Sunday, February 08, 2009

Blogging

I get a fair amount of comments at the dojo about the blog. Mostly, people like having a reference for the kata. That's actually why I first started it. But it's turned into something else for me, something that I miss almost as much as karate when I don't get to it regularly, something that is part of my regular routine of reflection and goal setting.

What I really like about the blog is how it provides me a structure to think things through. For instance, I was bursting with joy after running with my son today. I was probably a bit of a bore trying to tell others how I felt. The blog provided me a way to to take a few minutes to focus on why it was such a thrill by trying to write it down.

At karate, there is much talk of goal setting. And the importance of this being a formal process with goals written down and shared with others. Sounds to me like a case for blogging.

At karate, there is much talk "the importance of bookends". This means that it's important to pay attention to how you start and stop each activity and each days. It sounds to me like they were suggesting that you should finish each day with a short blog post reflecting on the reality of today and the goals for tomorrow.

I started bloggin by taking a course on it. Which was great. It's not necessary of course, you can start in a few minutes and discover you own path. But I enjoyed having a group of readers from the start and people who would give me feedback from the start. And answer questions.

The course runs infrequently but is scheduled to start again on February 16th. It is really fun, takes about 2 hours per week, and is ridicuously cheap. If you are ciurious, you should take the free Blogging PreCourse (which you can do online right now) to get a feel for what's involved before signing up for Blogging 101.

And in the spirit of full disclosure, the Blog Course is part of Time4Writing.com (kids online writing courses)
Student learning to write

Time4Writing.com is part of Time4Learning (online basic skills education for kids from PreK to middle school) which is my day job.

Homeschol curriculum .

Note the "black belt blogging" theme was shifted to the less martial but more marketable blogwritingcourse.com last year but I still prefer the old name and graphics for several reasons including the fact that my daughter is the model on the banner.

6 comments:

Sue C said...

Hi, just wanted to ask you about the blogging course you're advertising - is it just for people based in the States or is it global (I'm in England)? I've just started blogging and the course sounded interesting.

BBat50 said...

Friends from across the pond, expats or foreign, are very welcome. Frankly, we like bloggers with an accent.

Are you in one of the home counties? I lived in Richmond for five years before South Florida.

Anonymous said...

BBat50--I took the course and can say that without it I would not have my blogs today. I celebrated my 1st year blogging last month. I believe I was one of the first students to take the course. Some of the perks..the instant audience to give you honest feedback, the teach to help you along the way with some of the technical and mechanical parts and in the end a blog you learn to love and continue to grow.

Thanks to you and BBM for this awesome course. I recommended as well!

BBat50 said...

SpinDiva. Thanks for the kind words. I too found the course to be a big deal. In fact, we offer the course far more out of enthusiasm than for any sensible business reason.

Sue C said...

Well you've all sold it to me! I finished the pre blogging course on Saturday and I'm about to start the 101 course now. That's literally now. So I'll sign off and get on with it.

BBat50 said...

Sue - Glad you liked the precourse, enjoy the full one! :->