Archive for the Category »Blogging «

29
Aug
Call Me A Hypocrite
Barbara Swafford

I enjoy reading other blogs, seeing what changes bloggers are making to their sites and watching the growth of my blogging buddies.

I like to see other bloggers succeed and it thrills me when I see comments stacking up on their blog posts.

I know the blog author is ecstatic, but sadly my name isn’t always in that list of commenters. call me a hypocrite post graphic Call Me A Hypocrite

Sometimes, time is not on my side.

Today’s Lesson

I wrote a blog post in 2008 which discussed blog etiquette. One of the items I included in the list was,

If someone visits your blog, and leaves a comment, make time to visit their blog as well. It’s common courtesy. If you cannot identify with their most current post, dig through their archives and find one you can leave a short comment on.

In the beginning, I did that. Religiously.

Each time someone commented on my blog, I visited them, subscribed and reciprocated with a comment, too.

The number of blogs in my reader was growing and I began to spend more of my blogging time visiting and commenting.

As I added more bloggers names  to my “New Blog Of The Week” series, my reader began to bulge with new blog posts. (The series ended with 90 bloggers being showcased.)

More times than I can count, due to time constraints, I would “mark all as read” and start fresh.

When following blogs in my reader didn’t work anymore, I switched my tactic and went back to trying to visit everyone who commented on my posts.

Unfortunately I couldn’t keep up.

I had broken my own rule, and I felt shame.

I felt like a hypocrite.

If I knew then (when I wrote the blog etiquette post) what I know now, I would have worded that differently, or added a disclaimer* and said, “if time permits”.

It’s not that I don’t care when you post something new, it’s that my time is needed elsewhere.

Thus, if you don’t see me commenting on each of your posts, know it’s not you. It’s me.

You’re never far from my thoughts, and fortunately I know right where to find you. 8)

That said, I understand if you’re in the same position and don’t have time to read my posts and/or comment here.

Today’s Assignment

Do you reciprocate each comment you receive on your blog?

When time is short, do you skip commenting or have you found a technique which allows you to do it all?

Care to share?

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*I’ll be adding a link to this post.

Category: Archives, Blogging, Blogging Etiquette, Blogging Lessons, Comments  75 Comments
24
Aug
Beating A Dead Fish
Barbara Swafford

I don’t know how many blogs are out there, but I know it’s in the millions.

I don’t know how many topics there are to blog about, but I’d guess that’s in the millions, too.

Can you imagine if the world wide web limited the amount of blogs allowed for each topic? blogs and blog topics Beating A Dead Fish

Fortunately they don’t and we’re free to write about anything we want.

Hence, we find many bloggers publishing posts on the exact same subject.

Just like I do.

Today’s Lesson

The last thing I planned to do was have a blog about blogging. After all, when I started there were already hundreds (or thousands)  of blogging blogs out there.

Thinking back, I could have kept this blog private since I was just writing down what I was learning, but at the time my thoughts were, “What the heck. Make it public. Maybe I’ll get a visitor or two.”

And eventually I did.

When that happened, I felt there was no turning back.

So there I was, blogging about blogging; a topic that gets written about so often, I sometimes felt I was beating a dead fish.

I realized I needed to approach blogging about blogging from a different perspective, and since I’m not into writing a lot of  “How To” blog posts, I knew I had to do kick it up a notch. Experiment. Take a risk.

So what I’ve done is made this blog about you by asking you how you feel about different blogging topics and how you view things in blogosphere.

You share your perspective and those who visit and read the comments, learn from many bloggers, not just one.

In some ways it doesn’t matter what I write; I’m just the conduit which leads visitors to your view point.

And when they arrive, lessons are learned, connections are made and I no longer feel I’m beating a dead fish.

I see that as a win-win. :)

Today’s Assignment

Do you think some topics get beat to death by bloggers?

If you’re blogging about the same topic as others, how do you keep your content fresh and original?

Care to share?

