I Dream of Better Blogging
For the past few months I’ve been dreaming of ways to work to be a better blogger. I enjoy blogging, but often find myself feeling not as valuable to the blogger-sphere, as I know I could be. I go through periods of “bloggers block”, then come back with a vengeance, only to find myself back at the “block”. Sound familiar?
This past May, I decided to put that dream into action by signing up for an online blogging class, and I’m so glad I did! The class was called Blogging from the Heart and was offered by Susannah Conway. She’s amazing and you can get all the info about her class by clicking on the class badge in the right sidebar. I dove into the class with high expectations and I wasn’t disappointed.
Susannah Conway
Susannah has this uncanny ability to draw you into a blog post, like no other blogger I know. I want what she has and see her as a true mentor. She shared her heartfelt blog tips with her “lovelies” as she called us in this class and asked us to stretch ourselves in ways that many of us were not accustomed to. She also gently pushed us to learn how to better use new and familiar blog tools. She guided us to find our voice, connect with our audience and push past the all too familiar, “bloggers block” that I mentioned earlier. It was truly an inspirational process!
As an experienced photographer and journalist, Susannah taught us the value of so many aspects of blogging that I really hadn’t paid that much attention to in the past. She coached us through using our iPhones and cameras to produce our own images, she encouraged us to podcast, use more video and shared a few cool apps that were new to me.
One of those, that I’m featuring today, is 8tracks http://8tracks.com This is such a fun app! It’s free and allows you to create a music mix to share on your blog, or other social sites. You can use music that’s already on your computer or even import from SoundCloud. I enjoyed testing it out and hope you will try it too. I’m a rocker at heart, so today’s music mix definitely reflects it! Stay tuned for more to come…
Part of the practice of being a lifelong learner is to consistently seek ways to grow in our craft. Taking this course with Susannah not only inspired me to want to be a better blogger, but also to develop ways to share what I’ve learned with my Personal Learning Community. That said, I have a dream to develop my own blogging course for educators, new to blogging, that would support them to grow and embrace this platform. The ability to share our voices with the world and then support our students to do the same is important. Wish me luck as a begin work on an upcoming course launch!
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LISA DABBS
Wife. Mom. Educator. Author. She started her career as an elementary school teacher in Southern California. In this role as teacher, she assisted with a grant project and became the Project Director of a Language and Literacy program. Read more
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I am newish to blogging and would really love to become a voice to be heard. When you get to that point I volunteer to be one of your students! I love your posts and usually learn a bunch from them, so this is a win, win in my book. I can’t wait!
Dustin!
So kind of you to drop by and leave a comment. I’m honored that you would be willing to sign up for the blogging course. I need to get on it and will let you know when it’s ready. Cheers!
I have been working on blogging for the past two years and while I wrote a little more this year, I’m not where I want to be. I have been reading a book by John P. Jones called Writing at Gunpoint: Get Started Blogging and have found some useful tips, but I need more help. I look forward to reading more from you in the near future – now the pressure is on :-). I also will be interested in your educators blogging course as I’m a Tech Integration Specialist for my school district and want to see my teachers start sharing more through blogging. Thanks for sharing!
Gwen,
So thankful to you for your kind comments. Stay tuned as I get ready to launch the course, soon. In the meantime, keep in touch if you need any support to blogging for your teachers. Thanks!
Lisa, I enjoyed reading your post. I also suffer the dreaded “bloggers block” from time to time. The hardest thing for me is to find focus for my stories and sticking with it. There are so many resources to get ideas from that at times I feel overwhelmed. Thanks for sharing your inspirational wisdom and for introducing me to 8tracks.
Best regards,
Anibal
Anibal,
It is so helpful to hear from others, that they hit that “block” wall too. This awesome course gave me some strategies to use when that issue comes up that I’m going to share in an upcoming post/blog series. In the meantime, glad to hear that you liked 8tracks! Is that fun or what? 😉
Let’s be sure to encourage each other and our PLN as often as we can in our blogging journey.
Cheers!
I found this post so refreshing and inspiring. Your desire to encourage others is evident. Thanks for sharing your struggles along the way to your dream. I am sure you will achieve it! I love the music, too, and need to incorporate it more – music is a powerful tool for inspiration! I have subscribed to your blog and look forward to more great reads!
Donna,
So kind of you to say! I’m honored that you would choose to subscribe, and I will do my best to measure up!
Hope you will try 8tracks and then let me know if you like it. 🙂
Cheers to better blogging!
Thanks Lisa – love the music!
Hi Anne, Thanks for stopping by to read. So happy you liked my first attempt at 8tracks. 😉