For about a year I wrote blog posts without getting any comment, not even from the friends I gamed with, and then, when I got my first comment, I read it over and over, but didn’t know how to respond, and when I finally did, after nine days, I didn’t know if Tim from Saskatoon who had been so kind to leave the first comment, also got my answer.
If I could give my younger self any advice about blogging, it would be this: don’t try so hard, be patient, friendly, be curious about other people’s work, about their thoughts, and learn as much as you can about how blogging works on a technical level, but never behave like a machine. And yes. I almost forgot. Enjoy yourself. It’s a hobby blog after all.
By the way the pictures are just some old pictures I found going through Herr Zinnlings Arbeitszimmer. This is one of the things I enjoy a lot about blogging: taking pictures of miniatures.
I like the old pictures Karl.
ReplyDeleteIt often surprises me what other bloggers find interesting in my posts, and what they don't!!!
Yeah, so do I on both photos and what readers find interesting.
DeleteThat's a very good point. I think it makes this kind of communication very lively.
DeleteThanks a lot, Maudlin Jack Tar.
DeleteGreat pictures! Congratulations on blogging for ten years!
ReplyDeleteBest wishes
Alan Tradgardland
Thanks a lot, Alan! I have learned a lot reading your blog. Cheers, Karl
DeleteCongratulations sir!
ReplyDeleteHave the same anniversary this year :)
Thank you! Your blog is a great source of inspiration. Cheers, Karl
DeleteCongratulations on ten years! I passed my ten year in September too. Keep at it!
ReplyDeleteThank you and congratulations! Cheers, Karl
DeleteDarn it! I don't think I DID see your reply - otherwise I would have responded. Which is odd, as I always signed up for notifications when I leave comments - just in case there ARE replies!?
ReplyDeleteTo answer that question, nine years later, I think I started playing role-playing games with the kids in 2011, with the Savaged Dragonlance campaign...? So they would have been 5 and 7. But I started with miniature gaming with them a few years earlier with Hordes of the things.
That is excellent advice for blogging. Indeed it would be a good way to approach the entirety of the internet or life itself. If everyone had such an outlook, the world would be a happier place indeed!
What have I learned? Wow... I don't know how to sum that up into a blog post reply...
Blogs exist in a weird stat for me. I still maintain THREE of mine, but I feel like a large part of why I still do it is habbit. Or for something to look back on and see what I was doing - though, I have to admit, it seems a little delusional to think this will all still be here 10 or 15 years from now (I mean, Tripod? Myspace? are any of those pages still around?). But also because it allows me to express myself in ways that I simply can't on other platforms.
It's hard because there often isn't a lot of engagement. Which, i get it, who has time to read ALL THE BLOGS - let alone write an actual RESPONSE to them all (because, unlike other platforms, you can't just click "like" to let authors know you've been there and appreciate what they've done). I have to admit, though I still maintain blogs, I rarely read any others. I just don't have time!? Plus now there is Instagram and twitter and tumblr and all the other social media platforms...
I guess my one rule or advise to my younger self, or anyone else that wants to hear it, is Do it for YOU and don't assume people have read it - which I realize could fall under "enjoy yourself" and "be patient", etc. I watched the TV series How I Met Your Mother years after it was originally aired and had to laugh at Neil Patrick Harrison's character Barney Stinson every time he said "HAVEN'T YOU READ MY BLOG!?" (which he said from time to time, especially in the earlier seasons, when someone would ask or talk about something he'd recently written about on his blog, that they other characters had clearly NOT read!). I remember FEELING that way (though I don't think I ever expressed it out loud) when someone, usually a friend I would have thought would check in on my blog, would ask what I'd been doing or about something I'd recently posted about...
Just the other day I asked someone a question on Instagram and the response was "DIDN'T YOU READ MY POST ABOUT THIS!?" and I thought, "Wow, how did I miss that!?" and looked back through his instagram posts and couldn't find ANY reference to what I'd asked about... then realized, ""oh, he must be talking about his blog..." So I looked in on that (which, I honestly haven't looked at in YEARS!) and found he had posted it there...
So I still post things. If someone does ask a question about something I've recently written about, I just give them a link and say "hey, if you want to know more about it, you can read about it here", but I never assume anyone's actually READING any of my blogs anymore.
I do appreciate the few that do pop in to see what I'm doing and especially those that comment - I try to always respond to them. It's not like I'm famous and have hundreds of comments that are impossible to keep up with!
Wow.. this got long and ramble-y. Sorry about that!
Congratulations on a decade of blogging! It's nice to see other people are still doing this!
Hi Tim,
Deletesorry for my late reply.
Last month was a bit jinxed. First I caught a flu at a gaming convention and then my daughter brought home Corona, after playing D&D with her friends, and I got it for the first time, fortunately with mild symptoms.
…
Also, I’m too slow for the internet. Maybe I still belong to a world where people write letters and then wait for an answer for ages. Haha.
…
I have read your comment several times, thinking about what you said and trying to write an answer. Thanks a lot for sharing your thoughts and advice about blogging, thanks for such a lively and elaborate comment. It's interesting that you say "Do it for YOU and don't assume people have read it". It's good advice, on the other hand a blog is a form of communication. I have to continue thinking about this …
Have a great week!
Cheers,
Karl
Congratulations on ten years of blogging!
ReplyDeleteI've been doing it for about four years. I started my blog really to encourage myself to get better at painting. I have improved and every army/warband I've done has been better than the last, so it was worth it. I don't play many games at all but I really enjoy painting and converting.
I've not learned much about blogging - certainly not how to get loads of followers! - but I have learned a lot about painting, mainly to take time and get lots of practice. It's been fun, and I'm definitely going to continue.
Thank you, Toby.
DeleteThat's a very good reason to have a blog.
I also mostly use my blog for work in progress pictures of my painting and modelling projects at the moment. And I get a lot of inspiration from seeing other people’s work …
I have come to your blog late, care of a comment that you left on Phil's 'Association les riflemens' blog. Such is the way connections spread and we 'find' other blogs in the great breadth of our shared hobby!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on blogging for ten years. Many do not continue that long. History and historical wargaming are the area of the hobby that interest and excite me, but I enjoy seeing and reading about other aspects. I really like the range of posts that you have done, the creativity and sense of fun.
"Enjoy yourself. It’s a hobby blog after all"—never truer words spoken!
Regards, James
Thank you, James. I would like to play more historical games, but my friends always add fantastic elements to their armies. One time I proposed a campaign about imaginary Greek city states and a friend brought his old Orc & Goblin army. What can I do? But the campaign was fun nevertheless ... Cheers, Karl
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