A Letter to My Daughter

If I could write you a letter of advice, it would be this

That you would live your life as though

You were writing a narrative

Every small detail matters

From being an early riser

 To reading something kind

Before you lay to bed each night

And with every thing you do 

Walk independently

You can love the world

Without relying on it

Give yourself grace

But hold yourself to the highest expectation 

Invest in the right people

Your time is precious 

And few people will deserve it

Don’t forget

To give yourself

What you are offering the world

Because at the end of the day

You tuck yourself in at night

To hate, and to be angry

Are the easiest things

Choose the hard path

I don’t even know 

What you look like yet

And I already know 

You are beautiful

And I know when 

You go outside

And let the sun hit your face

You will feel that beauty

And if there is no sun

Be the sunshine

Help others to be the sunshine too

Then you will never know a cloudy day

If you treat your body like a home you will never be lost 

Your intuition is always right

Trust it

And lastly, I may not always be there to love you

But I will give you enough love in my life time

To last you the entirety of yours

Introduce Yourself (Example Post)

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.