I've just realised that a significant blogging milestone has been reached - there have been 30 million page views here on my blog! I knew is was close because I did a couple of workshops on the weekend and showed my blogging class behind the scenes on my blog, including the statistics.  I smiled when I saw it and kept going, thinking I'd do something about it later.  And then I forgot.

I started this blog because I'd written the beginnings of a book about how Hanno and I had changed our lives for the better. I couldn't find any Australian books then about this change of lifestyle and I was desperate to share how we'd been enriched and energised by the changes we made. I sent the book proposal off to some publishers and all of them rejected it. I was absolutely sure that other people would be able to make their own changes if I got the information out, so I started this blog.  Very soon, readers started pouring in.

Back in those early days, I had no idea about blogging and just wrote, every day, about what we were doing.  And over the 12 years I've been here, that's what I kept doing.  What I didn't know back then was that I'd grow close to the people who read here, I'd care about their families, sometimes I'd visit them, I'd meet them in book shops, libraries and halls and often I'd come away with phone numbers, jars of jam, bottles of home brew, cakes, chutneys and so many more little tokens of love. I have been truly amazed at the number of people who came to meet us and the thousands of emails we received over the years.

Thank you for being part of it all. It's been a pleasure to write for you and to show with my photos what is possible in a small home with a backyard vegetable plot and chickens, and to help spread the message of a splendid, slow, simple life. 

♥️ ~*~ ♥️ ~*~ ♥️

I've been asked to do another blogging for beginners workshop and a writing workshop, which would be a new addition. The blogging one would start in March and consist of comprehensive notes on how to set up a blog or improve an existing one, and how to use Instagram in a productive partnership with the blog. The notes would be followed up with two hour-long group Skype sessions with face-to-face questions and discussions in real time. I'd also answer emails with any questions you may have. This workshop is AU$130.

I'm still working on the structure of the writer's workshop but it would cover writing for blogs, books, magazines or personal journals. The workshop is AU$130. I'll give you more details of the course structure when I've worked it out.

I have an Arts degree majoring in Journalism, English Literature and Communication. I also have extra qualifications in technical writing. Over the past 30 years I've worked as a journalist, technical writer, monthly columnist for the Australian Women's Weekly, freelance magazine writer and have written three books, all published by Penguin. My blog has had almost 29 million hits. So if you're just starting your writing career or you've been writing for a while but you're in a rut and need new ideas and techniques, I'd be happy to share my experience with you and help you get to the next step and beyond.

All courses full now.

It feels good to be starting a new year with a clean and well organised house. If I was still writing for a living I'd also have daily schedules, to-do lists written out, my calendar marked up with birthdays, special events and various appointments, as well as a daily writing plan and monthly chapter list. Being organised makes things easier. It gives you a starting point and an end for each day and if you're smart, it will include family time and short breaks during the day. It's important that you take that time away from work because it helps maintain your mental health. If you're looking after babies or small children, even though it's difficult at times, you must have time to rest and relax whenever you can manage it. Child rearing can be intense and usually you have no one to step in if you get sick - it makes good sense to take care of yourself, so plan it into your days.  January is the ideal time to think about this kind of organising and to work out how to establish or improve daily routines.

Hello everyone.  Last year I developed an online blogging course and had great success with it.  It's a course for beginners, or bloggers who've started a blog but haven't developed it. It is open to anyone no matter where you are in the world. The cost is US$100.

Creating a blog is a fairly easy thing to do but to present the best blog you're capable of, well, that's more difficult. As you know, I've been blogging since 2007 and was fairly successful in the first few months. As the years went by, Penguin offered me the opportunity to publish my work with them, I became a monthly columnist for the Women's Weekly and Burke's Backyard and I won a lot of awards.  I started off as a novice, knowing nothing about blogging, but I was a fast learner and I'd like to share the secrets of that success with you. I always use Blogger. It's free, easy to use and customise, it's the biggest blogging platform in the world and as it's owned by Google, it's usually trouble-free.

