Become The Impulsive Blogger

About two weeks ago, there was what could be described as an unprecedented gathering of folks who author and manage construction related blogs. In reality, it was a group of friends who got together via conference call to discuss the how's and why's of their respective blogs and to help each other with their own blog work. The group included:

Cherise Schacter, Portland, OR @cheriseschacter  cheriseschacter.wordpress.com
Charles Hendricks, Harrisonburg, VA @thegainesgroup  harrisonburgarchitect.wordpress.com
Lori Greene @LoriGreeneAHC  idighardware.com
Eric Lussier, Burlington, VT @ericdlussier ericdlussier.wordpress.com
Marvin Kemp, Baltimore, MD @mpkemp accidentaleader.blogspot.com
Randy Nishimura @sworegonarch  sworegonarchitect.blogspot.com
Liz O'Sullivan, Denver, CO @LizOsullivanAIA  lizosullivanaia.wordpress.com
Robin Snyder, Tempe, AZ @speclawyer 

Also invited, but unable to attend were these:

David Stutzman, Tuckahoe, NJ @dstutzman  conspectusinc.com/swblog
Tara Imani, Houston, TX @Parthenon1  indigoarchitect.com
Joy Davis, Albuquerque, NM @CSIConstruction

I listed a bunch of information about each of us above for a couple of reasons. First, this is a very diverse group of people :architects, engineers, specifiers and manufacturers reps. The group represents the best of CSI: all members of the construction team coming together to solve problems and teach each other something. The group is also from all over the country, just like CSI.

Lastly, each member of the group is active in many social media platforms. The genesis of this gathering was Cherise tweeting for assistance from several of us in starting her blog. I put each of our twitter handles out there so you can give us each a look and a follow. Each of us blogs, some more prolific than others, so I listed the URL's for our blogs. Give us a look; I'm sure you'll like what you read!

Across about an hour and a half, our conversation ranged from the more practical side of which blog platform to use and how to integrate Twitter into it to why we blog and how we pick our topics. For me, I use Google's Blogger platform and I started blogging for a selfish reason. My mother was an English teacher and I've always had an appreciation for the written word. In college, I did a 2-credit hour independent project on creative writing. As I've worked my up in our firm, I've taken a larger role in marketing and frequently write pieces for our RFP responses.

I'm not sure when the idea to start a blog came to me, but it was sometime around the time our chapter was suffering from lack of leadership and I realized I should step in and become chapter president. I had about six months to prepare, so The Accidental Leader was born. Even though I published the blog publicly, I think only my wife and a small handful of others knew about it. I used it to work through some thoughts I had on how our chapter should work and what I needed to do to make the chapter better.

I was not a particularly voracious author, but it worked for me. After two years as chapter president, my blogging ebbed until our president at the time was diagnosed with ALS and I picked the blog back up to record my thoughts and our chapter leadership's actions as his health deteriorated. That was an emotionally trying time, but I think our Board of Directors did a great job of keeping our chapter running while also supporting our president and helping him remain active for as long as possible. I hope I captured all of that in the blog, but have not brought myself to re-read those posts since his death in 2010.

Recently, I took up blogging again hoping to improve our chapter's image in the industry. Our chapter used to publish white papers called Felt Tips in our monthly newsletter, so I borrowed that title and The Felt Tips blog was born at felttips.blogspot.com. Unfortunately, I became a committee of one: no on else seemed as interested in blogging as I was. I struggled through it for a year or more until I approached about being a CONSTRUCT-per-Specs blogger, so I resurrected The Accidental Leader and have been a slightly more active blogger since, though I still work on Felt Tips from time to time.

I learned from our gathering of bloggers that many of us have the same issues with starting and completing blogs. I'm evidence of that in that I'm trying to finish this post two weeks after the gathering and a full week after I started it. As they say, life gets in the way. However, the best advice of the afternoon came from Liz and I captured it in the tweet below.

 

 

If you're from the South as I am, you might also say "Git 'er done!"

 

I think that's true of many things, but especially true of blogging, Tweeting or any other social media. Many of my generation are timid to start. We watch our children and grandchildren jump into Twitter, Instagram or Snap Chat with both feet and not worry about what others may think. We should adopt that same reckless abandon for ourselves! Jump in, do it, be yourself and people will find you and love you. We've all worked too long and too hard for the knowledge we have and the knowledge we gain every day. Use it! Share it! Social media is here to help! If you're scared or nervous, that's fine. We were, too. If you need help, hit those of us listed above with a tweet and we'll be happy to help.