Reaching People

I should tackle the things I’m not so good at not so comfortable with. Indeed I preach the very same thought to people who might look for a web designer. I’m the one who says ‘a little bit first’ and ‘learn by doing.’ So it is with writing this blog, I want to be of help with this blog but to be honest I’m not so good at it. I hope what you eventually read is good but it is a tough process. How do I make it less tough?

Monday 27th June I sit at our living room table laptop in front of me yet staring out of the window. Effort, motivation and confidence are missing. I do a difficult but sensible thing, I ask for help, I ask Anna if there are any blog writers that meet up in Hebden Bridge? She doesn’t think so, I asked her because she’s a local writer (Falling Through Clouds, Bluemoose Books) likely to have fingers in such pies. And here’s where the ubiquity of email changes things: I suggested there should be a club and asked if Anna could mention it to the people she knows interested in writing. Within a few hours an inaugural meeting of Hebden Bridge Blog Club was scheduled and a few people started expressing an interest. A week later eleven people are sat in a bar sharing blog stories and ambitions.

I credit email because without it I wouldn’t have asked for help, and it wouldn’t have been easy to reach appropriate people quickly. But it was also very important that the call had a credible context, it not only went to people who wanted to hear any local literature news but from someone known to be interested in writing. I don’t believe success was solely about reaching the right people; if news of my event was seen on a flyer would it have been as compelling?

It is a lesson: only broadcast to interested people; what you say might have less value than how and from whom it comes.

I hope blog club flourishes, we meet again on Monday 1st August 8pm B@R Place, Crown Street, Hebden Bridge come join us