New Year's happened a few days ago, but the year is still young and we are all willing to try new things. I, for example, have been working to be less cynical and give up some websites I’ve been known to waste time on (good luck with that, I’m sure), but there are many things that people can do to try to improve or spice up their lives. One such activity is a blog.

Yes, blogs are popular for amateur and experienced writers to express their thoughts on things. If you are interested in writing one for yourself, then I can help you; I’ve been blogging on and off for the last three years, and hope to continue doing so (I signed up to join Harlaxton’s blog today, January 9^th).

So, let’s get you started.

The first thing you want to do is pick a topic. Any topic will do; movies, politics, books, food, you name it, it makes for good blog writing. Many of my blogs are more spur of the moment, focusing on topics that come up in my everyday life that I feel need to be shared. You don’t have to be so loose in your topics; find something you love, and write about it. It’s important that you enjoy the activity; there’s no fun in writing about stuff you don’t like, after all.

Next, get a schedule. Blogs do best when they are updated regularly, so find a day that you think fits best for your writing and publish on that day/those days. And stick to it; keep writing about what’s going on, and you’ll start to build good readership. I can say that it’s hard, and I’ve fallen off my schedule several times, but it’s better when you have some structure to it.

Finally, always be attentive. Your subject probably has a lot of fascinating things about it; you just need to find what those things are and talk about them. It might take a while, but that’s okay; the more you learn about a topic, the more you find your voice and make your blog truly unique. It all depends on practice, and you will be better off for it.

So, there you have it; a few easy guidelines to follow when starting up a blog. For all you would be bloggers out there, I hope you enjoy and learn something from this; it could help you greatly in the long run.