Prepare to Merge: Streamlining My Interests Into One Blog

 
You may have noticed that I've added some posts to this blog that relate, in one way or another, to communication theory.  I want to take this opportunity to explain why I'm including them here and why I'm adding these posts now.

(photo: found here and used in accordance with a Creative Commons license)

My interests are many and varied, and when I can draw connections between them and share them with others, I'm thrilled.  However, when I first started this blog, I wasn't sure of the exact direction I wanted it to take and what kinds of topics I wanted to cover (apart from usability and psychology).

My original idea was to create two separate blogs: one for me to talk about usability, psychology, and related topics, and another for me to write about communication theory.  Then, one of my potential readers suggested that I try to incorporate my communication theory posts into this blog, a practice that would allow me to focus my energy on one blog and one readership rather than two.

I liked this idea, but then I wasn't sure how I would blend the two topics together in a way that really made sense and didn't seem forced.  Thus, for the past few months, I have kept notes on what I've wanted to say about communication theory and held off on finalizing and posting them until this week.

I think (or hope?) that I've done a good job of integrating communication theory and usability/psychology.  I've posted them according to the corresponding dates of my notes, and I've given them the label "theory" for easy retrieval.

I hope you enjoy my postings (and maybe even learn as much as I have during the process of writing them).  I also hope that you will continue down this road of the blogosphere with me.

As always, comments and questions are welcome.

Thank you.

The Story So Far: A Reflection on My Blogging Experience

In this post, I will talk about my experience with creating, maintaining, and updating Wired for Writing, my very first blog.

When I first created this blog and started writing in it, I didn't have too firm of a grasp of exactly "how" a person writes in a blog ("What should the tone be?  Can I go 'off-topic' from my mission statement?"), since I hadn't read blogs on a regular basis.  My only experience with reading blogs at that time was when one would pop up in my search results for something else I was looking for.

In short, I was a little intimidated.

At the beginning, it became obvious that I was a frustrated novelist: my posts were pretty long.  In whatever I do, I try to be comprehensive, which I suppose is an admirable trait in most circumstances.

In my efforts to find material to write about, I truly learned a great deal about topics like usability, social media, and design.  When I wrote my posts, I wanted to share what I had found with you, including pictures and links to outside material whenever possible and appropriate.

As time went on, I did my best to be more careful with my word choices so that I wouldn't have to use so many words to get my points across.  I also "loosened up" a little bit and tried to make my posts sound different from everyone else's in the blogosphere.  I tried to have fun with my posts and treat them like little creative writing projects.  I hope that came across and that my posts have been fun for you, the reader, as well.

So, what's next?  Who knows.  I definitely want to keep posting here and updating the look and feel of the blog as I learn more about design and CSS.

In the meantime, do you have any suggestions for changes you'd like to see in the blog?  Anything about it that you strongly like or dislike?  Any writer needs to know her audience, so please share you thoughts.

Thank you for taking the time to read my writing.