I am looking forward to taking this journey and inviting you into my world. I just started blogging regularly this past fall and the response has been so great that I have decided to take it public. 

You have likely read my blogs under the Slippery Rock Toastmaster name. While that name is nice, I wanted to go with the times. I like to look good when I go out, hence the Stylish part of the blog. I enjoy traveling (whether for pleasure, Toastmasters, or work) hence the Traveling part of the blog. Speaking of Toastmasters, I received the highest honor in my Distinguished Toastmaster award, hence the DTM part of the blog. 

There’s a lot of fun things coming to the blog. I’ll talk about my daily life. I’ll provide you with upcoming wardrobe updates as I get ready for Toastmasters speech contest season as well as the upcoming Spring conference. I plan on doing food reviews and making some classic dishes. I’ll also get into some new hobbies that will help me better myself in the new year and new decade. 

I’m ready to take 2020 by storm and I hope you’ll join me. Exciting times are ahead.

Be yourself; Everyone else is already taken.

— Oscar Wilde.

This is the first post on my new blog. I’m just getting this new blog going, so stay tuned for more. Subscribe below to get notified when I post new updates.

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

• Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
• Because it will help you focus you own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

• Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
• What topics do you think you’ll write about?
• Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
• If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.