When I launched this blog on Jan. 7, 2010, I will admit I was flying blind. But, oh, what places I’ve been! As a 2010 wrap-up post, here are key things I’ve appreciated and learned through this experience.
This is my book. This blog began as a book outline. The working title was “Crisis Management in the Culture of NOW!” Within a week of typing “CHAPTER ONE,” I realized I was racing to catch the sun. I rationalized that by the time I sought a publisher, there’d likely be a half-dozen books on my topic. I also found myself reading more crisis-expert blogs to bolster points I wanted to make in the book. I quickly began calculating the benefits of blog vs. book.
A blog has no shelf-life – it’s a living, breathing thing. A blog would allow me to explore multiple facets of crisis management and communications coaching, not just the angle tethered to a book title. A blog doesn’t require “new editions” to be updated. And – perhaps most enticing – a blog encourages interaction through comments and “likes” and retweets.
Thus, after a maddening month trying to learn web hosting and WordPress (it’s not nearly as easy as advertised), this blog was born. If I may be immodest, it’s a lot better than my book would have been.
This is my database. Here’s an admission – I have a terrible memory. If I don’t write something down, it’s very likely that I’ll forget something useful I’ve created for a client. (Clients who know me well joke that I’m the perfect crisis counselor – unintended disclosures are unlikely because most details of their ordeal are completely forgotten “within a month.” Har, har.)