Author: Kai

Although 2020 has come to a close, our lives will forever be stained by its events. With the pandemic, social injustice, and economic distress, all we can do is search for the light.

Ironically, as fire usually can represent chaos and anguish, its one of the most original forms of light. We have endured a year of chaos and anguish, and can turn to a brighter year. The year of 2021 can prioritize recreating hope amongst all individuals affected by 2020.

I explored multiple items for this weeks “Sunday Sketch”: keys, iPhone chargers, and even food. I finally decided to use a lighter to reflect on simpler times, when fire was the most common form of light. Not surprisingly, I came up with this idea because my roomate watched CBS’s Survivor right next to me, a show where contestants have to sustain themselves in the wild as they endure social challenges. I couldn’t help but seeing the humor in how we find it entertaining to watch people like us live like they’re in the stone age.

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

• Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
• Because it will help you focus your own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

• Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
• What topics do you think you’ll write about?
• Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
• If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.