Blogphobics, Come On Out and Play

I was surprised when my recent post entitled The Top Ten Reasons to Blog on ActiveRain, exposed (via comments), an element of ActiveRain that I didn't know existed: The Blogphobics. These are our members that are hiding in the shadows, reading and commenting, but not writing. Who even knows what hidden talent exists in our midst?

Brad Andersohn and I had a conversation about this that day, brainstorming on exactly what we could do to to help the blogphobics get over their affliction. After all, being blogphobic on ActiveRain is like going on a cruise and staying in your tiny room, occasionally commenting to your travel mates about the happenings around the ship. NO FUN AND DEFEATS THE PURPOSE.

Brad graciously put together a starter kit, and (as he so loves to do) linked from here to eternity. Please immediately bookmark this excellent piece, and read when you have time. 

I have always thought blogging was much like the speech class you had to take in high school. The thought of putting yourself out there, and having to talk about something for 5-10 minutes, brought on a kind of unreasonable fear that made your hands shake and your knees turn to jelly.

So okay, these are not fond memories....but remember what happened by the end of the semester? You came to know these classmates via their stories, and the whole class became one little community sharing ideas. You realized everyone else had to overcome that same unreasonable fear. You became fascinated listening to others share their opinions and life stories.

And, yes, sharing yourself became easier. Much to your amazement, you actually got better and better, and the fear subsided as you began to feel you were talking to friends instead of strangers.

Lessons:

1. The first blog is always the hardest ( I bet everyone here had something stir in the pit of their stomach before hitting that submit button the first time)
2. Telling us what you think via your stories and ideas makes you part of our community in a way that simply commenting will never do
3. Presentation does not matter nearly as much as what you are saying to us. You do not need to know how to link or post pictures...it took me forever to figure this out, and I was still getting featured!
4. You will only get better by blogging yourself, not by reading about blogging. I have watched many ActiveRain members blossom into incredible bloggers by simply sticking with it. Brad Andersohn, one of our premier bloggers, started out as a "wall of words" guy, but look at him now.
5. Do not blog for features, for points or for search engines. Blog for the same reason you have a conversation with a co-worker or a friend: because you have an opinion to express, a story to tell, or information to share.
6. Keep it short and sweet. Always, always err on the side of too short. This applies to the length of your blog, the length of your sentences, and the length of your paragraphs.

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