If you have ever left a comment here on this blog or over on Always Off Book, you are aware of two things. The first being that I moderate comments, and the second is that I allow anonymous comments. Neither concept is popular throughout the blogosphere. Some even prefer a blog that allows no comments to a blog that allows anonymous but moderated comments. Let's take these two unpopular concepts one at a time.
I do moderate comments. I have heard all of the reasons not to do so. That it makes me seem paranoid. Tyrannical. Unwilling to accept criticism of my ideas. Expresses a need for control that people find off putting. And many others. None of them apply of course. But I fail to see the purpose of allowing just any kind of incoherent, rambling, rude or threatening comment to grace the pages of my blog. How does letting the comment, "fuck you and your liberal whining" increase the value of my blog, or enhance my ever so important (tongue in cheek) "personal brand"? It doesn't. Just as I avoid belligerent people in real life when I see them yelling and screaming on the street, I avoid them online. And just as I would not allow them into my home, I am not going to allow them on my blog. My blog is not community property. It is public, but it is still mine.
I don't edit comments for content. I don't filter out comments that express respectful disagreement with the point I am raising. Many have said, "but unless you turn off moderation, we, the readers have no way of knowing you are telling us the truth about who you censor and who you do not!" In response I ask, who is paranoid now?
Anonymous posting is not skewered quite so often as moderated/approved comments, but is still frowned upon in my experience. This one is a little more confusing to me, but the argument goes something like this: If I don't require people to somehow identify themselves I am not only freeing them of the responsibility of their comments, but I am defeating the entire purpose of a blog which is to network with those who have other ideas.
If someone doesn't want to use their name when they write a comment, fine. That is their business. I am not here to hold them up to some sort of standard of accountability. Personally I would rather have ten well written anonymous comments on a post then one half-assed comment with a name and link attached to it. Some people just won't comment if they have to a) identify themselves or b) register with some service. If something I wrote inspires such people to reply, they shouldn't be held back from doing so.
I comment as "Anonymous" sometimes. I do it because on any given thread I want it to be about the idea I am presenting more so than about who I am. Yes, I want to meet people, and I want people to read my blog, but counter to most personalities in the current generation, I don't feel I have to always be self promoting. Sometimes I really do just want to say something without attaching my name to it. And no, it doesn't mean I have something to hide. It just means that I want to explore an idea with someone, not an identity. I give others the same privilege.
As to networking being the entire purpose of a blog, I can't buy into that wholesale. Blogging is one good way to network. But networking to me is more organic than it is for most. It comes about by engaging with people that have mutual interests or similar thoughts. My blog is about ideas and questions. Sharing. It is not about networking just because networking often results. So I want people to feel free to reflect on what I say and share their thoughts on it. Help me learn something just as they learned something. If that means I make a connection great, but if not, at least I have spurred an ongoing conversation. And that is why I blog.
One of the first blog posts I ever wrote over five and a half years ago remains one of the most commented upon in my collection. It still gets comments to this day, and half of them end up being anonymous. I wish more of my posts got that much attention, but even so, I'm happy to have it.
So it isn't about a power trip, revisionism, abdicating responsibility or fear of commitment or any such thing. I just believe that we have so little control over the coming and goings in this life that when we own a piece of cyberspace, we might as well make it easy to use, free of spam and vitriol, and hope that it speaks to others.
Showing posts with label blogs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blogs. Show all posts
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Butterfly Blog Effect
Never far from my desk over the last year or so is a collection of about five pieces of printer paper, kept together by a single paper clip. On the front of some of them are sections of a long printed list of topics, in no particular order. Taking up more room than the printed words by now are the equally random collection of topics written in my own chicken-scratch hand writing. These are the pages on which I have kept ideas for posts to write here on Too XYZ.
Once I have written on a topic on the list, I put a line through it. Now here is the interesting part. Except for a cluster of some of the oldest topics on the typed list, most of the topics with a line through them are the ones that were chicken scratched onto random spaces on the pages. The final two pages in that paper clip are in fact nothing but the chicken scratch, and those pages have the most lines through them by far.
