I started blogging exactly six months ago on October 1st, 2008. And let me be honest: the time did not fly by! Those six months were some of the most challenging times I’ve ever endured and I’m glad it’s over. Now that I’m “out of the cave,” I feel more confident than ever about my blogging future. But enough about me… The reason why the first six months are hard for any serious blogger is because it’s time you spend mostly with yourself as a newbie. You are essentially learning how to articulate your ideas into coherent blog posts, then realizing very few people will read them. You also have to learn the ropes of blogging. This involves a bunch of reading, information filtering, theme and plug-in searching and staying on top of what other bloggers are saying. If you’re not careful, this stage can kill you! The early stages of blogging are frustrating and lonely, but very important to your progress. Think of those first six months as a naturally-occurring process–like growing from a newborn to a young adult, with each month representing about three years of growth. You start from crawling and babbling to walking and talking to thinking your own ideas to finally establishing your identity in the world. [Read more...]