An Alphabet Of My Life: W

~ beetleypete

W=Wordpress.

WordPress to me means blogging, but I used something else for ‘B’.

I came late to blogging. It was not until after a suggestion from my friend Antony that I even considered starting a blog. He thought it would be something for me to do once I retired from work. I looked into it, and decided that WordPress was the platform to choose. At the time (2012) it was the easy option. The process was laid out in a way I could understand, and it was free too.

Those first few posts were very short. I let my friends and family know that I had started a blog, and they encouraged me by leaving occasional comments. Some of them even followed my blog, and I started to become aware of other bloggers, and followed some.

A year later, I was having interaction and engagement with a selection of followers, and starting to feel like I was part of an international community. I even started a second blog with a very different theme, though I don’t post much on there.

Since then, I have added photos, written fictional stories and serials, told the world about my life in a small village with my dog Ollie, and reflected on my past in London. Although follower numbers increased dramatically, and I have now published 5,257 posts, it is usually the same core group of committed and much-valued followers who read and comment on my blog posts.

Blogging not only keeps your mind active, and allows you to express your emotions and opinions, it also introduces you to some amazing people from all around the world. You gain an insight into the lives of people from other countries that you have never visited, and different cultures to your own. Blogging is great, but you have to stick at it, and engage to get the full value from it.

I’m so glad I started a blog. My life has been enriched by blogging, despite the glitches, frustrations, and occasional annoyances.

50 thoughts on “An Alphabet Of My Life: W”

  1. Pingback: Life’s Alphabet – W | Stevie Turner

  5. I don’t think any of us really realised, Pete… I certainly didn’t that I would meet and connect with so many lovely people from around the world… I never would have done so if I hadn’t started blogging…bloggers are some of the nicest people I could wish to meet 🙂 x

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  6. Yes, my life has been enriched by blogging, quite unexpectedly…. Can’t remember exactly why and how I started blogging, but the best thing about it is the people I have met, and the insights into other cultures

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  8. Well said Pete…the community of friends I’ve made, the new voices I’ve had the chance to hear, and all of the unique perspectives on life from you and others makes the experience very rewarding…here’s to many years more!

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  10. I had an author website which was totally uninteractive ( no such word! ); If anyone read it I wouldn’t know what they thought, readers on line are not going to bother to click to another page and check out your email address. I then noticed every writer except me was on WordPress. How many of us would have dreamt it would be about far more than selling books or getting noticed as a writer. It has kept us in touch with the world during lockdown and helped preserve our sanity through all sorts of difficulties. And of course it is fun as well.

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    1. Thanks, Janet. Without WP, I would never have known your story, or enjoyed your quirky posts! Blogging is a liberating (and often cathartic) process that brings complete strangers together.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  12. WP didn’t turn out to be what I envisioned, or wanted it to be. It only took a few weeks for me to discover it was part FaceBook for the literate, part waaaaaaay too much personal information I’m so depressed here I am in my little black dress in front of the Louvre and part Oh you’re so brilliant ESL Hallmark Moment poets. So I turned it into a kind of artificial deadline. Write something, throw it up and edit it on the big screen. Then, as you, I found some interesting, talented people. And, most likely as you, I discovered those people don’t just float to the top like cream as they should. You have to be willing to click. Out of curiosity, or boredom, or a decent graphic or title and read. Reading is the key. I need to get past an picture and see if there’s a story, written by someone who can string sentences together that express an idea, not clip art that sounds like writing. Here I am seven years on with an embarrassing few followers, and more embarrassingly few that I follow. “Life’s too short to read shitty content.” I’m glad I ended up here in Beetley!

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    1. Thanks for being glad you found Beetley, Phil. I have to say that I never found or sought out any of those ‘Facebook/Instagram’-style bloggers. And if they followed me, I ignored them. In 2017, I wrote a post about how blogging is serious, and not basic social media. Here it is. ( Below. It received quite a lot of comments.)
      As for my 8,852 followers, including email only and social media, I probably get around as much interaction as you do some days.

      Blogging is not Facebook


      Best wishes, Pete.

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  13. Pete, this is my third time on WordPress. The first two experiences were fine, but I stopped because life got in the way and I couldn’t carve out the time to even post my stuff. Now that I am in what I call “First Retirement” (we’ll see if it “sticks”), I have the time not only to blog away on my site, but visit and comment on sites like yours. The WordPress community has always been welcoming to me, even if the WordPress technology has sometimes been not so welcoming lol. Glad to read here you enjoy it as much as you do!

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  14. I have been blogging for nearly 15 years. What started as a distraction one night has led me appearing on a TV, editing a on-line magazine, writing a memoir and contributing to numerous publications, including one presented to the Queen. I’ve helped students, been interviewed on podcasts and communicated with many who have inspired me.

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  18. My experience has been much the same. Back in Washington State, when I ran a cat foster home, I created a website in order to find homes for the cats. It was a bit of a challenge, now that I think of it! But I had never for a minute considered a blog. Then, after I returned to NY I met a writer that I had followed for years and attended a writing workshop for a while. It was he who encouraged me and it has become an important part of my life. I only started in 2019 but I just passed my 1,000 th post. I have a very small following but I have “met” wonderful people and enjoy being part of such a wide community.

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  23. I think taking up [or expanding on] one or more activities after retirement, if one is lucky enough to get there and be reasonably comfortable financially, is crucial; it might be apocryphal, but there are so many stories of people retiring after living for their jobs and having nothing to look forward to, then dying quite quickly afterwards. I’m glad you enjoy blogging, Pete: keep up the good work! Cheers, Jon.

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    1. Thanks, Jon. I also did some volunteering when I retired. I fitted smoke alarms as a Norfolk Fire Service volunteer, taught Cycling Proficiency at the nearby primary school, and acted as a guide at the local restored windmill. Unfortunately, many such organisations ask far too much of the volunteers, so I eventually gave all of those up. But if you can find a good balance, volunteering can be rewarding.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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