It's a visual for my whole view on this blog, and how it has changed and evolved in some ways. As well as my view on the nature of blogging itself.
The typed list was the one I came up with before I even launched Too XYZ. A list of topics I planned to address, regularly, each week, or every other day, regardless of what was going on. I had made the long list so I would have something to say as I got this blog underway. I envisioned checking my prepared list, seeing what was next, writing on it, putting my little line through it, and moving on to the next thing on the list when the time came.
About a month into my launch, the first chicken-scribblings on that list showed up. I had read something, or noted a tweet, or gotten a response on a previous post, or came across an article that needed to be read. I wanted to make sure I wrote about it here on the blog. Once I got through my typed list of course.
But as days wore on, and more chickens scratched up my papers, I was realizing more and more that it was the ideas that came to me on the fly, or in response to something that happened that day, that were getting more attention from me. I still referred to the typed list here and there for ideas, but the things I had written down in pen or pencil, or whatever I could find were the ideas that were itching to be written. The things of the moment. And you know what? Those things often got the most responses.
And looking back, some of the topics I put on the typed list seem tame, quaint, or not quite a fit with what Too XYZ is today. Keep in mind, those were the topics that were designed to be the very groundwork of this blog.
The moral, friends, is that a blog should be about what speaks directly to you. It should be a place to share the ideas you have now, and the things that have pissed you off. The things that have excited you and the things that scare you. Even if nobody reads them. Extend my experience into a metaphor for your own writing. Even if you don't get back to your chicken scratch list for a few days, you will find that most of the items on it will not cool as quickly in your heart as do those manufactured topics you typed up on your launch list.
Planning is good, and even necessary. But don't lock into it. Embrace the Butterfly Blog Effect, which is a variation on the old concept. Somebody somewhere says, comments, tweets or responds to something, and suddenly you are blogging about it. That blog leads to more blog ideas for not only you, but those who read it. Which in turn leads to more comments, blog ideas, book concepts, emails, and so on. Before you know it, you look back and see that while your blog or other writings have taken a turn far from what you originally intended (my old typed list) you are writing and blogging and communicating in the moment with a fresh urgency that lends potency to your posts. (My chicken-scratch list.)
Be disciplined. Have a plan. Keep track of things. Know what you want. Make your typed lists. They may be the foundation blocks of your building. But the decorations, and food, and friends and parties that take place within that building and make it home are the things you write down on the spur of the moment. Embrace those.
I realize many will say that a blog must have a specific plan, with a recurring theme, so as to establish a niche, and gain credibility in same. And that we need to reign in our desire to speak on many things and stick to a routine. Well the closest I get to routine around here is to mention, yet again, that I am Too XYZ for that.
Do you have a website or blog? How much of it's content is preplanned, vs. being inspired by events and knowledge you didn't expect along the way?
Once I have written on a topic on the list, I put a line through it. Now here is the interesting part. Except for a cluster of some of the oldest topics on the typed list, most of the topics with a line through them are the ones that were chicken scratched onto random spaces on the pages. The final two pages in that paper clip are in fact nothing but the chicken scratch, and those pages have the most lines through them by far.
It's a visual for my whole view on this blog, and how it has changed and evolved in some ways. As well as my view on the nature of blogging itself.
The typed list was the one I came up with before I even launched Too XYZ. A list of topics I planned to address, regularly, each week, or every other day, regardless of what was going on. I had made the long list so I would have something to say as I got this blog underway. I envisioned checking my prepared list, seeing what was next, writing on it, putting my little line through it, and moving on to the next thing on the list when the time came.
About a month into my launch, the first chicken-scribblings on that list showed up. I had read something, or noted a tweet, or gotten a response on a previous post, or came across an article that needed to be read. I wanted to make sure I wrote about it here on the blog. Once I got through my typed list of course.
