It's a blogger's life!

The last few years have seen a huge rise in the number of bloggers out there in the virtual hemisphere.  You can find a blog on just about absolutely anything and it got me thinking...  what makes someone want to blog?  I can only answer for myself, but guess that my motives are similar to others.  I blog because I love to write; I love to communicate and forge a connection.  I've written since I was very small when I made homemade books, stapled together; moving onto writing 'chapter' books for my friends and terrible angst-ridden poetry when I was a teenager!  If I wasn't writing I was reading, and even my first job was in publishing.  I guess, in a nutshell, I write because it's when I feel most like me.  It feels like it's what I'm meant to do; whether it's writing a list (my love of lists is well-known) a poem, or a short piece of mindful writing, the buzz I get from seeing words form, that have meaning for myself and hopefully others, is a compulsive addiction. 

I remember when I first got the idea to blog...I'd been going through a tough time one way or another, and nothing was ticking my boxes, nothing energised or excited me and then, one morning, I woke and my first waking thought was, "I'm going to write a blog".  For the first time in months, I felt alive, excited, renewed by the thought of a new project and so 'Lifelola' was born.

It's been two years since the 'birth' of my blog and to be honest it's been an organic thing; initially I only blogged at weekends and then as I became more involved with my writing, I realised that even a short spurt of creativity through my blog, on a daily basis, fulfilled and calmed my urge to create.
But of course, as writers we can learn from others; from other bloggers who have been longer on their journey; who have different skills to share, advice and encouragement to give; so it seemed serendipitous, that, just as I was feeling that I'd come to a bit of an impasse with my blog that I came across the blog decor8 by the multi-talented Holly Becker, a freelance design consultant.  From there I discovered her on-line blogging course Blogging Your Way2.  I didn't hesitate to sign up and have spent the last month on a wonderful journey; getting to know fellow bloggers and making new friends (thank you to the London Bloggers Group!) but also, crucially, practising new skills through podcasts and on-line tutorials;  I guess, for me, my steepest learning curve was with the 'techie' stuff as that doesn't come easily to me - great tips and advice on taking photos, using photoshop, creating collages and dealing with on-line trolls!  Thank you Holly and all your wonderful team for helping me breathe life back into 'Lola' and keeping me on my toes for the last month! 

*credit: decor8

and to all my readers, thank you for your support, patience and appreciation!  Here's to the start of a wonderful week...x