This blog post was inspired by the fact that next week I will be teaching a course on blogging. It’s a taster course, designed to help people decide if they wish to blog or not, and if so who for, what about, and where and so on. So I was thinking, what is one key message I should give the participants? I’ve come up with the following:

Write! Express yourself. The world needs to hear your voice, even if you think you don’t have much to say. (because you do.) I have already given reasons to blog: 7 reasons educators should blog, and 7 reasons writers should blog. I love blogging, and writing in general. However, if you’re thinking of starting a blog, just be aware that at some point you will probably be at the receiving end of some nasty comments, or at least unhelpful ones. I don’t wish to sound unduly negative, but it is just the way it is. You might as well go into it with your eyes wide open.

You might find this article useful: How to deal with negative or spam comments on your blog.

Finally, you may find my early experience as a published writer useful. I was thick-skinned, and that was a good thing!