It appears that the creative fire feels like being spent on writing again, finally. So if may I impart a bit of what I’ve learned in the last few months…
Before you set up that Blogspot account, I just want to call your attention to a few of the other offerings out there. Blogger/Blogspot is an extremely simple way to get going, but there are even simpler ways to get going, if that’s what you’re going for. There are also offerings out there that will allow you a much greater amount of flexibility in what you do with your new blog, should you want to go bigger. And now…
My new favorite social website is Tumblr, hands down. Right there on the front page of the site, in 40 pt font is the slogan “the easiest way to blog”. I’d have to agree. You don’t have to give them anything about your identity if you don’t want, and you can create your own subdomain, just like Blogger. What Tumblr has over Blogger is a much more refined design. There are a bunch of templates to choose from, just like Blogger, but I find them to be a little more easy on the eyes, and thus easier to read and navigate - all important to the blogging experience, wouldn’t you say? If all you want to do is start letting some of your thoughts out of your head in blog form, give it a whirl. Oh yeah, you can point your own domain at Tumblr instead of using whatever.tumblr.com as your URL.
If you need to build something a little more extensive, say a website for your classroom’s parents to keep up with their kids and their activities, I’d highly recommend Wordpress.com. They too have a number of different design templates to choose from (though not as many as Tumblr), so setting up a blog that feels like you isn’t too much of a challenge. The great thing about Wordpress, the framework on which this website also runs, is that you can build outward. Say you want to have a contact page, and a calendar of events on another page, etc, you can do that pretty easily (and quickly) with Wordpress. Hopefully my buddy Jimmy doesn’t mind my linking to his classroom website as a fantastic example of what a smart person can do with WordPress in a short amount of time.
You really should have a blog by this point. Make it recipes or pictures or whatever, but it’s free and it’s fun. Just do it…