Category: Ideas
Why a Wolfe Murray blog?
Posted by Gelu on December 18, 2008
I was inspired to develop this blog because of Harry Wolfe Murray who set up a personal website some years ago. It was a basic home-made site which said something like “Hi, I’m Harry Wolfe Murray and I’m at school”…and then he seemed to run out of words. What inspired me about the site was that he had the gumption to actually do it — setting up a site is easy, talking about it even easier, but actually doing it takes a bit of courage. If I had to dedicate this site to someone it would be to him.
I also really understood that moment when you run out of words. It’s not like “writers block” when you can’t continue writing because your mind has suddenly gone blank. This is “new internet site block” and it’s different. It happened to me when I first bought the domain name “www.wolfemurray.com“, a purchase that made me feel quite pleased with myself at the time. But when it came to setting up the site I found I had nothing to say as the site had no purpose, and I realised that I didn’t have any idea beyond wanting to own this domain name.
But over the course of the last year I worked out with my family that it would be nice to have a blog, and a few of them (Angus, Magnus, Monica for example) have agreed to write stuff. This is great as these three in particular are inspiring writers. Getting the younger generation involved will be a tougher nut to crack but hopefully Nathan will lead the way as he (like his Dad) is a great writer.
This is a place we can all write short updates about what we’ve been up to and comment on what’s going on (films, schools, journeys, whatever). There aren’t really any rules as to what or how you write, and the only thing I would say is KISS (Keep it Short and Simple). If you keep your contribution short it will be quicker to write and easier to read. But if you find your idea is taking up more space just keep on writing as there is no technical limit to how long the articles should be. So keep it as long or as short as it needs to be.
Another useful piece of advice is to construct your article around one idea. It makes the writing process so much easier and it will help you produce short and snappy articles. The key to writing good articles is to make a strong point about something and then back it up with a number of arguments. For example you might want to say “Global Warming is a hoax” and then explain why, backing up your argument with your own ideas and quoting other people if you can. If you choose a controversial idea like this you will generate debate, i.e. Moona will come online and write a brilliant rebuttal of why Global Warming is a risk to mankind and how we are all doomed. Gavin then might write a few lines of dry wit (his writing is like a few drops of hot chilli that is used sparingly but has devastating results). If you want to see some articles in which I use this techniquw you can look at my blog: www.productive.ro/blog
I really want to encourage you to write as I would like to know what you’re up to, what you’re into and what you think about what’s going on in the world (and in your backyard). I want you all to write as often as you can and to comment on each article you like (or dislike). There is a comment box at the end of each article and making comments is the easiest activity of all, and it helps keep the blog active.
And we don’t need to limit this to family members, I would have no problem if your friends want to write something. And we’re not going to promote the site so it’s likely that it will only be seen by the family and our friends, but it will be on the internet which means if someone does a search for “Harry Wolfe Murray” they should get directed to this site.
Talking of Harry Wolfe Murray, does anyone know who he is? Although I saw his personal blog some years ago I never made contact with him and never found out who he is. But I’m sure he’s related as there aren’t many Wolfe Murray’s around, and every one that I’ve heard of has been related in some way. We’re a small clan.
How to upload articles? The easiest way is just to send me an email but if you want to learn how to access the blog and upload it yourself it will take you about 5 minutes to learn. What about photos? We think it better not to have photos on the site as it’s a hassle and many of us have our photos already on other sites like FLIKR. If you click on www.youtube.com/user/rupertwolfemurray you will see my photos. So if you have photos, put them on another site and then tell us where to look for them (write an article about them)
One final point: this website was developed by my old pal Gelu Toiapa from Romania. He is a cool designer and I’m really grateful for designing this blog. You should check out his site at www.webdesigner.ro/. Thanks Gelu.