I love to read.

Words fascinate me. If I see or hear a word I don't know I will always, always, discreetly, look it up – and usually whilst trying to nod along enthusiastically as if I've always known it - smartphones have proved tremendously useful in this respect. In fact the only thing I miss about my old train commute to London is that I'd easily get through a book a week. These days I don’t really get those bite size opportunities to chunk my way through a whole book, so I’ve filled the gaps nibbling on blogs and tweets.

I like blogs; I like the informal passages, I like to read comments on blogs and articles where people have been so compelled to voice their opinion, I like to watch my twitter feed light up when particular events are happening, from the world changing to a fight in eastenders or a teenage mum on one born every minute. I've read mummy blogs, tech blogs, fashion blogs, gardening blogs, celebrity blogs, celebrity gossip blogs, political blogs, cookery blogs, sports blogs, relationship blogs. I've read good blogs, bad blogs, funny and sad blogs.

In fact, I love blogs so much the office thought I should write one.

So where do I fit in and is there room for me?

Now as much as I love words, I'm no writer. In fact starting a blank word doc always fills me with fear. Ask me to start a written sentence and I'm stumped, unless of course it's after the event or when I'm nowhere near pen & paper or keyboard & mouse, then I will have all the words I would've/should've written (even this was started on notepad for the iPhone whilst lying in bed). So as you can imagine, being asked to write a blog post on "absolutely anything you like" didn't exactly fill me with joy - how do you blog anyway??

Where to start? Do I have a theme? Is anyone going to want to read this? Who are my audience? Is this relevant or am I just ranting?

I know somewhere in amongst all the other world wide web pages there must be thousands of started, thoughtfully named and then abandoned blogs. Set up with the best of intentions. I know I have a few...

Before I put finger to keyboard I pulled together 10 tips on the art of blogging to focus me, some written, some found:

1. Read blogs. The easiest way to get in the habit of blogging is to be around them as much as possible. Source
2. Choose a subject you’re passionate about. If you’re not passionate about it you won’t be motivated to talk about it. Then you’ll need a catchy blog title and domain name. Make sure it contains keywords related to your blog so people can find you through search
3. Start out small. Start off small, gradually increasing the quality and workload of your posts, until you reach a suitable pace. Source
4. Make your blog available to you to update on the go. Wordpress for example has an app for iPhone and blackberry as does blogger and tumblr. That way if you’re blogging and you have a smartphone you can blog anywhere. And if you don’t have a smartphone (why wouldn’t you?) keep a pen and pad handy. 
5. Planning. Following on from above, if you’re like me and are stuck for where to start, plan you blog out a bit first. This started as a load of random sentences that I knew I liked, some bullet points and a bit of an idea of what I wanted to end up with. Once I had that down and could throw it around my head a bit the real words came a bit easier. 
6. Adhere to a schedule. Create a schedule and stick to it. Realizing that blogging requires time and effort, don't create unrealistic expectations and be unable to deliver. Source
7. Content. The more content you write, the more you are likely to appear in searches and the more people with be driven to your blog. Then if they get there and there’s a lot of content that interests them, they’re likely to keep coming back for more. Don’t be disheartened if you don’t get hundreds of comments and visitors straight away, it’s all work in progress
8. Be Yourself. Remember, your blog is an extension of you and your brand, and your loyal readers will keep coming back to hear what you have to say. Inject your personality into your blog. Source
9. Editing. The one thing I do have on my side is the ability to edit, comment and downright criticise text. Make sure you proof read, check spelling and edit any unnecessary rambling (unless that’s the style you’re known for). But also know when to stop editing.
10. When you’ve done all the above and got your all important audience. Don’t forget to: Get involved with your audience. Source

Hopefully some of these will help you (and me) to decide whether blogging is right for you and if so where to start. I’m not sure I have the patience/focus for my own blog having said that I've never had a problem tweeting, some 16,000 tweets later, so maybe I'll just stick to that!