with a BANG, not a whimper!
Wow! 23 posts, new contributors – and more posts already lined up for Week 2! Apologies for all the exclamation marks, but I still have not recovered from being stunned by how many contributors we had had in the first year (about 108 if I subtracted from the full 111 the 2 or 3 blogs that have a separate Twitter account but also have individual authors who are listed).
I have archived the List of posts by week for 2012 onto a separate page because our list of posts was growing so long. At the rate that new contributors are appearing, I may have to split up the List of contributors into alphabetically-arranged pages.
For this summary – for once – I am not going to attempt to weave all the posts into carefully-crafted prose. All of the posts are worth reading, of course, but I will mention just a few separately.
I am rather sad that Ross Wigham announced in his post that he will be taking a break from blogging. His style is very readable and it is well worth reading some of his posts that he picks out in this week’s contribution: I never make predictions………and I never will (looking back at 2012). I like the fact that he has learned something by blogging personally as well as professionally about what types of posts can resonate with readers.
Someone who seems to have gained a good understanding about that edge between self and work persona online through trying it out is Phil Jewitt. If you are starting to blog, and especially if you have an online work presence – and even more especially if you work in the public sector – it is worth reading at least a few of Phil’s posts from when he first started contributing to Weekly Blog Club, and then read this week’s Less. If you are an accomplished public sector blogger, you should read Less for Phil’s thoughts on a difficult public sector year ahead.
There are several excellent posts this week on public sector and using digital media but I would like to highlight Sarah Lay’s – Death of a party – partly because she writes about an interesting issue with using Facebook, partly because Sarah wrote the first and last Weekly Blog Club posts of last year.
Do read the other posts – they are varied in topic and tone – and a few are mainly pictures rather than words.
Since I have been so slow on pulling together the summary, we are over halfway through Week 2 already and several people have already asked about the theme for this week. For the benefit of new contributors and those still considering whether to contribute, you can join in any time, ‘weekly’ is an aspiration, and the theme is entirely optional (and not always set). We have found that someone writing about something will cause others to be inspired to respond, write their own list of things. The playlists were one (but not only) good example of that last year. A lot of the time, we all ignore the set [entirely optional] theme. Sometimes, someone is uninspired and we make suggestions for a theme specific to her or him to try to break the writer’s block (it usually works).
The year ahead theme remains a very appropriate [entirely optional] theme for the second week of January. You could also look back on the 2012 posts to see if there is a theme or topic amongst them that you would like to try.
Thank you very much to all those who have read, Liked, commented on, followed this blog (and our members’ blogs), tweeted and retweeted our posts as well as to those who have contributed posts. If you want to join in, more about how to can be found on our About page.
I enjoy being a curator of Weekly Blog Club but it is quite hard work. I hope that will not put off more trying it, however. Mark Braggins, Kate Bentham, Louise Brown and Phil Jewitt all seem to have enjoyed doing it, and I have thoroughly enjoyed experiencing a different ‘voice’ behind Weekly Blog Club. You can find out what is involved on the Admin info page, and you can suggest a week (or even weeks) that you could do on the Who looks after Weekly Blog Club when page.
I found a tweet by Phil Jewitt on something that Mark Braggins had blogged about in April 2012 very interesting:
.@weeklyblogclub fair to say that #weeklyblogclub has developed into THE sociable enterprise. markbraggins.com/a-sociable-ent… #predicted #trulysocial
— Phil Jewitt (@philjewitt) January 5, 2013
I hope that 2013 is a good year for all of you – and look forward to being sociable and enterprising with you all in Year 2 of Weekly Blog Club.
Janet
PS By the way, I am still looking for paid work. When I get some, I will start trying to sort out a Weekly Blog Club unconference – if enough people are interested.
Summary of Week 1 Year 2 posts
- 2012 in review – the stats by WordPress for Weekly Blog Club.
- Less by Phil Jewitt.
- I never make predictions………and I never will (looking back at 2012) by Ross Wigham.
- Hierarchies, cliques and Twitter rules by Derek Barron.
- LINK LOVE: 16 blog posts that have inspired me in 2012 by Dan Slee.
- London 2012 was my family story and yours too by Dan Slee.
- #nurture1213 Highlights by Kate Bentham.
- The challenges of 2013 by Stuart Mackintosh.
- #nurture1213 Hopes by Kate Bentham.
- Ouseburn January 2013 01 by Janet E Davis.
- Royal Navy Field Gun. A lesson in incredible teamwork, motivation, commitment and missing fingers by Chris Bolton.
- Will this year really be different? by Fiona McQueen on the Ayrshire Health blog.
- This Land is Mine and Psycho – a comparison by Clare White.
- Death of a party by Sarah Lay.
- 12 x highlights of 2012 part 1 by Janet E Davis.
- 12 x highlights of 2012 part 2 by Janet E Davis.
- My year in pictures by Carol Woolley.
- Can’t write? Won’t write by Karen JK Hart.
- Doing more with digital by Mark Braggins.
- Five kinds of silence by Diane Sims.
- Blogs to look out for in 2013 by Dyfrig Williams.
- 2013: Resolve to Unresolve – You Can’t Fail! by Rough Cat.
- Recruitment/Social Media – Goodbye 2012 & Hello 2013 by Andy Ball.
Weekly Blog Club was set up in early January 2012 to encourage people to blog regularly, and especially to encourage those working in and with the public sector, charities and voluntary organisations in the UK to find their own 'voice' through writing.
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