That’s five to represent the millions of people in the world with eczema.

If we don’t talk about it, no one will know that it’s not just a ‘rash’. If we don’t talk about it, people aren’t aware of how physically painful and psychologically warping it can be. If we don’t talk about it, people will continue to think it’s ok to laugh at someone because they’re different.

Maybe you have eczema and would like to write about it but are nervous about the blog part. Maybe you’ve never set one up before and are worried it’ll be too much work.

You work on it when you want to. Do what you’re comfortable with, what fits your schedule and your life. You can reveal or hide what you choose [because believe me, half of my life with eczema isn't on this site and never will be].  Don’t feel pressured to blog as frequently as other people do – that’s their site and we’re talking about yours.  That is, if you want one. If so, keep reading, I have resources to recommend.

Havi Brooks of the Fluent Self has a fantastic series called Ask Havi, where she helps unravel and soothe worries about living, and blogging. She even taught a teleclass – that I participated in, it was great – helping people get their ducks in a row and blog.  She covered everything from panic attacks about writing style to what companies have great web hosting.

Are you still worried about the set up? I have three methods to recommend here, and two involve the talented and hilarious Johnny B. Truant.

1. Wordpress it yourself. There are lots of blogging platforms, but Wordpress is easy to use but powerful if you want it to be. You’ll get an address like eczemasucks.wordpress.com and choose from the dozens of standard themes. And then start writing.
2. Do it yourself with a little free help. Johnny has a great free e-book; How to Launch a Blog in Under an Hour for STUPIDLY Cheap. This option gets you a .com and uses Wordpress. The first month – for hosting and whatnot – is $15, and $10/month after that.
3. Have Johnny do it. Don’t want to set it up yourself and want the ease and official feeling of a .com? Johnny has a great service where he’ll get your blog running for you for $39. There will also be the charge for hosting from the provider, but that’s normal. [Disclaimer: that is an affiliate link. That means if you take up the challenge to blog and use this link Johnny gives me 50%.]

You can set it all up yourself, and feel great about it afterward. But if you’d rather have some help, I recommend Johnny. Partly because his free e-book is easy to understand, partly because he has an awesome sense of humor.

If you do start an eczema blog, or any kind of site, please let me know!

Why am I asking you to add your voice to the internet throng? Because no one else is you [obvious I know, but bear with me]. No one else has your perspective, your ‘take’, on reality. And people need to hear it.

That’s why we read blogs. To find out what’s happening, what’s out there, what we’ve never thought of or experienced.