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P.S. I want to take this opportunity to thank all of you for your continued support and thoughtful comments. This blog wouldn’t be what it is if it wasn’t for your loyalty which is something I truly appreciate.

Category: Archives, Blogging, Blogging Lessons, Comments, Writing Tips  52 Comments
22
Aug
Use It or Lose It
Barbara Swafford

I found an article on Dr. Mercola’s website titled: 12 Surprising Signs You’ll Live To 100

One of the “surprising signs” is:

You embrace techie trends

Learn to Twitter, Facebook, or Skype to help keep brain cells young and healthy. Stay connected to friends, family, and current events, and you feel vital and relevant.

I like the part where he says, “you feel vital and relevant”. That’s important in everyone’s life.

Today’s Lesson

Speaking of using our brains, according to an article on the University of Connecticut Health Center site,

“The old adage of ‘use it or lose it’ is very important. For cognitive activity, which affects everything from memory to how we think, there is increasing evidence that the more we use our brain, the better we age….”

Some of you who are young may not take this into consideration, but for bloggers from the baby boomer generation and beyond, it’s important we think of how we’re using our brains. How we’re exercising them.

Fortunately blogging does that.

  1. It keeps us connected.
  2. It gives us something to look forward to
  3. We read more
  4. We write more
  5. We think more
  6. We learn more.

Another plus to blogging; age is not a factor.

Take for example, the following three women who held the title as “The World’s Oldest Blogger”; women who were in their 90′s and 100′s.

The one I remember best, because I had visited her blog, is Olive Riley (1899-2008). Although her blog is no longer online, you can see video clips of her on YouTube.

María Amelia López Soliño (1911-2009) was another blogger who held the title and was written about in this article; Spanish granny dubbed ‘world’s oldest blogger’ dies.

In one of her last postings in February [2009] she said: “When I’m on the Internet, I forget about my illness. The distraction is good for you — being able to communicate with people. It wakes up the brain, and gives you great strength.”

According to Wikipedia, Ruth Hamilton (1898-2008) was also named “the world’s oldest blogger”.

Unfortunately the above three bloggers have died, but others are following in their footsteps. We have,

  1. Life Begins At 80

    2. A blog written by a 91 year old retired journalist.

  2. Bisher Unleashed

    3. Written by Furman Bisher, a well-regarded sportswriter and editor who was born in 1918.

  3. Granny To The Rescue,

    4. A blog written by Eleanor McCallum, a woman in her early eighties.

These elderly folks probably aren’t worried about being included with A-List bloggers, but their commitment to blogging shows us it’s never too late to go online, share our knowledge and in the process continue to use our brains.

Today’s Assignment:

How has blogging improved your mental processes?

Are you following the writings of any elderly bloggers?

Care to share?

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Category: Archives, Blogging, Blogging Lessons  Tags: , , , , ,  45 Comments
18
Aug
Writer or Blogger – Which One Are You?
Barbara Swafford

Writers. Photographers. Cartoonists. Artists. Puppeteers. Historians. Coaches. Designers. Musicians. Singers. Entrepreneurs. And many more.

Blogosphere is filled with so much talent.

I land on sites which are so eloquently written, I feel I’m reading a novel from the New York Times best seller list where each word is so captivating I can’t wait to read the next. And other sites have posts so informative and well researched, they could be pages in a college text book.

Blogs draw people from all walks of life with talents which continue to amaze me.

Today’s Lessonblogger or writer image

When I started blogging, I knew I wanted to share what I’ve learned and continue to learn in life. I wasn’t sure if there was a right or wrong way of constructing posts, so I wrote how I talk. In some instances it’s pretty cut and dry, whereas other times I’ll share a short story before getting to the point.

My words are simple. My sentences often short.

And although I use the written word as a vehicle to share, I don’t call myself a writer.

I’m a blogger.

To me there’s a difference.

Writers have a love affair with words.

