![\"books](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/freelancewritershandbookcreatingwebsites.jpg\" "\\"Writing")
<\/a><\/p>\nBlogging industry needs someone like Gary Provost<\/h2>\n
My journey into the world of freelance writing would have been similarly meandering without the advice of a helpful man by the name of Gary Provost. He wrote a handy little guide called \u201cThe Freelance Writer\u2019s Handbook in 1982. Despite the havoc in the magazine and newspaper world since then, the 291-page guide is still a handy reference to\u00a0thinking about all the things writers need to do to sell their work.<\/p>\n
Provost knew how to turn everything writers do into a crucial tool for an independent writing business. He even describes typical flights of imagination, a disease I’m similarly plagued by, as crucial generators of potential stories.<\/span><\/p>\n Look everywhere for story clues,\u201d he wrote on p28. \u201cYesterday, for example, I went for a walk and I saw a bright crimson kite bobbing in the afternoon sky about six blocks away. I thought: Aha! A man and woman are having an affair, but they can\u2019t call each other because both are married. So he goes to kitchen window every afternoon and if he sees the red kite in the sky it means her husband is not home and he can come over.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Provosts\u2019 decision to share such wacky musings made his advice personal and particularly relevant to me. He was like a friendly coach towards continual persistence.<\/p>\n So when I began considering the world of blogging a few years ago, I searched to see whether Provost could offer some guidance. As someone who succeeded self-publishing years before, surely he’d have good advice.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, he died in 1995. Gail Provost Stockwell continues his legacy at http:\/\/www.garyprovost.com\/<\/a>, but the world of blogging was before his time. Too bad. His style of easygoing encouragement would be very useful now.<\/p>\n Like pitching and writing an article, blogging seemed overwhelmingly difficult before I actually did it. I had so many questions, many demanding skills I care little about.\u00a0I already had a website; how would a blog be different?\u00a0Which platform do I use? How do I set up a blog that will grow with my audience? Can I sell advertising? What kind of formatting is available? Can I limit costs by setting up a single blog with many sections?<\/p>\n The most important question of all: how can I set it up so that I don’t have to learn new technology every year and a half?<\/p>\n A workshop about social media didn\u2019t help answer any of my questions. Speakers were very inspiring about what I might blog about, but they didn’t want to go into any of the technical details. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter which software platform you use,\u201d said one. \u201cJust pick one and do it.\u201d<\/p>\n I also read through my \u201cMissing Manual to Creating Websites,\u201d by Matthew MacDonald. (This easy-to-read series is available at: \u00a0http:\/\/oreilly.com\/missingmanuals\/<\/a>). One chapter in that guide was very helpful, but it provided a step by step guide to using Blogger, and Blogger was on some sort of hiatus at the time.<\/p>\n (I’ve since read somewhere that bloggers today could use Drupal, Gawker, Moveable Type, Drupal or Crowd Fusion, but I didn\u2019t investigate any of these and I still have no idea if any of them existed at the time.\u00a0If you use any of these other platforms and enjoy your experience, please comment below.)<\/p>\n I ended up experimenting with WordPress, not really as a conscious choice, but just because it was available via my webhost, http:\/\/ca.godaddy.com\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n Now that I’ve been blogging for a while, I’ve realized that few people other than programmers want to talk about the technical details of blogging, because it\u2019s tough to remember what they are. Once you select a platform, choose a template and add plug-ins, all you have to do is write.<\/p>\n Mostly.<\/p>\n I typically compose stories in Word and then copy and paste them into a \u201cnew post\u201d in WordPress. Then I just click various boxes to add photos, videos, tags, and other SEO formatting. From there, WordPress magically takes care of formatting, design and distribution, just like a traditional publisher would.<\/p>\n There are also \u201cpages\u201d which enable me to create different-looking styles under different names (http:\/\/www.vitalverdun.com\/<\/a> and http:\/\/www.locallasalle.com\/<\/a>).<\/p>\n By using WordPress, I\u2019ve created a partnership with a group of technical geniuses who worry about the details I can barely think about. They consider how to link to Facebook or Google +. They think about all the changes needed to ensure that my data remains secure and test and implement them as I keep blogging. They encourage me to use my blog to catch the most readership.\u00a0They even tell me when I need to worry about the technical details.<\/p>\nTechnical side of blogging a barrier<\/h2>\n
Experience Blogging on WordPress<\/h2>\n