Monthly Archives: September 2012

#5 Improve Blogging Skills

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I couldn’t believe my luck. A few weeks after creating this blog and wondering what on earth I was doing, along comes the best workshop ever: How to Write a Killer Blog (and build a loving on-line following) run by Suzi Taylor from ABC Open. So here was my next activity.

#5 Improve my Blogging Skills

It was part of the local Writer’s Festival and was exactly what I needed. A small group of very enthusiastic people at various stages of their blogging careers all providing generous input. It was hugely inspiring.

If you want a killer blog, it helps – not surprisingly – to have a clear idea of why you’re doing it. One of the most helpful messages Suzi gave us was that:

 “The main thing with blogging is that it’s FUN! It shouldn’t be a chore.

So define what ‘success’ means to you, as a blogger, and aim for that.”

This got me thinking and I realised that I wasn’t really looking to build a huge blogging community with lots of followers. Recent research has led me to acknowledge that I’m an introvert.

The thought of linking to my Facebook page (that would be my non-existent Facebook page) and my Twitter account (ditto) so I can exhort people to read my blog is about as appealing as going alone to a very noisy late-night party full of strangers.

So now I know: I just want to blog for the fun of blogging. Doesn’t really matter if no-one reads it.

Phew.

That takes a lot of pressure off me.

I wonder what the record is for the longest time anyone’s had a blog with no followers?

#4 Buy a ‘Mystery Hotel’ Stay

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One of the big advantages of trying 101 Fun and Frivolous Things in Retirement is that it forces you to do stuff that’s perhaps a little out of character. Like:

#4: Buy a “Mystery Hotel” stay

When a friend invited me to his birthday lunch at a venue in Melbourne, I had to find accommodation, being from out-of-town and all. So I opened up Wotif and my next adventure jumped out – book and pay for a hotel in the city without knowing where it was.  

Okay, this may not sound too adventurous to some, but I’m the sort of person who needs to start new adventures ex..tre..mely slowly, so for me, it was an outsidethesquare experience.

Just before you commit to paying for your accommodation, the site pops up the sort of question guaranteed to give you the shivers:

“Are you sure you want to book without knowing where you’ll be staying?”

Now normally, I’d have had cold feet at that and backed right out.  But in the spirit of doing Fun and Frivolous Things, I took a deep breath and pressed the ‘Pay Now” button, which let me tell you, took some courage, even in the knowledge that I was saving oodles of money by doing this.

But miracle upon miracle, the hotel I scored was directly opposite the lunch venue!

So when the birthday lunch ended, several of us wandered over for a coffee in the hotel lounge – it being so close and so convenient – with me feeling mightily smug and proud of my excellent choice.

That was before I settled down for the night, turned off the television and realised that my room was directly behind a lift shaft.

Try sleeping on an airport runway. It’s probably more peaceful…