about this little blog as I like the way it looks and it has done me proud for the past 9 months! I’m also a bit scared about the process of changing over, so I keep putting it off.
3 I read some of the more technical, pro-blogging sites talking about SEO, AdSense, PR and the like and I have no idea what they are talking about…
So there you have it. Me in a nutshell.
As is usual with these things, I am going to pass this on to some blogs that I enjoy and would like to get to know better.
Hope you have fun doing this…
Much of a muchness 
4th in a field of five top mentions? Not bad, just behind the banana girl.
I omitted to say in no particular order.
Don’t be touchy :)
You will be a millionaire when these books go on sale :)
I have some problems with wordpress, but I like it for the most part. I also wrote on a self-hosted blog, but I didn’t like it as much. There is no built in community with that route and our ad revenue was a whopping $2 so far.
Thanks for the tag… I will try my best to do it asap!
Oh, I’ll totally do it! =) Btw, I’m so glad you’re exploring the option of having an online shop!
SW – thank you. From your mouth to God’s ears, as they say!
That is useful to know. Perhaps I should just suppress my widget lust and stick with what I have – a perfectly manageable blog :)
Lady B – my pleasure. Thanks for doing it – I look forward to reading your answers :)
Joanne – excellent! As for the online shop – it’s either that or have an extension built onto my house to house all the books I make… :)
I love the positive and negative shapes in this one …are they Poppies Diane?…nice combination with the pink and blue/grey..
haha an extension for your books…I know what you mean…. :)
Diane, you have a great blog and it’s very easy on the eye too. I know what you mean about widgets and things. I moved to a self-hosted blog about 3 months ago and it’s just had a 2.0 facelift which it was in dire need of.
Thanks for taking part in this. It’s great to meet and see new blogs and I know what you mean about taking the time to do it. I think we are all in the same boat on that one!!
Kim – yes, I think they are poppies.
I have just sold 6 of my books and am now having palpitations deciding how much to charge for them….
Ange – thank you for your kind comments and the advice!
It’s all time well spent though!!
you should definitely sell online.
i also love the end papers on this one. they are just wonderful. and remind me of some of my mom’s drawings. [she calls them small wonders for a very good reason!].
This may be just a little “off” topic, but I can’t believe that you have been blogging only 9 months. When I started I had absolutely no computer knowledge whatsoever, and did not even understand windows… I still have windows 98! (laughing)
I really like the way you “mix” posts. An award or meme with an added kicker, so to speak. Great idea that I might copy if you don’t mind. I love the fact that these awards join people and blogs together, and they are fun, but sometimes content for the reader is sacrificed. This is especially important for me, because my “content” is not usually the greatest without memes :-)
Anyhoo… I just wanted to say hi, and let you know how impressed I am with your site. Happy day from Speedy!
Thanks for tagging me! I’ll get to work on it for tomorrow. Today just didn’t work on the way I planned :)
Suburose – thanks for the mention! It is a nice paper isn’t it? Very subtle…
Hello Mr SH, I have been lurking around your blog for a while and enjoying it and have obviously seen your name mentioned at various other blogs so it is nice to finally make contact! Glad you like my blog too. It took a while to get it rolling but it does seem to have a purpose finally!
Kelly – My pleasure. I enjoy your recipes – they are mouthwatering, and one of these days I might actually try one of them out instead of just reading it!