Admittedly I have only been ‘blogging’ for three months and I am still unsure if I will make it, or pack it in. I am having fun using blogging as an excuse to get me writing again and as I write I am thinking about my blog brand, or identity. While I may vomit at the idea of branding there is something about the idea of identity or how you present yourself to the world that is important.

As I am also a writer then I have to take the reader into consideration. And so it is the same with blogging. At the moment I am sending out a million mixed messages as I blog on any and every subject that comes to mind. I think this is cool in the beginning as you are just trying to find your feet but after a few months I start to think of that message that I am trying to send out and what it is that I want to say.

Initially I had page labels for every book I had written and every subject I was writing about. This meant I would have about eight tabs across the top of the page, which would definitely confuse any blogger who had arrived after reading an insightful piece. What do I want them to click on? What exactly is this blog about?

My About Me page is more like a basic cv at the moment listing my work achievements and a few things I like but I would like to re-write it based along the lines of what my life achievements and ambitions are and were. Essentially I will write about my life’s ups and downs with a focus on my travel and achievements after recovering from certain events. I know this can sound ‘self-indulgent’ but I hope the focus is on the experiences after the events, showing those currently struggling, that we can get through this shit no matter what.

I have experienced a dysfunctional family but gone on to achieve and have adventures. Later on I had brought on my own further problems through drink, drugs and suicide, but again have picked up the pieces and gone on to travel, and be the first in my family to attend University. After university I went through a few mental health issues defined as ‘an existential crisis with elements of a psychosis’ which I have yet to post about as I think I am 90 percent recovered. Again I have picked up the pieces, recovered, and then continued on my journey. I will build my themes around teaching English, writing, mental health and the adventures in between.

I have been lucky enough to experience many kinds of meditation from great Zen and Tibetan teachers plus tried out different types of counselling from ‘person centred’ to ‘Jungian’ all for a variety of reasons. I want to start blogging and posting about the therapies that have benefitted me the most.

Of course if the creative writing takes off then I can start blagging about that too! As you can see an idea and identity is slowly starting to evolve. I am starting to get into the blogging experience and it’s been nice having conversations with people who have a similar creative interests. Blogging is helping to bring me back into the world and build friendships online first. Blogging requires such a diverse set of skills such as writing, web-skills, social-media, web-analytics and love and compassion.