Newbie Blogger Initiative! Woo!

Three years ago, I had no idea what I was doing when it came to blogging (though it might be argued that I still don’t). I muddled my way around, read some posts here and there, left a few comments, but generally, learned the ropes by putting myself out there and writing my heart out.

Thankfully, those days are long past for me, but thousands of new blogs spring up every day–and with them, new bloggers.

That’s where the Newbie Blogger Initiative comes in. It’s a collaborative effort between some of the internet’s best, most interesting, intelligent, pretty, veteran bloggers who just want to help newbies learn the ropes and hopefully avoid some of the pitfalls each one of us might have stumbled through.

MMO blogging, which is the NBI’s focus, can be a hard game. Online communities are notoriously negative, infamously critical, and potentially seen by outsiders as more trouble than they’re worth. However, that’s not always the case.

If it weren’t for the community of bloggers I found three years ago, there’s a very good chance I would have wiped my hands clean of the whole mess and left not only blogging, but the MMO-sphere, too. People like Syp, Tesh, Spinks, Pete, Stillwater, and Ferrel make the whole deal worth it. There are loads of connections to be made and fun to be had.

Don’t let the fear of flames or of writing or of anything else stop you. I tell my students every year that I’ve become a better writer because of blogging more than anything else, and it’s the truth. Read some of my early blogs, then read some of my newer ones–tenfold improvement. I’ve made connections and friends, even found ways to advance professionally. All because I wanted to write about WoW and other such geekery.

So check out the Newbie Blogger Initiative, and if you need anything at all, give me a yell, either here, email, or on Twitter. I’ll do anything I can to help you. It’s what I do.