Blog Boggled (Part 1)

            For several years I've heard talk about blogs.  I wasn't exactlly sure what a blog looked like, but I had a general idea of what they were. Then in May of 2008 my internet buddy Stephen T. McCarthy started his blog here on Blogger. 

          Now I have never met Stephen but we became acquainted on an Amazon discussion board where I found myself very entertained by his writing style.  For reasons I won't go into here, though you can find an account on Stephen's blog, he left Amazon and came here to Blogger.  So in order to keep up with him I started a blog at the same time-- end of story.

          Or it would have been the end.  Fast forward to September of 2009.  I had allowed my blog, Tossing It Out, to lie fallow for a year and a half--in short I had forgotten that it existed.  Then in mid-September I was researching Google Ad Sense because I kept getting these work at home schemes from some listings I had placed on Craig's list.  As I was researching, I remembered that I had already set up my Google blog. So I started posting my articles.  And in doing so I revived my old enthusiasm for writing.

          Now shortly before this I had also written a short story called "Princess of the Plinth". I will post this story next week in installments in its rough first draft form. I will offer this up for critique and hope that some of you might have some suggestions for me regarding this story.

          But I have digressed.  I only tell you about this story to enlighten you about the direction in which I have been going in the latter part of this year.  Since losing my job earlier in the year I believe I have been moving toward this writer's life.  During the summer I started re-outlining  ideas for a novel that I have been kicking around since the mid-70s and for a non-fiction book I had started thinking about in 2005.  The writing muse has been prodding me for the past few years in fact.

           So, anyway, I started hearing about this Google Ad Sense program and thought that it might be nice to make money at home while "sitting in my underwear" as they say in the ads.  So there I was, reactivating my old blog.  More importantly, there I was writing.  Writing became a passion and what I was starting to see as a pathway to a profession.  I kept checking my Google Ad Sense status, but they weren't approving my account.  As the weeks passed,  I discovered that Ad Sense might be nonsense.  For me, there was something more important in this new blogging thing that I was doing.

         I think I've been pretty serious and diligent in my blogging efforts.  And I hope that I have been providing some sort of pleasant and informative diversion for those who read my site.  My goal now is to get better.   So here's the deal.  I had no idea what I was doing when I started blogging and my mind is still a bit boggled by blogging and all that it entails.  I have learned a lot since I have started, which I would like to share in case someone else out there hasn't learned these things, and I hope that some of you might know the answers to some of the things I'm still trying to figure out.

           I want to get the most out of my blogging experience and I'm sure most of you do too.  For the next few Mondays I will be talking about blogging and other things related to blogging.

          How long have you been blogging?  Why did you start blogging in the first place?   Did you have to learn about it on your own or did someone help you?   What have been your best resources for learning about your blog?   Are you still waiting to be approved for Ad Sense or do you care?  If you have Ad Sense now, is it worth the effort?