Retreats and Mentoring in Writing Part 4 of 15
Hello and welcome to all who are new. Jump in and comment. To those who comment, great to hear from you, always good.
At some point this week there will be a couple of guest bloggers, but have no fear, I’ll be doing my own little post on their blog. It’ll be great. As I’ve said if you want to be a guest blogger all you need to do is email me, and we’ll work something out.
The reason I mention guest blogging is that it’s a way to support each other. I believe that for the new bloggers it gives them a chance to showcase their talents and gives an “older” blogger a chance to help , in fact a mentor. It’s not easy to get up and do a post each day when there are no comments, or no visitors. Sometimes it helps when another blogger who has some experience helps them. Really it does.
The way you read this it sounds like mentoring right? In a way it is, a more experienced person is trying to help you. Now I’m not suggesting to guest blog on someone’s blog who only has all of a post, but go there and leave comments and encourage them. i try to go to others blogs and read them a few times if I like it I become a follower and I mention it in my blog.
Thanks to those who do the same. Now my next question is do you do a bit of looking at you blog to see where it can be improved? I have. I spent a lot of time, looking at the blog and trying to decide if I should keep going. It was one comment that lite my fire, and one comment that made me take this blog to the next level.
That is the most important aspect to this blog, it takes more than my own little ego to make it work.
I’ll be talking more about some great retreats tomorrow, so see you then.
I’ll add this Question for you: Do you see your blog as a way to mentor others? And do you see a way that it makes your blog better?
9 Comments
AmberInGlass
I can't say I honestly see my blog as a way of mentoring other people, but I can say I wish it did. Since you brought up this very excellent point, I'll have to really take a look at it over the next week and see what I can do differently and how I can improve to make a better place not just for myself, but the entire blogging community.
The point you bring up about older bloggers being alot like mentors is very excellent and very correct. Without people like you taking the time to read new blogs small time newcomers like myself would get washed away with all the rest of the flood of web content. I know I personally owe you a great debt for mentioning me in your posts, so thank you very much, Rebecca, for taking the time to be a mentor to me as well as many others.
OutRight Communications
To answer your question, yes.
Our blog is designed to offer help for anyone and everyone. Business owner, author or employee, everyone can benefit from learning how to market and publicize themselves, their product or their company. We also love giving some of our clients the opportunity to find out more about us by reading our work.
And I couldn't agree more with the importance of joining the blogger community as the way to help your own blog grow, not just in followers but also in quality. We'll be doing a nice, long post about this in the near future.
roadtopriesthood
That is a very good question.
In the case of my blog which deals with topics on religion (I have a whole multi-part case study on my building a religion blog, so my comments here are appropriate), it is not about presenting myself as an expert or mentor.
Rather it's about presenting my readers with a safe place to ask the really tough questions about life and then to figure out on your own what you believe in. The topics of conversation are the focus not the writer.
People that are fascinated on the topic of any blog will be compelled to read it if it’s provocative, educational and gives readers the opportunity to formulate their own opinions. People are smart enough to make their own decisions without someone taking the stance of authority, especially in my case.
The hopes of my blog is to build community rather than as a way to present myself as a guru. If by reading it, my readers end up a bit more curious about the subject or walk away as better people for society, I’ve done my job.
Rebecca
Awesome comments everyone, each of you have your own voice.
Please check out all of the commentors blogs, as they all have important things to say.
PrettySiren
I definitely try to improve my blog — I always try to improve anything I do, even things that don't involve writing. With my current blog, I'm sticking to one very simple subject. This allows me to stick with a good and easily read format, without letting things get too boring, since there's so many direction I take my subject to.
Hopefully others come to my blog and learn something from it. That's really what I strive for. I want to help, encourage, and inspire other writers out there. If my blog can do that, and can mentor them — phenomenal.
And yes, I definitely think that any mentoring readers receive from my blog adds to it, for sure. Learning and teaching go hand in hand, and that's a great aspect of the world of writers.
JTT
Yes, a thousands times yes. I write each blog in hopes that someone out there will read it and gain a new perspective. Whether I am blogging about writing or North Korea's lastest agressive move, I want my reader to find something in my post that they didn't know had hadn't thought of before.
On the flip side, I love to read other blogs for the same reason. Reading other blogs inspires me to keep going and enlightens me on a subject I might otherwise be ignorant of.
RennyBA
I'm new here, so I say hello from Norway and just jump in:
I give you fully recognition for the guest writer idea. I will do the same if the subject goes with the theme of my blog.
When it comes to improvements and inspiration, I would say it goes both ways. That's what I call Blogging as a Givers Gain; the more I give (comments, constructive critics etc.) the more I get.
Btw: Thanks for your review of my blog at blogged.com. That was very inspirational to me!
Rob
Yes, I see my blog as a way of mentoring. I feel that whatever I put up on the blog will encourage other writers to keep at it. With writing, you always question whether you should continue or if it's even worth it. If you've got a good idea, it's worth it. Plus, sharing stories and leaving comments on others page doesn't just mean mentoring . . . it means we're a community.
I like it.
cosmic creepers
i've been a rather selfish writer now that you talk about being a mentor. i've always wanted a mentor so i could improve my own writing, but the best way to learn is by teaching sometimes. or at least, that's the best was to learn what you know and what you don't know. thanks for keeping me thinking!