As many of you know, I take great care to attend to my professional development. I’ve attended training programs and networking sessions. I received my MBA and CMA. I have taken all sorts of personality assessments. All of this was done with the hope that I would not only build my resume but understand who I am, my likes and dislikes, and my strengths and weaknesses in an effort to make sure that I continue to find jobs that utilize my strengths while minimizing my weaknesses and that focuses on areas I enjoy so that I can grow as a person and as an employee.
Sitting in one such training session a few weeks ago, I started thinking about blogging development. How does one develop and grow as a blogger? More importantly, should we develop and grow as a blogger? This lead to a slew of questions.
Is it necessary? Does it occur over time? What would such development look like? Does it happen naturally through discussions and interactions, through continuous writing and reviewing? Does it require more forethought and deliberate planning?
What would one hope to accomplish by undertaking it? Does such development connote the end of blogging as a hobby and the start of more earnest, more professional blogging? Can hobby bloggers still develop and hone their craft?
(I have learned through my personality assessments that I tend to question everything and am constantly learning to seek answers to those questions.)
I am going to wait to answer these questions myself, but I am curious what others think about development and its place in the blogging world. Does it belong? What are your thoughts?
I do think that it is okay to grow and change and STILL be a hobby blogger because I agree that it happens naturally through experience, confidence and interaction with others!
I've grown, changed and developed a ton since I started blogging. I think it happens naturally. And I hope that it's okay to grow and change and STILL be a hobby blogger!
My recent post My Brand- FUN!
Do you think that blogs grow naturally purely through interaction with other bloggers? Or is the nature of our growth as writers?
I'll admit that I reach out to the blogosphere for intellectual stimulation as well. Now, if only I can find out how to make money off of all this intellectual stimulation!
Thanks, Florinda! I have so many questions running around in my mind that I think this "Food for Thought" is going to be a regular feature. It is my own way of diversification and growth.
I do tend to agree that development is organic. There are too many bloggers out there from whom to learn and share ideas and too many opportunities to grown and improve our blogs (Bloggiesta, Blog Improvement Project). It's an interesting point of discussion, isn't it?