Here’s the basics, it’s pretty simple:

1. Go to www.hawthorneblog.com, click the “Create new account” link and create an account using your full name as username. You can upload a picture of yourself if you like. Remember your username and password as you’ll need to be logged in to your account to post content.


2. Start with a comment on an existing post by clicking on the “add new comment” link below the post you would like to comment on. Fill out the subject and the comment text. Note, a single return will make a line break and two returns are needed for a full paragraph break. There are some buttons at the top of the comment editor you can use for simple text formatting. Probably the most useful of these is the last one “add link” which links the selected text in your post to another web page.


3. Click the “preview” button to see what your comment will look like. Continue this cycle of edit/preview until you have what you want and then click the “save” button.


4. When you’re ready to step up to your own blog, email me, skelley@hawthornedirect.com, and let me know. I’ll give you access for the next steps.


5. With blogging access you should see an additional “Create Content” menu choice at the top of the page. Select the “blog entry” item below that. This will bring up a similar entry screen to the comment screen you used above. Create your blog post just as you created a comment above. The only addition is to select categories for your post. Select the categories that are appropriate by clicking on them and holding down the “ctrl” key to select multiple categories.


6. You should be able to edit any of your posts anytime after they have been saved by viewing them and then clicking on the “edit” tab of the post view.