Category: Blogging and Networking

At the end of January I was super smug at how I was doing against my 2018 goals “Learn Apply, Interact”, but we can all easily have a spurt of productivity and focus towards our New Year’s Resolution that early on.  The question is, at the end of February, am I still focused?  Have I learnt anything? Done anything with that knowledge and interacted with the right people and platforms to achieve my goals?

Well just in case you can’t be arsed to read any more, the short answer is YES!!!  And in the hope of enticing you to stick with it, here are some visuals to demonstrate some of this years successes so far…

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Yes, I’ve been really proactive with my stained glass, making batches of glass hens, blue tits, daffodils, easter eggs and a couple of dragons…. OK, I haven’t finished the dragons but they’re cut and ready for the next phase.  Here’s one I made earlier…

Yes, I am officially offering AND DELIVERING stained glass teaching from my little home studio.  I’ve discovered it’s ideal for teaching on a one to one basis or up to 3 people at a time so it makes a great Mother and Daughter gift (thinking Mothers Day here people 😉 ); best friends break; or couples activity.  This mum and daughter had a fabulous time.  Get in touch if you want to book one – I may be offering deals and discounts to friends/ bloggers xx

Yes, having hoped to do a bit of demoing /public speaking this year I happily have have two demos/talks to do for a couple of WI groups – first one is in 10 days time I shall be making daffodils out of glass before their very eyes!  Magic!

And yes, things are looking up on social media. My followings are improving. More importantly the interaction is going up… no point in having likers and followers if they never chat to you is there… I’m making some lovely friends through it and who knows where it will lead. This year so far I have 78 more twitter followers, 26 more blog followers; both around 15% increases but blog views per month have doubled since 2017 (based on monthly averages )…

My finally piece of positive news is the guest spot coming up on Deborah’s My Random Musings , Bloggers Corner Interview … goes live on 25th… so excited.  I love Deborahs’ blog and how she supports other bloggers and writers.

However  I have been struggling….

On the learning front….

…I tried and tried and tried to get my head around my existing blog/websites for my B&B and decided I was just not techy enough.  I read loads of stuff about blogging and twitter and wordpress and tied myself in a knot of frustration and felt like I was drowning in all the information and my failure to process it.  In the end I put a shout out for help and am delighted to say that I had several offers of support.  Thanks to those who offered help and advice.  Particularly…..

Katy McKenzie of Something Different   is studying Film Production at Derby Uni and has her own successful Youtube channel.  She has offered to help me create a media pack… just chatting to her and tapping in to her enthusiasm was refreshing, it calmed me out of my panic straight away… who says the young can’t teach us oldies a few things!  I look forward to her technical insight .

Holistic health blogger  and freelance digital marketer, Petra Kravos of  Be Healthy Now, has taken me up on the offer of a skills swap… she’s going to help me with my tech and in return I will treat her to a weekend break with her partner here at our B&B…. can’t wait to meet her in person and to learn some new tricks.    I just hope I can impress her with my homemade veggie and vegan breakfast options 😉 … I know she’ll love the fresh air and landscape and the wonderful cycling routes just on our doorstep.

I’m now very excited about the prospects of learning and developing my sites over the next month or so….

And just a quicky roundup of how I’m doing on my health and wellbeing goals…

I’ve lost a stone in weight, god knows where from as I still feel like I’m bursting out of bras and trousers in every direction but those scales don’t lie. I’m eating more healthily; have cut out all junk snack; feel more energised; am drinking loads more water; have not had any much alcohol (mums birthday and valentines); and I’ve walked into the village everyday occasionally instead of taking the car; basically its all heading in the right direction.

However….

… have failed on the weekly date days with Hubby (although we do snuggle together on the sofa every evening);  And I’ve barely made it to a dance/exercise class nor have I just danced for fun, although I have been practicing my belly rolls  …I’ll never get to this but I can remain inspired… an old woman girl can dream of being this fit can’t she

So how is your year going?  Did you set targets?  Have they fallen by the wayside? Perhaps there have been some surprises that have moved you in other directions? Would love to hear from you.