Blogging and Social Networking Workshop - 8th March

My next Blogging and Social Networking Workshop is now only a month away!

When: Saturday 8th March
Time: 10.30am - 3.00pm
How much:£45.00
Where: London, SE1

It's an intensive workshop packed with tips on how to set up your blog,  develop its identity, promote it using social networks, gain a readership, keep it interesting and also, importantly, what to avoid. 

Here are some Twitter Testimonials about my last workshop:

Thanks to talented and engaging @EmilyBenet for a brilliant #BlogWorkshop today and great to meet everyone. @JohnHandscombe @storyslamlive
— Pippa Gough (@PippaGough) October 19, 2013

If you want to learn about blogging, book on @EmilyBenet's course. I went yesterday - learned loads & laughed loads. Now I'm ready to blog!!
— John Handscombe (@JohnHandscombe) October 20, 2013

Thnks @EmilyBenet for a great workshop today on 'Blogging and Social Media'. Years of hard-earned knowledge packed into 1 session. Perfect!
— Tamim Sadikali (@TamimSadikali) October 19, 2013

 

BLOG SPOTLIGHT: The Reluctant Perfectionist

Helen Barbour came to a workshop in November 2012 and began her blog The Reluctant Perfectionist soon after. 

Peter Gettins Photography

What's your blog about? The Reluctant Perfectionist is a blog about my experiences of having obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). 

How long have you been blogging? Since 8 April 2013 – so far I’ve managed weekly posts, on a Monday, and hope to continue with that regularity. 

What made you start? Originally this was a means to an end, in that I wanted to raise my profile as a writer: obsessive-compulsive disorder is a theme in my – as yet – unpublished novel. However, I quickly began to enjoy blogging in its right and the positive feedback from readers has encouraged me immensely. 

What have been the benefits of blogging for you? I love playing with words (aka writing!) and blogging is a way to hone those skills. I’ve also found the experience extremely rewarding, as many readers have contacted me to say they have found my posts interesting and/or helpful – from strangers as far afield as India and the States, to an old schoolfriend, whose grown-up son has been diagnosed with OCD. 

What has been your most popular post to date? My post, Natural Born Worrier, about anxiety, which I think is something most people can relate to – though perhaps not in such an extreme form as I experience it (OCD is an anxiety disorder). 

Have you got a blog highlight? I was recently approached by a magazine based in Mumbai, India, who were looking for someone to write an article about OCD for them and had come across me via my blog. I was thrilled to be asked and am expecting the article to be published in March.

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This workshop will pose the questions you should ask before you begin your blog and offer all the information you need to get started.  If you've been meaning to start a blog for a long time, why put it off any longer? Come along for a friendly, fun and informative workshop!

Book your place via Paypal (£45.00) or for more information check out my Blog Workshop Page.

 

Guest Blog: The Jeans Genie vs The Genes Genie

Guest Blog by Helen Barbour of The Reluctant Perfectionist, a blog about life as a writer with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Helen attended my Blogging for Beginners and Improvers Workshop last November.  

 

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Guest Blogger: Helen Barbour

 

Let me start with a confession: I hate shopping. A genetic mix-up has left me with a love of action movies, but no interest whatsoever in buying clothes or shoes.

 

There is a special sub-category to my loathing: shopping for jeans. Thanks to another genetic anomaly, I have giraffe legs. The standard long in most shops is no match for an inside leg of 34”. Finding jeans that fit has never been easy. Now that I am ‘of a certain age’, it has become almost impossible.

 

 A much younger friend responded to my grumbles by recommending Top Shop, on the basis that their long was 34”.

 

I knew that Top Shop was for woman half my age, but I was desperate.

 

They certainly seemed to have a wide selection of styles, many in 34” length: skinny, slim, straight, tapered, boyfriend… I circled the displays half a dozen times, trying to find the cut I wanted. On each circuit, I discovered a new permutation of style, length and colour. Yet all of them looked much the same: painfully narrow, with a lack of fabric around the midriff.

 

I collared a young assistant. ‘I know I’m too old for this shop…’

 

‘Ah bless,’ she said.

 

‘…but a friend recommended you [it’s not my fault, I know I shouldn’t be here]. Do you – by any chance – have high‑waisted, long, boot-leg cut jeans.’ I said this very slowly, to enable her to take in the details of such a bizarre request.

 

She frowned. I might as well have been asking where the Higgs Boson Particle was.

 

‘The thing is,’ I blustered on, ‘I need a high-waist to hide my middle-aged spread.’

 

‘Ah bless,’ she said.

 

From Kissmequick on Tumblr

At this point, a vision flashed into my head of all the 20-something girls I’d seen with muffin tops ten times bigger than my pot belly spilling over the top of their jeans. They had no qualms about letting it all hang out – why should I? I suspect because it’s easier not to have qualms in your 20s. In your late 40s, a little more decorum is called for.

 

‘Mmm,’ she frowned again. ‘It’s a shame, our denim expert’s off today. She knows everything about our jeans.’

 

A denim expert? What next, a tee shirt tsar? A glove guru?

 

I tried on half a dozen pairs, anyway.

 

The worst were the skinny jeans. Not only did they cut off my blood flow, they also transformed my long, slim, straight legs into the bowed struts of a chicken wishbone.

 

Next time, I’ll head for the safe, middle‑aged embrace of M & S. I’d rather settle for jeans an inch too short, to safeguard my circulation – and keep my belly (button) to myself.

 

 

Visit Helen's blog The Reluctant Perfectionist