For as long as I can remember I have felt a yearning to create. Conforming to the expectations of society led me to follow predictable jobs and safe paths. I directed my creative talents to cooking and cake decorating. As my confidence grew I branched out into painting and photography. More recently I have begun to write poetry. When it comes to my creations I am my harshest critic so I need objective feedback from others. I am going to share with you the steps I followed to engage critics of my work.
Creative path
I began my writing journey by creating an annual newsletter to let friends and family in the UK know what life was like in Australia. As my circle of friends in Australia grew I tried to keep in touch everyone using Facebook. I quickly realised that this was great for keeping track of photos but not much use for written work.
Next I tried Twitter, this has a much wider target group, but the 140 characters length of tweets proved even more limiting. I found salvation in the form of blogging – I signed up for an account with WordPress in September 2012. I belong to a virtual family in the blogosphere. Over 350 people around the world follow my blog. As my posts feed into Facebook and Twitter the exposure of the blog has grown to 1,925 directly linked people plus anyone else who stumbles across it while surfing the web.
No looking back
I have stopped reading the daily news, preferring instead to spend time catching up with the 500+ blogs I follow. I ‘like’, ‘comment’, ‘reblog’ and ‘ping back’ to posts that inspire me. So far I have found blogging to be the best platform for me to share my creative thoughts. Reaching an unbiased audience who is willing to provide constructive criticism helps me to grow, to improve and provides an opportunity to connect with others around the world.
Thank you for reading my blog,
Robert
theINFP 
🙂 (sorry my mind is mush…but I loved this post..so had to tell you)
Thank you Paula
this is so wonderfully said and i am happy and proud to be part of your blog family. like you, i have found a welcoming and supportive place here for my creative outlets. ) beth
Thank you for commenting Beth 🙂
& Thank you for creating it! 😉
🙂
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and feelings, Robert. I too have found a blog to be a near perfect outlet and channel for my creative side, a side that is mostly suppressed in my daily life. It’s a non-threatening way to share myself with others and, as you so aptly put it, to grow, to improve, and to connect with others.
Thank you for letting me know, it is my pleasure to be connected with you, I enjoy seeing you photographs
Indeed. Thanks for sharing. I believe that creativity and connection with others are essential to any meaningful life. Peace.