Recently I published a blog post titled, Words. It was the type of post I’m a little nervous about posting as it involves opinions, and I fear being labelled opinionated. However, as the post was about labelling people, or passing judgement, I posted it despite my reservations.  There were a couple of comments from a fellow blogger added to that blog that brought to mind the value of blogging.  Amanda stated that fellow bloggers tend to be supportive rather than judgemental. As Amanda rightly pointed out, the comments added to a blog post by fellow bloggers usually lack the sometimes less savoury tone that can follow thought provoking posts on Facebook.

Amanda’s comments caused me to realise how important blogging has become to me, and the reasons why. ‘The value of blogging’. Here’s what it means to me:

Firstly, it’s a big technological learning curve, and one I’ve barely started to conquer. But I’m working on it. I’m starting to learn to wrap words around pictures, but I haven’t perfected it yet. During this post I’m attempting to link previous blog posts. I won’t know if I’ve succeeded until I’ve hit publish. I’m also trying to get added comments following on from my post. Most of the blogs I follow use this format, and it works well. I’m still working on that one.

After I joined the world of blogging I started following a number of other blogs. It’s opening up my mind to whole world of different topics. My interests  are expanding, and I feel like I’m learning more than I’ve ever learnt before in my entire life.  Insprational travel stories (and a wealth of other topics) from leggypeggy.com
Some amazing photos, and photography tips from Susan Portnoy at theinsatiabletraveller.com                                                                      Thought provoking quotes from quiverquotes.com                                       And I just love forestwoodfolkart.wordpress.com , in which Amanda writes about all manner of things – Scandinavia, proverbs, recipes, crafts…. There’s so much to learn from so many people.

I look forward to receiving emails alerting me to one of their new blog posts. Often after I’ve read what they’ve written questions come to mind. A recent post was on Cinque Terre in Italy. I had no idea where that was, so I looked it up,  and now I know – another little bit of knowledge accumulated.  Or sometimes a photo of a dish someone has enjoyed in a restaurant will get my taste buds tingling and have me searching the net for a recipe so as I can have a go at cooking it myself.

Originally my blog was just about letting my close friends and family know where we were, and what we were doing. I never had any intentions of expanding beyond that. However, I’ve always enjoyed writing, and when people I’ve never met started to get value out of some of my posts, expanding my topics seemed logical. And so my blog has evolved from just being about our Australian road trip, to being about absolutely anything that stimulates my desire to write. It’s recommended that blogs predominantly stick to the one theme, but I tend to be a bit eclectic, so my blogs a bit eclectic too.

I love it when something stimulates my interest enough to write about it. Take for example my post on Bower birds last year, https://lifeofrileyow.com/2016/09/14/the-spotted-bower-bird/

or my more recent post in Broome Tides, https://lifeofrileyow.com/2017/07/20/broome-tides-explained/

I knew very little about both, but my interest had been tweaked enough that I wanted to do a blog post on each of those topics. I needed to know more though, so I spend several hours both researching, and observing. In the case of Broome tides I spend several weeks observing the ebb and flo of the tides before I could begin to write about them. Now I have a good basic knowledge.

There are times when I’ve realised I haven written anything for a while. With the realisation that I haven’t written anything comes the realisation that it’s because I’m not doing anything. That then prompts me to get motivated and do something, or to go somewhere. I’ve always loved learning, loved reading, loved writing, loved cooking, and loved my garden. There’s so much to do, so much to learn, so many things to write about. Somehow blogging keeps me motivated, keeps me stimulated, keeps me moving, keeps me learning…

So for anyone considering starting a blog, I’d thoroughly recommend it. For me it’s taken my life to a whole new level I’m sure it will be for you too.