For the second in our "Why Do You Blog?" series, we present Helen at Regards Rainbow.
What is your blog name/url and social networking links? My blog is called Regards Rainbow. You can follow me on Twitter @regardsrainbow and on Facebook
What is your name/alias? I write as Regards Rainbow but my real name is Helen.
How did you come up with your blog name? I run my own company in my spare time, which is Rainbow PR and Regards Rainbow came from this, on the blog there is an explanation of how I got to the name, it reads:
So why Rainbow? My dad died in 2005, after living for some time with Alzheimer’s Disease. His condition got progressively worse until he could not speak and could hardly communicate at all. One day, in 2005, he was stood with the aid of his stick, by the bay window in the front room, and would not sit down.
Anyone who has cared for a person with dementia will recognise the term Sun-downing, it’s when it becomes dusk outside and the patient becomes quite agitated and unable to settle down. No one is sure what causes this.
That evening I got up to try and usher dad into his chair to settle him down, and saw the reason for his distraction, there in the sky was a beautiful rainbow to which he was pointing. I cannot explain how he communicated with me on that day about the bright colours and the stunning sky – our eyes met and communication was just there. Probably for the very last time.
I miss him terribly and named the company after that rainbow in his memory. I know he would be incredibly proud of me today.
When did you start blogging? I began blogging about two years ago, but never really settled on a URL or subject I liked, then began Regards Rainbow about six months ago and really enjoy it.
Why did you start blogging? Initially I had to set up the John Crane Blog for work and this got me into blogging, then the more I read other blogs the more I wanted to set up my own space.
Has blogging met your expectations so far? I enjoy blogging, I find it quite relaxing and don’t really work too hard on SEO etc, I blog more for me, if anyone else reads it then that’s a bonus, but really it’s a ‘me’ thing! I get around 50 or so unique users per day which I’m quite happy with, and use Facebook to gain comments from people, it’s always nice to know someone is willing to take part in a conversation about something you’ve written.
What has been your biggest challenge? Finding time! I have a full time job, which is really hectic and working on my own business in my spare time, I need to make time for my blog to nurture it. I also think I need a plan, I tend to write very ad-hoc at the moment, I think my biggest challenge is to give it all more of a purpose and meaning.
Share with us your blogging HIGHLIGHT and LOWLIGHT: I’m not very technical so I think my highlight would be teaching myself how to use Wordpress to set up my blog, I felt very proud of myself for doing it alone and not needing help! I know that might sound like quite a minor achievement to some but it gave me a grin when I went live!
Lowlight – that’s a hard one. I guess not being able to write totally freely, many readers of my blog know me through work (my proper job) so I sometimes need to be careful talking about work, promotions etc. I also am step-mummy to two boys and I have to be careful what I say there, I could write an entire blog about their ‘other side of the family’ if you know what I mean, but I have to bite my tongue their too. I sometimes wish I’d made an anonymous blog so I could vent to my heart’s content but then where’s the fun in anonymity?
What do you hope to achieve through your blogging? I love to write, I most certainly have a novel in me somewhere – just no time to get it out! Blogging keeps me writing, maintains my creativity and when work stress gets too much it’s a good outlet. I’d like to think one day I’ll find time for the novel and that blogging will have kept my hand in until then, but if that’s not to be then the blogging journey would be the success in itself, it doesn’t have to go anywhere.
At a conference recently someone said, success is a journey not a destination. I liked that and agree!
What has been your favourite post and why? Ah! My yoga post for the John Crane Blog, I loved taking all the silly photos to put it together, and it was the first ever blog post that I got comments for. I felt people were reading my work and enjoying the humour, it felt good to see something ‘happen’ on the blog and interaction occur for the very first time!
Thank you Helen! It's a pleasure getting to know you! ~Karin