Writers use words to spin a tale. To push the envelope. To take their readers on an imaginary journey. To conjure up emotions. Appeal to our senses. Leave us wanting for more.

As a blogger, I count my words. Weigh my words. Hope to make you think. Encourage you to share. Entice you to teach me more.

Some may say there is no difference.

But to me there is.

I’m a blogger.

What are you?

Today’s Assignment

Do you consider yourself a writer? Or a blogger?

Or do you think there’s a difference?

Care to share?

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Category: Archives, Blogging, Blogging Lessons  76 Comments
13
Aug
Turn Your Blog Into A Book?
Barbara Swafford

I’ve kicked around the idea of writing a free ebook for quite some time.how to turn your blog into a book

My thought is to put some of my previous blog posts into book form for those who prefer not to dig through my archives. I’d like for the comments to be included since that is where most of the value lies and I’d also like to include links to the comment author’s sites.

I know I’ll turn some of my blog posts into a book sooner rather than later, however I’ve convinced myself there must be an easier way to do it rather than cutting, pasting, and re-editing before publishing.

My search to do so has taken me on an interesting journey.

Today’s Lesson

I first tried two different plugins for turning a blog into book form.

  1. Anthologize and
  2. Blog2Print

For reasons I can’t figure out, both plugins failed to work for me so my search continued.

Thanks to Rick of What’s On My PC? my first stop was

  1. BlogBooker

    2. I used my green blog, input the URL and a link to the XML file into their form. The process was quick and when complete, the ebook included photos, some of the links and comments. Unfortunately, only the CommentLuv links showed up. The blog which only has a handful of posts ended up being an ebook containing 23 pages including the cover and an index. Additional formatting would be required, however with this being a free service, I thought the results were quite impressive.

My search for more information lead me down an unexpected path. What I found were sites which let us self-publish, as well as sell our end product.

The links in Matt Cutt’s “Blog to Book” post led me to these sites.

  1. Fast Pencil

    2. On Fast Pencil I decided to turn my Observation Mountain blog into an ebook. Before “publishing” to draft, I deleted all spam comments, edited out approximately 30 of the 165 posts and ended up with a book which was 180 pages long.  The draft which was created was perfectly formatted with each post having it’s own page(s),  however no comments nor links were included.

  2. Lulu.com

    3. Lulu’s site includes a short video of the services they provide for self publishers, and although I’ve watched the video, I’m not sure this is the route I want to take.

  3. Blurb.com

    4. Blurb.com provides a free download of their “Blurb BookSmart” software. The software lets you create a book which can be sold on their site. After downloading and reviewing the software, it appears to be very comprehensive and helpful.

I also remembered George Angus of Tumblemoose used Smashwords to publish five ebooks.

Smashwords offers numerous possibilities and from reading the review of Smashwords on his blog, George is quite pleased with their service.

Knowing things aren’t always as they seem and wanting to be cautious, I also checked the website of watchdog Clark Howard. There I found these links:

  1. Absolute Write, a forum for writers and,
  2. Preditors & Editors

To repeat what is written in Clark Howard’s post:

Up until about 1998, the “vanity press” industry would charge people outrageous sums to publish a book. It wasn’t unusual for someone to pay $8,000 – $12,000 to these phony publishing houses.

The best advice Clark can offer is be skeptical. Use the collective wisdom of the Internet to help you steer clear of rip-off artists.

Although I haven’t found the perfect way to turn parts of my blog into an ebook, I feel I’m a few steps closer.

Today’s Assignment

Have you written a book or ebook? Or are you thinking of turning your blog into a book?

What platform did you use? Or will you use?

Care to share?

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P.S. For those of you who plan to either turn your blog into a book or write a book, having it proofread prior to publishing is essential. Davina is one of the best proofreaders in the field and can be found at  Shades of Crimson.

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Category: Archives, Blogging, Blogging Lessons, Plugins and Widgets, Reviews  Tags: , , , , , , , , ,  69 Comments
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