Blogging is a lot like gardening. I call it “Blogscaping.”
You start with the seeds of an idea, plant it out there, nurture it, and in time you can cultivate something beautiful or delicious. Like a garden, a blog does not live on it’s own. It needs tender loving care and attention, if not daily, then often enough to make it grow. You neglect it and ceases to thrive. Just as gardeners share cuttings and seeds, bloggers share too–in fact, that’s pretty much how the blogosphere works, it’s a community of shared content and conversation.

People have been asking me for a while how I come up with ideas, with things to write about. They’ve asked me to help. So Saturday, April 24 from 10am-4pm, creativity guru, James Navé, and I are planning a Blogging Creativity Workshop and things are heating up. It’s a creativity/writing workshop for those of you with blogs and those without but are thinking of starting one. We’ll focus less on tactics and technology, more on generating hot ideas and great content so people will want to read your blog, join in the conversation, and pass it along. We are limiting it to 20 participants at Riverside Yacht Club in Riverside, CT–a pleasant train ride from New York City–and we plan to roll them out elsewhere later.

The workshop website is in the works and will be up shortly, but here’s a preview:

The more you exercise your imagination, the more it will surprise you with answers, solutions, and strategies. The workshop begins with imaginative chaos and moves toward creative form. We’ll hot-wire your imagination, open up surprising possibilities, uncover high-fidelity ideas, inspire you, support you, and help you discover the full power of your creative voice.

You will
•Stimulate your imagination, energize your thoughts and ideas.
•Spark off with other bloggers; with technical tips, learn how to be part of the blogging community.
•Experiment with form, harness the energy of words, electrify your writing for months to come.
•Launch your blog posts into the blogosphere!

We will
•Use writing prompts and exercises to explore the many ways you can energize your writing.
•Show you how to tap into concrete specifics and turn them into compelling blog posts.
•Practice, probe, and share ways to bring new energy to your writing and make it “searchable.”
•Challenge you, inspire you, and help you find the full power of your voice.

The Schedule
10:00-11:00: Why Blog?
What do you want to accomplish? Objectives, strategies, focus, direction.
10:30-11:30: Imaginative Storm Creativity Workout
Movement, brainstorming, & improvisation to surprise your imagination, access ideas, build on them.
11:30-12:30: The Blogger’s Journey
Exercise in honing natural storytelling styles to develop your unique creative voice.
12:30-1:30: Lunch
1:30-2:30: Entering the Conversation
The blogoshpere’s a community: Learn how to tune in, share meaningful content, build relationships.
2:30-3:30: Blogscaping
Creating a blog is like planting a garden: start with seeds, fertilize & nurture it, watch it yeild a bounty.
3:30-4:00 Summary & Blog Kit-to-Go
Tips and tools to take away: de-mystifying the language (what’s a “pingback”?); blog promotion using social media
so people find your blog; keywords, links, RSS feeds, Google and some search engine optimization.

Saturday, April 24
10am-4pm
Riverside Yacht Club, Riverside CT (directions)
$225 includes lunch and blog tool-kit
(Register by April 5 and it’s $200, or bring a friend and each get $25 off)

To register or for more information, contact me: robin@urbangardensweb.com

Hope to see you there!