So here goes...

I thought about starting a blog this time last year – filled with the kind of brash optimism that only a brand new year can inspire. Within two days (which to be fair is quite a long period of time for my new year’s resolutions to last) I began to feel like maybe I was getting ahead of myself. Really, what did I have to say that was important enough for people to take time out of their day to read about? Um. And that’s where the good intention ended – with a crisis of confidence and what I now know to be a misunderstanding about blogging – the notion that its about one way communication i.e me telling you a story. So a year on, what’s different, why am I back and actually making it one step further and writing my first blog post? Actually, you can thank (or blame) Twitter for that.

Over the past few months I’ve got involved in Twitter although initially suffering from the ‘oh my god, I’ve got nothing interesting to say’ paralysis, it quickly became clear how useful a communication tool it is. And one so easy to use that even I’m managing it, after all, who can’t manage a 140 character update on what they’re doing?

I’ve heard people dismiss Twitter – ‘who wants to know what someone’s eaten for breakfast’ but its so much more than that - it’s about building connections, finding people with mutual interests, sharing news and views in quicker time than any other format I’ve ever seen. And as a result I’ve built a whole new network of tweeple who keep me informed and entertained wherever I am in the world. It’s the new, shiny carrier pigeon, the lung friendly smoke signal (although I think I AM addicted).

And so if Twitter is ‘micro-blogging’ and I’m enjoying it then logic dictates that blogging can’t be that much harder, and perhaps offers twice the reward (new year optimism in evidence again).

Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that Twitter has made the concept of blogging so much easier for me to grasp and now I can’t wait to explore more, to learn more and to talk more with all of you. So here goes...