I don’t think you should feel like a fraud if you have hired individuals to help with your blog(s). You are in a more fortunate position than others. Currently I know of no one in my immediate circle who has a blog, let alone, understands blogging, therefore, I work at learning (which I love to do), all there is about blogging and the creation/maintenance of them.

Some blogs are ripe for emotion, whereas others, become information sites, and emotion doesn’t play a part. With that being said though, I think most bloggers are passionate about their writings, and attempt to put out the best content possible.

Kekoa,

Thank you for the link. It sounds like its’ a speech worth listening to. Isn’t it amazing how passion drives us? I think, if we are passionate about something, it takes a lot to get us down, and even when we do hit a road block, we bounce back a lot quicker.

Steve Pavlina is one of my favorite blogs. I have read many of his posts, not only about blogging, but about life, in general. Some of his posts are quite lengthy, but are great, motivating reads.

Anyway, in that speech Steve’s main message was that he was successful only because he found what he loved to do. That gave him the endurance to keep going when things got tough. That’s the key.

I don’t land on About.com as much as I used to, and I consider it Wikipedia’s rude older cousin. I much prefer wikipedia’s information and minimalist layout.

Steve Pavlina’s blog has been a big influence on me. Similar to how the Beatles influenced music across the entire spectrum in the 60s, I think Steve is influencing blogging itself more than he realizes, just through his honesty at what he’s been able to achieve with his own WordPress blog.

I have to confess (Cath knows this) that I recruited a great guy to advise me on blogs. He did the design. He also reads the posts and finds and publishes the off pitcure to illustrate it.

I don’t know where he gets them from, but I do know that he uses valid images that will be okay to display (inportant! once got a bill for £2,000 for an image our web-designer used on our site).

Back to the topic. I completely agree with the concept of learning from others.

But I must admit to a certain stubborn streak in terms of trying to find the thing that makes you different of your own accord.

But that boils down to who you are and how you express yourself.

I think I filter things too much for political correctness and worry about what people may think or say as a result.

But some things are really me and my colleagues. And we’d do stuff like that or similar anyway – like have oursleves wearing a dunces hat or auctioned off as an IT slave for the day.

For reasons I cannot really explain, I’ve been quiet of late in the blogosphere. But today I’ve been the opposite. I’ve posted on both the blogs I author and at least one with some emotion.

Maybe emotion is the key.

It’s more enjoyable letting yourself “go” so to speak, and it’s arguable more enjoyable for the reader seeing the real thing.

Cath has published an article today which really lets rip. It gets the reader – I suspect both the regular or browsing reader – involved.

Maybe bloggers should vow to express themselves more from the heart in 2008?

Funny you should mention that, as I am in the process of trying how to figure out how to add photos too. and wrapping the words around them.