But as days wore on, and more chickens scratched up my papers, I was realizing more and more that it was the ideas that came to me on the fly, or in response to something that happened that day, that were getting more attention from me. I still referred to the typed list here and there for ideas, but the things I had written down in pen or pencil, or whatever I could find were the ideas that were itching to be written. The things of the moment. And you know what? Those things often got the most responses.
And looking back, some of the topics I put on the typed list seem tame, quaint, or not quite a fit with what Too XYZ is today. Keep in mind, those were the topics that were designed to be the very groundwork of this blog.
The moral, friends, is that a blog should be about what speaks directly to you. It should be a place to share the ideas you have now, and the things that have pissed you off. The things that have excited you and the things that scare you. Even if nobody reads them. Extend my experience into a metaphor for your own writing. Even if you don't get back to your chicken scratch list for a few days, you will find that most of the items on it will not cool as quickly in your heart as do those manufactured topics you typed up on your launch list.
Planning is good, and even necessary. But don't lock into it. Embrace the Butterfly Blog Effect, which is a variation on the old concept. Somebody somewhere says, comments, tweets or responds to something, and suddenly you are blogging about it. That blog leads to more blog ideas for not only you, but those who read it. Which in turn leads to more comments, blog ideas, book concepts, emails, and so on. Before you know it, you look back and see that while your blog or other writings have taken a turn far from what you originally intended (my old typed list) you are writing and blogging and communicating in the moment with a fresh urgency that lends potency to your posts. (My chicken-scratch list.)
Be disciplined. Have a plan. Keep track of things. Know what you want. Make your typed lists. They may be the foundation blocks of your building. But the decorations, and food, and friends and parties that take place within that building and make it home are the things you write down on the spur of the moment. Embrace those.
I realize many will say that a blog must have a specific plan, with a recurring theme, so as to establish a niche, and gain credibility in same. And that we need to reign in our desire to speak on many things and stick to a routine. Well the closest I get to routine around here is to mention, yet again, that I am Too XYZ for that.
Do you have a website or blog? How much of it's content is preplanned, vs. being inspired by events and knowledge you didn't expect along the way?
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Looking Back on the AuGuest Extravaganza
I sit here on the morning of September 1, periodically singing Neil Diamond's "September Morn" as I am wont to do on this morning every year. In addition to that silliness, I am also looking back over a highly successful experiment here at Too XYZ: The AuGuest Extravaganza.
Over the last 30 days, six of my fellow bloggers/friends have taken the time out of their own busy schedules to contribute thoughts and writings to this blog of mine. They were asked to do so because over the year or so that I have been following most of them, they have shared ideas, goals, and visions of the world that made them stand out from the status quo. Depending on your own viewpoints, what they say and do may or may not be Earth shattering, but it is certainly not beholden to the conventional expectations that many would place on them. On all of us.
Whether they used the terminology or not, these six have indeed lived up to the idea of being Too XYZ to conform to the arbitrary norms of their environments. Not just because they think it would be fun to tell the world to "shove it", but because who and what they are simply doesn't allow them to vanish quietly into a flock. Different jobs, goals, religions, and geographical areas separate them, but they resemble each other, and myself, in their level of self acceptance. (And also their writing talents!)
When I first started Too XYZ, I did so in order to more openly express my outlier status in regards to so many common traits found in the multitudes. And unlike most of my AuGuests, I sometimes do have the partial goal of telling the status quo "up yours". But having these six guests write for this blog last month reinforced the notion that though any given issue may be viewed differently amongst the non-conformists of the world, I am not alone in my resistence to conforming. At least the idea of refusing to conform on everything. I knew it before, but having these guest posts makes that knowledge more personally satisfying.
I didn't edit any of the posts in any way, (except to change some of Mehnaz's Canadian spellings to keep my spellchecker at bay.) That is because I was dedicated not to creating a specific style to fit my blog, but to freely share my space in a totally unrestricted way. So that these guests could be exactly what they wanted to be when they posted here. That is what I and this blog are all about, and I am proud to have been able to provide an extra venue for these bloggers. They have encouraged me to seek out even more people that are also Too XYZ for bullshit. And they showed that having guest posts is a mostly painless experience. It will happen again.