I've had a nice mix of work and leisure these past few days.  I spent time writing an online blog course, I've been lingering in the garden, reflecting, thinking about the future and the past, reading, cooking and breathing in the fresh winter air. I enjoyed "meeting" and talking to the wonderful group of women who attended my blog course on Skype.  We could all see each other, ask questions and speak of our own experiences while being separated by thousands of kilometres. There is a feature in Skype that allowed me to share my screen so I took the ladies behind the scenes on my blog and I was able to demonstrate a few practical issues before we discussed the ins and outs of writing. Writing is such a solitary pastime and often writers don't know other writers, so having this group right here in my computer was inspiring for me. I came away thinking about developing an online course for writers who hope to have their work published. I'll think about it some more and work out if it's possible to present a worthwhile course online, and if I'm the person to do that.

By the way, I'll publish links to our new bloggers in about a month's time. That will give my ladies time to create and refine their blogs. I'm sure you'll all support and encourage them as they develop their writing and blogging talents.

Meanwhile, in the world of the outernet, I'm enjoying spending my days doing what I want to do. I love having time to spend in the garden watching the diversity of creatures living in our backyard. It looks like 2017 is a good year for tomatoes. Ours are growing well in the warm sun we have most days. How are your tomatoes and vegetables going this year? All our oranges have been picked, we still have a ton of lemons to harvest and juice, the daikon, turnips and lettuce have been harvested and I've planted out some sprouting broccoli.  Roses are in bloom, tomorrow I'll divide and replant my Serbian irises and if I think of it, I'll plant up a tray of lettuce and bok choy.

Jamie will be back with us tomorrow so we'll take him and Gracie over to our local strawberry farm to buy more of the spectacular strawberries in season right now. The owner of the farm tells us that it's the best strawberry season they've had in 45 years.  In these times of crazy weather, isn't it wonderful hearing news like that.

And speaking of HRH Grace, I got up in the middle of the night recently and she was running around the house in a frenzy with my wool and knitting cotton!  She'd already tied the coffee table in several layers of my best organic cotton and there where knitting needles and crochet hooks spread over the floor. She'd also started chewing on the end of my wooden ruler. I was not happy!  But what can you do. I'd never hit a dog, or any animal, and if I scold Gracie, and I suspect most Scotties, they sulk and cut communication with you for a few days.  So I just picked it all up, glared at Grace so she knew she did something wrong and we became friends again the following day. Now all my knitting paraphernalia is out of harms way, where it really should have been all along. Puppies are such funny and cute creatures, until they're not. 😲

I forgot to tell you that I've been asked to write a couple of articles for PIP the Permaculture magazine; first deadline next week. I'll let you know when the magazine is in the shops.  Yes, Mr Homemaker, I can hear you from here. 🙄 You and Hanno were right.  LOL  Have a great week everyone. 

I've had quite a few emails recently from readers asking specific questions about blogging, and especially how to set up a blog and how to grow an audience.  I've done a few blogging courses here in my home and I was wondering is there is interest in writing a new course. Along with the usual topics such as layout, keywords, blog titles and style, I'd write about how I set up my blog and how I built on it over the years.  I think there are two keys to a successful blog and they are good content and a spirit of generosity, tolerance, inclusion and kindness. I would write about that and a lot more.

I would write up the notes and email them out to everyone who registered and then follow that with some Skype sessions of about 3 or 4 people at a time. We'd be able to have a good chat about the concept of blogging, discuss the important elements of a successful blog, discover your reasons for blogging and you could ask any questions you had. The course could be done in your own time and you'd only have to have a set time and date for the Skype sessions.

The course would be targeted at new bloggers and people who have already started a blog that didn't progress in ways you would expect it too. So we could do a bit of troubleshooting, talk about photos and blog titles and how to build an audience.

I would charge US $100 for the course and that would include the course notes, two Skype sessions of 1 hour each and some followup. Are you interested in such a course?  I may well be way off on this and maybe a local course is the way to go.  So I'll wait for your feedback and see what you have to say.  Thanks for your help. xx

If you're interested in doing a blog course, either now or later, email me: rhondahetzel@gmail.com

This course is open to everyone no matter where you are in the world.