Adventures in Blog World

My grandson turns Five in October and my Blog will be Five – 3 months later. This means we are both almost ready for Kindergarten. While Blog World is a bit older (not much!) the comparison is good as the greatest physical changes in Child Development takes place during the First Five Years.

As my uncle was a photojournalist and I worked for a newspaper during college, I had experience with sharing information in a public venue. My husband excelled in software development when the World Wide Web was still in its formative years. I worked as a content creator for websites, which was blogging in business world before it entered the public realm.

Even though Blog World is still in elementary school, I think it’s got the potential to do well because I know at least four bloggers that have created physical books because of blogging. This would be: The Bloggess; Smart Bitches-Trashy Books; Trish & Rob MacGregor’s Synchronicity series; and of course, Author Marketing 101. While these are all nonfiction books with targeted platforms, there are a plethora (I love when I can use that word!) of storytellers and poets who have worked the web as a springboard for successful careers. But that’s really just a bonus to the blogging experience.

Through blogging I am connected with people of like minds and interests, and I needed access to the whole globe to find them. I do have friends and family that share some of my interests, but not enough to feed my curiosity. Through Blog World I get a peek into cool stuff others share about their lives, and they like having a peek into mine. Every week I get to share a walk through Cornwall (England) with Mike, a retired magazine guy who posts on history, angels, and more. I’m in on his chats with his friend Birdazz (Australia) about coincidences in movies, books, music, and all kinds of wild stuff. Add those two fun friends to the MacGregor’s (Georgia USA) stories about synchronicity, aliens, and dog park politics – with the occasional Bruce Springsteen sighting – and I’m Born To Run.

I do follow “Industry” and Author Blogs as this is like reading a newspaper in real time, full of only the content that interests me, and I can also share pictures with kayakers around the globe. All I have to do is add the website address of an interesting blog into my Google Blogger Reading List, and I don’t have to follow them publically. I can read about astrology aspects, explained while they are in process, and enjoy how much more accurate that is than checking weather forecasts.

For anyone afraid of privacy issues when entering the internet cloud, there are all kinds of tips and pointers about creating pseudonyms when setting up your account. In most cases the only information that needs to be accurate about you is – a functional email address and a zip code. Phone numbers and addresses are not required even when there is a space for them. If you choose to fill in all that information, be aware that it does not need to be accurate unless it’s a secure sight where you actually want to buy stuff.

The above picture is of my grandson, after taking his first flight in a 1946 Piper Cub, piloted by his Grandpa, while he sat in his mom’s lap. Be aware that you don’t know any names, locations, or dates regarding this picture. Yet, he’s older than many social media venues so remember that when you venture forth into web spheres. There are no teachers or truancy laws. We’re all still in kindergarten.