Bringing my ideas, and sometimes even my feelings into the realm of other people's consciousness, and making them think, if only for a moment, in a different way. I hope I have done that, with both my posts, and with allowing the AuGuest posts last month. I can assure you, each of them has managed to make me think a bit differently myself.
And so here's to the AuGuests of 2010, my first six guest posters ever:
-Brianne Villano, of Living Out Loud
-Jen Gresham of Everyday Bright
-Mehnaz Thawer of Speak Softly and Carry and Red Pen
-Jamie Nacht Farrell of BizRelationships
-J. Maureen Henderson of GenerationMeh
-Laryssa Wirstiuk of Comma 'n Sentence
All of these people emphasize the importance of doing it your own way. Or at least doing something in this world your own way, even if that be just thinking and expressing. If you too value these characteristics, read not only their posts here on my blog from last month, but also each of their own blogs. I promise you, if I am NOT Too XYZ to get something out of them, (and I'm not), neither are you.
Over the last 30 days, six of my fellow bloggers/friends have taken the time out of their own busy schedules to contribute thoughts and writings to this blog of mine. They were asked to do so because over the year or so that I have been following most of them, they have shared ideas, goals, and visions of the world that made them stand out from the status quo. Depending on your own viewpoints, what they say and do may or may not be Earth shattering, but it is certainly not beholden to the conventional expectations that many would place on them. On all of us.
Whether they used the terminology or not, these six have indeed lived up to the idea of being Too XYZ to conform to the arbitrary norms of their environments. Not just because they think it would be fun to tell the world to "shove it", but because who and what they are simply doesn't allow them to vanish quietly into a flock. Different jobs, goals, religions, and geographical areas separate them, but they resemble each other, and myself, in their level of self acceptance. (And also their writing talents!)
When I first started Too XYZ, I did so in order to more openly express my outlier status in regards to so many common traits found in the multitudes. And unlike most of my AuGuests, I sometimes do have the partial goal of telling the status quo "up yours". But having these six guests write for this blog last month reinforced the notion that though any given issue may be viewed differently amongst the non-conformists of the world, I am not alone in my resistence to conforming. At least the idea of refusing to conform on everything. I knew it before, but having these guest posts makes that knowledge more personally satisfying.
I didn't edit any of the posts in any way, (except to change some of Mehnaz's Canadian spellings to keep my spellchecker at bay.) That is because I was dedicated not to creating a specific style to fit my blog, but to freely share my space in a totally unrestricted way. So that these guests could be exactly what they wanted to be when they posted here. That is what I and this blog are all about, and I am proud to have been able to provide an extra venue for these bloggers. They have encouraged me to seek out even more people that are also Too XYZ for bullshit. And they showed that having guest posts is a mostly painless experience. It will happen again.
Bringing my ideas, and sometimes even my feelings into the realm of other people's consciousness, and making them think, if only for a moment, in a different way. I hope I have done that, with both my posts, and with allowing the AuGuest posts last month. I can assure you, each of them has managed to make me think a bit differently myself.
And so here's to the AuGuests of 2010, my first six guest posters ever:
-Brianne Villano, of Living Out Loud
-Jen Gresham of Everyday Bright
-Mehnaz Thawer of Speak Softly and Carry and Red Pen
-Jamie Nacht Farrell of BizRelationships
-J. Maureen Henderson of GenerationMeh
-Laryssa Wirstiuk of Comma 'n Sentence
All of these people emphasize the importance of doing it your own way. Or at least doing something in this world your own way, even if that be just thinking and expressing. If you too value these characteristics, read not only their posts here on my blog from last month, but also each of their own blogs. I promise you, if I am NOT Too XYZ to get something out of them, (and I'm not), neither are you.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
The Perfect Blog (FEATURED POST ON BRAZEN CAREERIST!)
