To blog or not to blog (or rather when)

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This is really for anyone but I am particularly interested in feedback from people who do their own tarot blogs.

To be clear, I have only returned to the art very recently (the past few months) and even then (more than a decade and a half ago) my experience with the tarot was fairly limited. I read for nearly a decade but as a teenager and my study on the subject was not exactly thorough. Also, my experience was mostly with RW style decks and I am now mostly focused on Marseilles. While in many ways I am relearning / learning everything my basic knowledge of the tarot was way more than someone with absolutely no background on the subject.

Anyway, while I have found some number of really useful resources on the internet but one thing that I've noted is the innate bias in every single writer (this is also true in regards to books). This isn't bad that we're all approaching this thing from different points of view but I don't think that anyone who has researched the topic (I would imagine this includes, most or all of the people reading this) would disagree that while any given writer of Tarot stuffs may have valuable insights to add to your approach, we as readers need to translate that into something that works with our own approach. My point here isn't that I'm above bias but rather that I just imagine that my own views can be yet an other valuable resource for people to mine for gems.

The fact that I can see the value in it and combined with my own inclinations (as an educator with some (very little) writing experience and basic functional knowledge of design) makes it almost a no brainier that I should make a tarot blog but my issue is mostly when. While I think I may have some insights to share already, I realize I am still in the very early stages of my development as a tarologist. All the while my background disqualifies me from writing from the perspective of an entirely new explorer of the mobile cathedral. That said, I also acknowledge that this is a subject that we are eternally students of so there's never going to be a time when I would say “I have mastered the tarot, it is now time to transmit this knowledge”. So my issue is how to I gauge my readiness to write seriously on the matter? I feel fairly certain now is not the time but I can imagine that time being within the next year.

Besides the basic urge to share insights and opinions, I'm not going to lie and pretend that it's my only motivation. While I don't have high expectations a secondary motivation is the possibility of receiving decks for review for said blog. I don't expect that this would even in the best case a regular thing but the potentiality of it at all is kinda exciting to me. One thing I am very eager to do is study differences / similarities between decks. Sure, money is a little bit of an issue (special education doesn't pay much) but more than that exactly, the ability to study and compare decks that I might not typically think to put on my “to buy” list seems valuable to me in a different way than making a list of decks I want and getting them (which I will be doing regardless of any potential blog stuff). I have preferences and interests in certain decks which I am bound to buy but I am also open minded enough to realize I may gain some unexpected insight in decks that wouldn't make it to the top of my to buy list.
 

Carla

I have a blog. There are thousands of them out there. If you start writing, someone somewhere will read it.

If you want a massive following, you're going to have to learn a lot about marketing and self-promotion. But if you just want to ruminate on the cards and attract a small audience who might appreciate your insights, a blog is fun. I'd say, unless you push it in a big way, a blog is done more for the value you personally get out of it than any feedback you will get.

If you want examination copies sent to you, you will be better off writing reviews with a positive slant. I write critical reviews. I have been sent a few free decks and books but I told the truth about what I thought and I haven't had any more since! So that's something for you to think about. I didn't mind it, because a lot of what's published and likely to be sent to a small-time blogger like me is tosh that I wouldn't want to have to read anyway. Ha!

I've kept my blog for years and try to index it so I can find things later. It's become a great tarot journal for me, if nothing else! Interesting to see what I was thinking and writing 4 or 5 years ago.

I also have a paypal gadget on my blog and get a fair few readings from it without doing any further self-promotion. :)

Hope this helps.

rowantarot.blogspot.com
 

AJ

creating a presence that would give you the opportunity to review new decks is a perfectly acceptable reason for creating a blog. I believe there are many youtubers that do this.

being a blogger myself I started and deleted many blogs until I hit the magic subject + interest that would keep my interest engaged every day.

here is an old thread that listed members blogs. the thread is now closed because so many members moved to facebook. http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=163288

Good luck with your project, I hope some members here can help you out, re: getting decks to review.

edited to add after reading Carla's post. One way you could find your stride is writing a review for every deck you already have. This forum owner will add them to other reviews which gets your voice out there. But..if you want to be taken seriously you need to use your name. I never read reviews from anonymous writers. That body of reviews would make a publisher at least consider you.
 

Herodotus

I began to write a blog less than a year ago, and I've found that I love it. The very act of writing my thoughts out for a potential audience does wonders in refining my views of the cards. I highly recommend it, and while you shouldn't begin if you don't feel ready, don't hold back only because you're not sure. Just jump right in, and if it's right for you, it will practically write itself.

Tarot in particular is a perfect subject for blogging, because you can go in virtually any direction while maintaining a unifying theme throughout.

Excellent points about inherent biases in writers, by the way.
 

Carla

I began to write a blog less than a year ago, and I've found that I love it. The very act of writing my thoughts out for a potential audience does wonders in refining my views of the cards. I highly recommend it, and while you shouldn't begin if you don't feel ready, don't hold back only because you're not sure. Just jump right in, and if it's right for you, it will practically write itself.

Tarot in particular is a perfect subject for blogging, because you can go in virtually any direction while maintaining a unifying theme throughout.

Excellent points about inherent biases in writers, by the way.

What's your blog? :)
 

AJ

my question also. You can put a link in your user CP to your home page.
what we can't do is use a weblink in our signature. But most folk here know to click on the username in a post to see if they are writing anywhere.
 

Carla

my question also. You can put a link in your user CP to your home page.
what we can't do is use a weblink in our signature. But most folk here know to click on the username in a post to see if they are writing anywhere.

What's that line with your web address at the bottom of your posts, AJ? I assume that's allowed? I'd put mine there if it's allowed and I knew how to do it.
 

Herodotus

What's your blog? :)

I'm not tech-saavy enough to figure out how to put up a link, but the url for my blog is in my biography section. It's a wordpress site that I've titled "Sentinel on the Council", and it is 100% Tarot.

Let me know what you think if you check it out :)
 

Carla

I'm not tech-saavy enough to figure out how to put up a link, but the url for my blog is in my biography section. It's a wordpress site that I've titled "Sentinel on the Council", and it is 100% Tarot.

Let me know what you think if you check it out :)

Looks great and I like the big font! Say hi if you check out mine. It's a blogger site called Rowan Tarot and it's got tarot, oracles and Lenormand, but mostly tarot. It's back some few years so there's a lot of material on there and I try to index it. Use the search function and you never know what you may call up! I've indexed by card name and also by deck name, plus lots of others! :)
 

Herodotus

Looks great and I like the big font! Say hi if you check out mine. It's a blogger site called Rowan Tarot and it's got tarot, oracles and Lenormand, but mostly tarot. It's back some few years so there's a lot of material on there and I try to index it. Use the search function and you never know what you may call up! I've indexed by card name and also by deck name, plus lots of others! :)

Found it! It looks very interesting, so I've bookmarked it and will return and read when I've got a minute to really take it in. Thanks! I always like finding Tarot blogs (if and when the OP creates one, I hope to find out about it).