The post with no name!

Wow, I have thought many, many times about this post.  The returning post after a long absence.
It difficult to know what to say, do you explain where you have been, why you have been away?  As one of my blogging buddies recently wrote after a similar long absence, is anyone still out there?  Does anyone care anymore about this blog, aside of me, who knows....

It's true, at times I have missed my blog, I do like to write but as life changed, my blog and I seem to drift apart.  Moving in different directions, time was an issue, as was some other occurences.  I have thought so many times to start again, but struggled to find the words, to come out of my head. Having ideas but not able to move them into something else. Not even managing to log on to start until now.

I started this blog as a link to other expats, while I was living in another non-english country, now I am back in England making a new life and somehow my blog no longer seemed relavant, left behind with my former life, but Im still here.  Albeit with less time and more to do but Im going to try.

Dearest blog, how I have missed you

Now I hope to find the desire to carry on, even if sporadically.

Freelance writer

In the last few months I have started doing some freelance writing.  I do it by picking up jobs from a work board, mostly blogging posts.  So I am not specifically working for one person or type of blog.  It covers all sorts of topics, from relationships, places, technology and many other things.

I started doing it, as I quite enjoy writing, always have but also for some extra cash.  But what has been interesting to me is the range of topics I have covered.  I pick the work by things I know about or interest me  and it is a very wide range, wider than I expected.  I am now enjoying it much more and will do more of it.

I have covered topics on various issues of Internet Marketing, Social Media for Hospitality and other related issues, fashion, travel and various products.  I have also written for International travel blogs and other organisations and publications.

So if you are looking for a freelance writer for your blog to do guest or sponsored posts or just to give you a hand with any writing work, give me a shout.

New to blogging? Need some help?

Do you have a blog, but dont really know what you are doing?  Or maybe you want to start a blog for personal or business use? 

I recently completed a FREE blogger E-course run by Ace Inspire and I wanted to share what I thought and how it has helped me. 

It was a 21 week course where short and easy to understand lessons were delivered to my inbox every week.  At the time, I had been blogging for personal use for about a year, but had since started working with Tots to Travel in a remote team and needed to be more aware of blogging and how to network on social media and also for myself personally I wanted to learn more about it and how I can make it work for me.  I have found it a really interesting subject on a personally and professional level.

I feel I have learnt a lot and for what I have applied, it has increased my readership and followers. To be honest, I havent applied most of the more advanced stuff that are probably more applicable for business users, but I intend to in the near future. 

If you have a website and are comtemplating adding a blog, I would highly recommend you do, research has shown that adding a blog which is regularly updated of course, is guaranteed to bring more traffic to your site.  And if you need help to start or like me to develop your basic knowledge and skills of blogging, this is a fantastic FREE resource that you cant miss.   

Ace Inspire also have other FREE courses, plus valuable resources for Women in business. 

Blogging: 'Cyber Scrapbooking'?

A little while ago I read something that Tara Cain from Sticky Fingers wrote about why she blogged - she said one of the reasons she did it was to provide a record of her children's childhood, for herself but more for them.

And it got me thinking, does that make a blog, a kind of 'cyber scrapbook'?  Just like a scrapbook, most people keep pictures, with captions or short written pieces.  Each pages has a theme or subject.  But instead of putting it in a book, we put it into cyberspace to last forever. 

Is that not one of the reasons we make our blogs, for prosperity, I know I do.  Before computers and internet people would make scrapbooks and keep photo albums of everything.  Now we are more likely to photoshare with Flikr or Picassa or keep a blog or some kind of record, where we enter the information we want to keep.  And the great thing about this, is it (should) last forever and can be shared with people anywhere in the World.

What do you think?  Do you keep a blog as a kind of memory 'keepsake'?

Please note, I do not do scrapbooking (my stepmum does) but I am in no way saying it is outdated or not a great thing to do.