I am an actor as well as a writer. Allow me now to invoke the character of your typical generic Net guru posting about how to make a real blog.
Ok so I'm up extra early today hoping to get to Starbucks while the early bird barista is there. She doesn't %$#^ up my order and is absolutely THE only one that mixes my grande white mocha. (Better stop thinking about it...drool on keyboard=so not good.)
Anywho, blogging. Yeah, I think it's about time somebody mentioned how to do it right. And by right I mean do it in such a way that somebody wants to not only read your blog, but crawl inside of your brain, set up shop and kiss your ass like every day. Just kick back in a chair in your brain and relax forever. (Damn, that brings me back to my white mocha...OMFG "Stacy" please don't call in sick today!)
Lists. You love 'em. I love 'em. So here's one.
How To Build a Blog The "Right" Way.
1) Piss Everybody Off
If you are blogging in order to make people think, it's YOU that should be thinking again. It is not the job of a blogger to make people think. You know what the three most important concepts in real estate are, don't you? Location, Location, Location. Well if you want a blog that's worth a damn, remember the three rules of real blogging; Offend. Offend. Offend. Natch. After all, if you haven't offended anyone today, you obviously are not bold enough to be worth reading. And you want people to read your blog don't you? (Oh yeah, I forgot, some of you fancy yourself as "writers". As though writing and blogging aren't two different things. Girl, please. Plug in...)
2) Code: Master What Matters
You say you want to create good prose that stands up to scrutiny and inspires thought? You want to provide intelligent content? Um...1986 just called...he wants to speak to you.
For real, if you are one of those people that believes that bloggers ought to be able to prove they can write well, I am not sure you can be saved. For the rest of you with half a brain, use it to master code. XHTML, or in fact every single solitary code that exists out there should be something you gain expert status on. Sure it is time consuming, and can take years of work to master. Yes it can require hours just to find the right color fade on your front page. But those are hours spent making a real blog. Unless you want the blogosphere to laugh at you, (not that your insistence on not paying for your own domain name isn't causing that already) you need to know code. Period.
Remember the famous studies that indicate each page of a blog or website needs no less than 13 pages of code to be considered "passable." No less than 30 to be considered "worthy of time." (Please Jehovah, don't get me started on people who use templates...we don't cook over an open flame anymore and we don't use templates.)Why would anybody stop off at your blog if you don't have counters, blogs rolls, links, agregators, news updates, live video feeds from your office, streaming radio content, ringtones and the like? You think people who come to your blog want to waste time reading?
3) Twitter
Can you believe that there are people who continue to live lives with problems and difficulties, when by simply getting an account on Twitter nothing would ever be difficult for them again? Nobody wants to say this to you, but everybody is thinkin it...NEWSFLASH: If you don't have Twitter, you are garbage as a human being. Forget about being laid let alone having thousands and thousands of hits to your website the minute you sign up for Twitter. Phew. It's out there. It's said.
4) Niche!
You think people want to visit a blog that is dedicated to something that as many as three other people in the country have already written about? Do we live in a nation of clones? Get out there and find a subject that nobody on this planet has ever once spoken or written about at any time in human history. That is if you want people to be taking the time to read your blog. If your goal is to be boring, fruitless and ignored, by all means chime in on something that somebody may have heard about before. Yawn...
5) Write Something IF You Must. But...
*Sigh* Ok, I probably shouldn't really make this point before I've had my morning coffee, but we're in this far so I might as well go for it. (But I am not to be held responsible for any choking I may be forced to do if I encounter anyone who doesn't understand the following point..
The best blogs do NOT have content.
There, I said it. Let the cries of the ignorant and ancient ring out against me. Let's resurrect 2003 for the poor lost souls that want to say something and make a difference blah blah blah.
