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So this is how my life works: I just got home from getting a toradol shot for major neck and back pain, I’m nauseous, tired and anxious. I’m also supposed to be packing for our family reunion and cleaning my out of control mess of a home but what am I doing instead? Starting a blog. Never mind my entire to-do list, my lack of writing skills, and my current lack of motivation to follow through on anything in my life – I’m doing it anyway. Why? Who knows! I literally went to the bathroom with the world on my shoulders, shut the door, did my business and thought, “I’m going to start a blog now.” Five minutes later here I am. Will I continue to blog tomorrow? No because I’ll be in the mountains at a secluded cabin with no wifi and lots of in-laws that think I’m strange anyway. I’m not going to throw my huge career as a new blog writer in their faces. I might pick it up again on Monday but I love living life on a cliffhanger. It could be Monday, or Friday or never……….

The one really amazing thing about all of this is how easy and fast it is to start a successful blog! How did I do it you ask? Well I went to WordPress, clicked on a few buttons and here we are! And obviously it’s successful because you’re reading it! And if no one is then how am I supposed to know that? I’m choosing to believe that it’s already wildly popular because why the heck not?

And now to the point for this blog which is what I call My Situation. It gets a title or a name because My Situation has been around for so long that it deserves one. It actually deserves a better name than all of that. I want to name it Greta. My Greta. From henceforth My Situation has been renamed Greta. There it’s done. Don’t call her by the wrong name, it makes her mad.

So let me explain my Greta. Well actually let me first tell you about my Grandmother’s knitting. That explains everything you need to know about Greta. My Grandma loved to knit. I suppose she does know too in heaven but I’m just wondering how the yarn selection is there? (Note to self: Business opportunity: open yarn stores all across the next life. All the Grandmother’s will thank you for it and you will again be wildly successful. Ignore obvious obstacles, after all you became a famous blogger in less than 5 minutes. You can do anything! )

Anyway, Grandma liked to knit and always had small balls of yarn left over from different projects. Occasionally all these small balls would wind up together in a bag and somehow they always became so twisted and knotted up together that they became nearly impossible to untangle. That is my Greta – a tangled ball of problems that all together is one giant mess and I have no idea how to untangle it. The problem is Greta is my life and while I’m very frustrated my Greta I can’t get rid of her because……. well you see the problem right? I’m as big a fan of Crime Junkies as the next person but getting rid of Greta is essentially getting rid of me and well this entire paragraph has devolved into something that will need editing later……

What I’m hoping for is that this blog will help me untangle Greta and let her free and that wound up in the middle of this big mess is actually Heidi – me. I think I’m tied up inside here somewhere but it’s been so long I just feel like a Greta.

And wether anyone reads this Greta of a blog or not, the point is to have a place to write out my thoughts, no matter how Greta they are (she can be so lame sometimes). Even if I am the only benefactor of this blog it will be a success because I need it. I need a place to write, to keep track and to unwind My Situation, I mean Greta. I’m finally ready to do the work and I have a doctor who wants in on it too.

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

• Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
• Because it will help you focus you own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

• Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
• What topics do you think you’ll write about?
• Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
• If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.