Friday, February 01, 2008

Start A Blog Challenge

blogger.com homepageFebruary's challenge is to start a blog. How is that going to save the planet? Because it influences other people. Something I wrote persuaded 32 people to buy a battery recharger and use it. Maybe more - perhaps some people bought a charger but didn't vote in the poll. That's pretty incredible.

When I started blogging about 18 months ago I just wanted to keep an allotment journal, and like a true geek I thought it might as well be an online journal. To my great surprise it turned into much more than that. I found myself part of an online community of bloggers about allotments, bloggers about the environment, bloggers about crafts, frugality, gardening, cooking and lots of other topics. They commented on my posts, and linked to them from their own blogs. I then visited their blogs to leave comments and read their posts, and often found interesting things to write about myself, and of course to link back to the original source.

Some of the things I do, in the back of my mind I'm thinking "There could be a good blog post in this". Maybe I'd have said "no" to some of these things if it wasn't for the extra incentive of writing about it on Bean Sprouts. So blogging has introduced me to new experiences. And some of the things I do have sprung directly from blogging, such as buying two colonies of bees and beekeeping equipment from Ally (who writes the blog Ducking for Apples).

I think the blogosphere is something really important (well I would, wouldn't I)? But seriously - not so long ago you had to be Rupert Murdoch to publish something that could be read by millions of people worldwide. Not that millions of people read Bean Sprouts. But they could. They're on the internet so this content is freely available to them. And they could read your thoughts and opinions too.

Your thoughts and opinions don't have to be earth-shattering. It doesn't matter. But they're yours, so write them down and put them out there in cyberspace. If people like what you write, your readership will grow. If they don't like what you write, well, it didn't cost you anything anyway (blogging is free unless you choose a service that charges). But there are so many people on the internet, there's bound to be someone who likes what you do.

If you're shy, you can be anonymous. There isn't really someone called Marvin the Magnificent. That's a pen name (surely it is ...) Just one warning - even if you use a pen name, I still wouldn't advise bitching about your company.

You don't have to write about the environment. I'm not telling you what to write about. If you want to write about how Bean Sprouts is full of sh*t and climate change is a load of hooey, go ahead. Write about whatever is important to you, even if it seems very mundane. Write about what excites you. Write about whatever is meaningful for you.

So that's February's challenge. Start a blog. Please vote in the poll in the right-hand sidebar. And leave a comment telling me about your blog. I'll visit it, I promise, and I'll write a post linking to it later in the month.

27 comments:

Anonymous said...

Very well, Melanie, I consider myself challenged. I've been reading your blog for about 6 months and just love it (& often think we were separated at birth). My husband has told me repeatedly to start a blog, but I guess I had to hear it from you. Besides, this would be the perfect time since I just bought a large Worm Wigwam from wormwigwam.com, and to fill it, 20 pounds of worms. Could make for some interesting documentation.

So, I have til the end of February... guess I better get busy.

Green Digit Media said...

What a great challenge to your readers! Converting readers into bloggers is a great idea! We need more good green bloggers out there in the blogaverse (is that a real word?..) and on Bestgreenblogs.com

People have lots to say about how they are greening their lives.

Suze said...

OK, so I already have a blog, which I started in part because of beans sprouts a few months ago. I have to admit that up until now I have mostly been keeping it for me, and have been a little shy about announcing to the world that 'I blog - come and read it'! I usually post annonymously, but as of now, no more annonymous! It is a pen name though - got to keep some secrecy!! (Although the pen name is the same as the name I have posted annonymously as).

So now I come out of the closet! I BLOG - come and read it!

Suzanne

Melanie Rimmer said...

Suze's blog is here: http://suzeallotment.blogspot.com/

ilex said...

Ok Melanie, here's my new blog. See what you've done?

http://homesteadinginacondo.blogspot.com/

Wicked Gardener said...

Melanie -
Just found your blog from Blotanical and I've enjoyed it. I feel the same way about blogging.
I have become a better gardener, because I know I have to have pretty plants for the blog. I encourage everyone who has something to say to blog, especially ilex, because I would SO read about the saga of 20 pounds of worms. (That came off as sarcasm, but I am totally sincere . . . and very geeky myself.)

Anonymous said...

I just discovered your blog. And just mentioned to my husband today that I wanted to start one. Log on, check yours, and read the challenge. So that's it. I'm going to give it a go at setting one up!
So I'll hopefully be blogging soon.

Thank you for sharing.
Lisa

AMCSviatko said...

