Greeted by a wave
In a midst of a hurricane
The feelings came back
Flooding back
Light striking
Fading black
Earth shaking
Tree breaking
Feel as if the world is making
Sense
When nothing seemed real
Rawness was a type of shield
Swallowed up
Anything
Or everything
Left it blunt and dull
When all I ever wanted
Was to finally feel full
One of my favourite stories growing up was one that my aunt told me.
I come from a big family of twelve(ish) aunts and uncles and uncountable extended family members. My mum is ranked as the youngest girl, and I’m her youngest.
My aunt Mary is the oldest girl in the family, with two of my uncles before her. Despite the age gap my mum would consider her one of her siblings she’s most close to.
I never got to meet my grandparents, but my favourite story of Mary’s is one she told of them when she was born.
My granddad had just had his first pint after the birth of his first daughter. Chuffed at himself, he sipped away happily and content on his own.
One of the locals came in and said to my granddad:
“Ah Brendan, I just saw your two sons on the way here”
Without batting an eye, my granddad replied:
“Yes. But have you seen my daughter?”
The way my aunt tells it just almost transports me back in time. It’s a story that I genuinely would never get tired of hearing as it brings me a feeling of closeness to the grandparents I never had the privilege of meeting.
“Short stories are tiny windows into other worlds and other minds and other dreams. They are journeys you can make to the far side of the universe and still be back in time for dinner.”
― Neil Gaiman
A long time ago I stopped writing short stories
I never consciously made the decision to stop
Rather, I preferred to write about deep complex characters with long back stories that I knew absolutely everything about
But as I began to write my first short story in probably 4 years my chest swelled up with nostalgic happiness
I used to get an idea and write down as much as I could so I could remember and write and move on to my next project
I had too many notebooks to keep track of and far too many characters and plot holes to maintain
But I was so happy
Each character and each plot hole was filled with so much imagination because of the freedom I had to write about absolutely anything
I like my long stories, my poetry, and my blog posts
But I really love opening the part of my brain that produces short stories
It’s the first time in a long time that the gears in my head are turning as much as they used to and I cannot believe I’ve missed it so much
My blog is chaotic. Yet, people still read it. Sometimes I even get emails asking me how to be successful on WordPress. My usual answer is “wing it and do what you want” because that’s been my tactic so far. But looking back on almost 3 years, I’ve picked up a few hints and tips along the way. So here it how to get noticed on WordPress from someone who doesn’t know much, but knows enough resulting in you reading this! Or “How to blog”.
TAGS
I cannot stress how important tags are. When you write up a post, a box is there to the left labeled “Tags and Categories” where you can type in words (followed by “,”). People can then search for that word and find you! For example, the most frequent tags I use are “teenager”, “personal”, “2015” and then what ever I’m writing about; “Poem” / “Rant” etc. Trust me, tags are your best friend. Use them well.
COMMENTS
By comments I mean comment on other blogs. This gets you connected and talking with other people trying to achieve the same goal. I would never see other bloggers as ‘competition’, but rather ‘virtual pen pals’ (hence my header!). So get connected by talking and discussing blog posts. If you like a blog post say so. If you found something interesting say so. If you just want to chat to a blog which has a similar topic to yours, then just get in touch. You will make new friends, learn new skills and have a happier blogging experience!
NICHE
Ok, so I may be a hypocrite on this one. The idea of having a blog is that you have one topic, and people like to keep up with that topic. So if you’re in a genre you have to stand out to be the best. This could be beauty, poetry, photography etc. The more similiar style of writing you have will attract the views as people like to frequently check back on something they liked before. When they check back to see something completely different, they don’t like it too much. I do not have a set topic. Therefore I have a very mixed reaction to different posts. Poetry posts get likes from poets, who (generally) aren’t interested in anything else on my page, like what I ate or how to do hair etc. But if you stick to one topic on your blog, it’s much easier than going the hard route like I did!
IMAGES
If it’s one thing to get the hang of quickly on this site, it is adding an image to your post. Never underestimate the power of getting someone to click on your post because of a witty/cute/relatable image which accompanied it. It gives the reader an idea of what your post is going to be about rather than just looking at a chunk of writing. Layout is important, and adding an image to your post just helps it that bit extra.
YOU
Be relatable. Be happy. Be writing about something you want to write about, because that is what you are best at. Don’t do it for views, don’t do it for likes. Do it because it’s fun! Write a blog you would like to read. And be original. Too many times I’ve seen “I’m just an average teenage girl who wants to remain anonymous” and then gives up a week later. Your blog has so much potential. So make the most out of it and don’t be afraid to be bold, original or new!
I am in no way qualified to tell anyone how to run a blog, and these tips might not even work for you. These are just little things which has helped me along. I’d be happy to offer my experience to anyone interested and happily answer questions about anything on WordPress! There’s no such thing as a silly question! Anyway, here are a few inspirational photos which usually help me with my writers block!
I think it’s adorable when I see different bloggers/ vloggers/ other internet users of the universe just talking and chatting to each other. You know, sharing interests, recommending people, sending each other cute packages etc.
But I can’t help but be extremely jealous of their friendship!
I’d love to have a virtual penfriend to keep in touch with on the other side of the world (or right at home! Fáilte chairde nua!)
Oh well, at least I have my lovely readers 🙂
Anywoo, Halloweens coming and I’m obsessed with DIY videos on YouTube! Feel free to leave one below in the comments, and hey, I might follow you for your fantabulous suggestions 😉
Have a lovely week friends! xox
I know I’m relatively new at blogging, but have you ever just been in a situation where you thought would make a good post? If you’re like me, you may zone out for a bit just to pre think your phraseology in your mind. You just look around and think ‘I want to remember this’. So you take a deeper look and find details you would have never took any notice of before. For example: what does it smell like, what colour is the ground, what is the atmosphere of the room and things like that. It could have been a perfectly fun moment but all you can think about it “How can I phrase this?” Or “What kind of layout will I use?”.
And then you stop. And re join whatever you just took your attention off while absorbing the place around you.
I know I do.
EimzPink 