Jumping Straight in with Meme's & Blog Hops!

Another day and another great post for you.  Today's blogger is Wendy, who you can normally find over at Inside the Wendy House (smart name for her blog, huh?)  This is what Wendy says about herself -

I'm a vegetarian stay-at-home mum to five amazing kids (aged 1 to 22!) and am happily married to my childhood sweetheart.  How blessed am I!  I love entering competitions, watching horror films and eating cake.  I'm enjoying my foray into the Blogsphere and look forward to where this journey will take me!

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I tentatively entered into the Blogsphere in September 2010, so in essence I'm still a newbie myself. I wasn't sure I was qualified to inhabit my own little corner of Cyberspace, and worried what on earth people would make of me, a pretender in this unknown world, where everyone seemed so much more sophisticated, knowledgeable and interesting than me. Would anyone, other than my own mother, really want to read my ramblings?

Well, my fears turned out to be completely unfounded. The blogging community turned out to be a very friendly and welcoming place. Everyone was once new and remembers that first step, so they are all very willing to proffer advice and support. Getting followers who are not blood relatives is a huge buzz and realising that your words are reaching others is most humbling.

One way to enjoy the full blogging experience is to get involved. I quickly released that there were regular weekly opportunities to join in with other bloggers. For example, the use of memes is a fun exercise that's very much like a game of cyber tag! Someone writes a post and invites others to write posts on the same theme and then link back so other posters can then read everyone elses' entries. Memes travel across Cyberspace and can quickly become worldwide as they spread from one set of followers to the next! The benefits of taking part include often having a thought-provoking theme to inspire you; it gives you something to write about on your blog; you get to involve others in an online game which helps establish virtual relationships; it creates traffic on your own blog which hopefully translates into new followers and comments; it enables you to discover wonderful new blogs that you yourself can follow and learn from.

Bloghops provide a shared linky list which can be displayed at the bottom of numerous blogs. Readers can literally hop from one blog to the next following the list, creating a real sense of community. The more you take part, linking up, visiting other blogs and commenting on posts, the more you get out of it. Becoming a weekly regular gives you a real sense of involvement. You always have ideas for new posts, so there is never an excuse for writers' block! You make friends and start to feel like a real accepted member of blogdom!

Some regular blogs that let you link up are Sticky Fingers' The Gallery, Mocha Beanie Mummy's Silent Sunday, Kate Takes 5 Listography, The King and Eye's Blog Gems and Mummy from the Heart's Reasons to be Cheerful, 1,2,3. They provide a fabulous starting point and are lots of fun to do. Give them a try and before long you will be creating and hosting your own memes and bloghops!

Thank you Wendy and as she rightly points out you can link up with me here on my Reasons to be Cheerful weekly meme.  Every Thursday night about 9pm (or earlier if I am being efficient!) my post and linky is live for you to link up with.  The idea is simple and one I would recommend everyone thinks about.  Gratitude has a wonderful way of melting a frozen heart and planting a grin on your lips!