I've had a blog for 3 days short of two years and it's been an incredible experience. During that time my blog buddies and I have challenged ourselves to various "greeny" challenges like my one month "Fiscal Fast" last June (and Taph's "Cook from the cupboard" the same month) and since September 1st we've been decluttering and being more thoughtful about our purchasing through the "Seven Things Spring/ Summer" challenge...

Sandra said...

You've achieved a lot with your blog Melanie. It is one of my favourites to visit. I've really enjoyed blogging since I started in July 07 and I'm thrilled to see more interesting blogs to follow up on the comments above.

http://sandra-in-the-garden.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

well you know i already have one.. and i know you read it, but for the sake of other people, here it is.. http://kethry.wordpress.com.

great idea though!

keth
xx

Linda said...

I already have a blog, in fact I have 4 blogs. They are fun and can be addictive. I came across your blog at Blotanical.

Anonymous said...

Hi Melanie - I "own" two blogs and contribute on a few others, mostly knit-alongs. My knitting blog is here, and I also run Make A Bag, which is a collection of free shopping bag patterns that I've found all over the 'net. Make A Bag gets a couple hundred visitors per week, but very few returns and even fewer comments. I'd love it if people would go over and leave me a comment about the site!

VP said...

Hi Melanie,

I've lurked here from time to time, but this post prompted me to leave you a comment at last as your blogging experience chimes so well with my own. I started blogging in Novemeber and have not only met people from all sorts of places I would never ordinarily ger to meet, I even have a new friend who lives on the same estate and has just got an allotment on the same site as me. Yet we met via blogging!

I love blogging. I love the immediacy of the response, the positive feedback and support, advice freely given when something goes wrong etc. etc. I love it when a debate is sparked or someone comes back with an extra link or resource to those I've found thus far.

I've learnt so much in such a short space of time - about blogging, writing, improving my photography in addition to the subjects I set out to write about in the first place. I've even set myself some challenges for the year - but you'll have to visit my blog to see what they are ;)

Yellow said...

I've had to vote saying I already have a blog, but I started it because of you, Mel.
I'm Mel's middle sister, and she'd been bugging me for ages to startr a blog, but my problem was that there wasn't anything significant that I wanted to blog about. Yeah, I'm a mum, and a bit eco-aware, but not much else. Then, in the New Year of 2007 I started drawing and painting regularly again, and so my blog was created. Thanks Mel.

benjymous said...

I've been blogging for ages, sometimes sporadically, and often not related to green issues at all, but towards the end of last year I set my self the challenge of taking a photo every day (I don't quite manage to always post them every day, but they get online eventually) - I've been going for 109 days now, which is good going for me when I used to post only a few times a month!

http://grapefruitopia.com

Anonymous said...

On-going blogger here. Bits and pieces of everything including building our garden, knitting, and geek stuff, but only very very rarely anything too work-related.

http://www.martiandaze.net/

Unknown said...

I started writing a blog yonks ago, because I'm an inveterate witterer, but now I've discovered even more blogs to read! Hurrah!

Anonymous said...

Hey You

I've actually moved my blogging activities away from livejournal to insanejournal. My old LJ account was http://huswyf.livejournal.com

the new blog is http://furzecat.insanejournal.com this is a general blog which includes all the sustainability stuff.

Wassail

Karen

Anonymous said...

I have had a blog for some time, but nothing much to put in it. Maybe I will think again whether there is something interesting that I can write about - though privacy concerns would mean always worrying about how much identifying information I was revealing.

N.

Heather @ Wiggly Wigglers said...

Hi Melanie,

I took over writing on the Wiggly Wigglers blog from Heather Gorringe in November so I am new to this game. Does that count? I love the countryside and care very much about protecting the environment and try to sneak as many green issues into the blog as I can.

http://wigglywigglers.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

My fiance and I just started our blog. We wanted to be more green and knew we would need some support and guidance so come check us out when you get a chance.

N. & J.

http://badhuman.wordpress.com

Anonymous said...

Hi Melanie, I've been 'lurking' on your blog for a while now, and really enjoy reading it. I started a blog in the spring of last year (www.makinggooduse.typepad.co.uk) and it's been a wonderful experience. I would urge anyone thinking about starting a blog to just do it ASAP.

Jean said...

I have this week just started my first blog, don't know how to link though, but am just really enjoying this blogging

Melanie Rimmer said...

Please tell us the address of your blog, Jean.

Anonymous said...

From your encouragement I started a blog. I love reading about your life in the UK and decided to blog about my life. My website is http://escapedfromcorporatelife.blogspot.com/.

marigold said...

I have also started a blog on your suggestion. The address is:
marigoldmemoirs.blogspot.com

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