Self-Reflection: Yay me!

Hi there lecturers, or friends that are reading my blogpost! My name is Janice and I write for ALR210
– Media Relations Strategy course! It seems that we have come to an end of my blog post series and
let’s see the process along the way.

How did I plan, write and publish my posts?

First of all, honestly speaking this is my first-time blogging. It was really a tough experience.

I had to search for different bloggers and read the blogs they write, just to get an idea on how to
actually start mine out. I try and watch the lecture videos just to get a good idea on the topic. I do jot
down my notes in bullet points before I start writing on WordPress. Then I start writing and then
rewrite it and here goes my vicious cycle. Since putting media on the posts seem to interest a lot of
readers according to a lot of bloggers, I always put media on my posts. I also personally like to read
blogs which have pictures or screenshots as it is since it makes it more interesting and keeps me
going. The topics I chose to write for this assignment were based on what I feel people my aged and
or older would like to read or would understand what I am trying to write about. So, I have chosen to
write about ‘Uber and their actions on social media’, ‘Influencers and what they are in our era’,
‘Journalists, bloggers and what they do’ and lastly about one of the hottest news nowadays.
Choosing the topic was not difficult but the writing was for me. I am not accustom to writing so
thank goodness for grammar checks.

And as I began writing drafts on Microsoft Word every 2 weeks on new topics, I start to gain some
familiarity with how I like to write my blog like but it was still a challenge for me. The way I write my
blog didn’t change throughout the trimester and I think that is how I know what kind of style of
writing I have.

What have I learnt?

I have learned that writing a blog is not only for personal use but it is also useful to promote
businesses. Writers can write as their heart pleases to express how they feel about a certain topic or
to even create the first ever step to business promoting. It is even said that the main purpose of the
blog or a blog is to connect it with the relevant audience. (Minaev, 2021)

I have always wanted to start a blog since I was 12 years of age but I was always scared to start. I
know I didn’t have good writing skills so I was ashamed nobody will read my blogs. I believe that
people follow people, not just blogs. People follow people if they feel inspired and entertained by
the blogger’s stories, experiences, what they stand for and what they promote or have to say.

I also realized that to start writing a blog post, you need heaps of research and get to know the topic
even more. For media relations practitioners, this will help them a lot. They will also need the
information about the specific topic which with blogs, will help them enjoy getting to know more
information in a more fun and enjoyable way. Like myself, reading content and information with
media on the posts. (Thompson, 2021)
The Positive Discoveries and Biggest Challenges

For me, the positive discovery is that blogs are not as scary as I thought writing it would be. Research
was fun especially on the topics I wanted to write about. So, I was happy that in this unit, we were
able to write on the topics we wanted. However, researching about the certain topic no matter how
enjoyable it was, was tough for me. I felt like I did not have enough time. Not because writing a blog
of 500 words took my whole life, but I had personal issues that I was dealing with which led to me
getting writer’s block so many times. I got very very sick during this trimester which made it difficult
to get the motivation to write. For me, writing anything from essays to blogs will need motivation.
That was my biggest challenge, but I did it anyway. I wanted to learn and experience and see what I
can gain from writing something I wanted to start since I was young. I am happy I got to learn how to
put what I know into words and explain to people so they too can gain as much information as I.

If faced with a similar task in the future, what would you do differently?

In the future, I will be more efficient since I know how much research I have to do and how to write
in a more fun and easier way for people to understand and enjoy. I would also try to add some
media from my own drawings and be more confident with what I post. When I first started my blog
posts series, I was unsure if I was doing it correctly or if people who reads my blog will enjoy it, or
even call it a blog. In the future, I promised myself to write confidently because a blog defines the
writer. Lastly, I would also start to learn how to not take too much time writing just one blog post. I
can take up to a whole weekend and I think that it too much.

References:

Minaev, A., 2021. What is a Blog? - Definition of Blog, Blogging & Blogger. [online] FirstSiteGuide.
Available at: <https://firstsiteguide.com/what-is-blog/> [Accessed 26 January 2022].

Thompson, N., 2021. 10 Proven Tips to Create Blog Posts That Convert Like Crazy. [online]
OptinMonster. Available at: <https://optinmonster.com/7-tips-to-write-a-blog-post-that-converts/>
[Accessed 26 January 2022].