Today is my 31st consecutive day blogging and I have now earned my NaBloPoMo July blogger badge. On this day I declare myself a Blogger and I bestow upon myself all the rights, attitudes, and lack of funds as others who have gone before me.
Ok, ceremony is over.
But really, it’s been a great month. It’s been a crash course in social media and on developing personal relationships online.
My wife’s aunt and family dropped by today and I had a ton of stuff to talk about and found that most of it was from the online world.
Over coffee, cheddar cheese, and Mint Milanos, we talked about blogging, blogging communities, and trends.
"Has anyone read Atlas Shrugged?" I asked and several heads nodded. Matt, B’s 18-year-old budding genius cousin then pulled my coat to some of the Ayn Rand philosophy.
I’ve noticed that several people I follow on Twitter are completely into this mindset and now I’m curious to find out more.
Matt has also been drawn into online culture and is faithfully following five major political blogs. He wants to blog but is intimidated by the quality, depth, and style of these major bloggers.
"One of the guys I’m reading is a genius and started blogging as a college student but then was picked up by a major political magazine," Matt said. "I’m afraid that would happen to me."
"The key word is ‘fear’", I told him.
"Are you afraid it would happen to you, or that it wouldn’t happen to you," chimes in his younger sister. She had his number and we all laughed about it.
As the conversation continued, I kept asking Matt, "So you’re going to start blogging tonight?"
He then asked me about Twitter and I told him that once he got settled in he could get people viewing his new blog posts withing minutes of posting. I think he’s going to give it a shot and he should. He’s going off to college in Oregon in a few weeks and will have a new world to write about.
So tonight I earned my blogger badge and have also stirred the embers for a new member of the blogging brigade. A good night’s work.