Look, the days of having something to say with a blog have gone the way of Humvees, CDs, and the Gin Blossoms. In other words.."bye bye!". Yes, I know there are still some hangers on out there who happen to be very prominent in the blogosphere that do still provide content in the form of (help me god) WRITING. And yes, I do read some of it, BUT...(hear this, minions)...there are exceptions to almost every rule. Please don't think that just because Seth Godin or (*gag*) Wil Wheaton continue to be popular even though they actually have writing on their blogs that you can do the same. Content is dead. People are far too busy to have to stop and read or think about anything. (I'm in Gen-Y. Hello????? I have shit to do!) Stick with bells and whistles. Preferably the ones that activate within .5-.9 seconds after arriving at your site. (According to a famous study, that's the average time it takes a person surfing the net to become bored with you these days.)
Ok, and I know that some of you dinosaurs are just not going to get it into your walnut sized reptilian brains that actually writing good content has gone the way of...well..the dinosaurs. So I offer this piece of advice to those who must participate in it.
Blog about blogs. That's really the only inroad left. Blog or (*shivers*) write only about how to blog. Or about people who blog. In a pinch for content, consider blogging about other social media. Preferably Twitter. MAYBE about Tumbler if you are desperate.
If all else fails, blog about Gen-Y. But please PLEASE be as broad, vapid, brief, yet offensive as possible when you do so. (See First Rule.) Otherwise, what's the point?
Nuff said. "Stacy", here I come.
Ok so I'm up extra early today hoping to get to Starbucks while the early bird barista is there. She doesn't %$#^ up my order and is absolutely THE only one that mixes my grande white mocha. (Better stop thinking about it...drool on keyboard=so not good.)
Anywho, blogging. Yeah, I think it's about time somebody mentioned how to do it right. And by right I mean do it in such a way that somebody wants to not only read your blog, but crawl inside of your brain, set up shop and kiss your ass like every day. Just kick back in a chair in your brain and relax forever. (Damn, that brings me back to my white mocha...OMFG "Stacy" please don't call in sick today!)
Lists. You love 'em. I love 'em. So here's one.
How To Build a Blog The "Right" Way.
1) Piss Everybody Off
If you are blogging in order to make people think, it's YOU that should be thinking again. It is not the job of a blogger to make people think. You know what the three most important concepts in real estate are, don't you? Location, Location, Location. Well if you want a blog that's worth a damn, remember the three rules of real blogging; Offend. Offend. Offend. Natch. After all, if you haven't offended anyone today, you obviously are not bold enough to be worth reading. And you want people to read your blog don't you? (Oh yeah, I forgot, some of you fancy yourself as "writers". As though writing and blogging aren't two different things. Girl, please. Plug in...)
2) Code: Master What Matters
You say you want to create good prose that stands up to scrutiny and inspires thought? You want to provide intelligent content? Um...1986 just called...he wants to speak to you.
For real, if you are one of those people that believes that bloggers ought to be able to prove they can write well, I am not sure you can be saved. For the rest of you with half a brain, use it to master code. XHTML, or in fact every single solitary code that exists out there should be something you gain expert status on. Sure it is time consuming, and can take years of work to master. Yes it can require hours just to find the right color fade on your front page. But those are hours spent making a real blog. Unless you want the blogosphere to laugh at you, (not that your insistence on not paying for your own domain name isn't causing that already) you need to know code. Period.
Remember the famous studies that indicate each page of a blog or website needs no less than 13 pages of code to be considered "passable." No less than 30 to be considered "worthy of time." (Please Jehovah, don't get me started on people who use templates...we don't cook over an open flame anymore and we don't use templates.)Why would anybody stop off at your blog if you don't have counters, blogs rolls, links, agregators, news updates, live video feeds from your office, streaming radio content, ringtones and the like? You think people who come to your blog want to waste time reading?
3) Twitter
Can you believe that there are people who continue to live lives with problems and difficulties, when by simply getting an account on Twitter nothing would ever be difficult for them again? Nobody wants to say this to you, but everybody is thinkin it...NEWSFLASH: If you don't have Twitter, you are garbage as a human being. Forget about being laid let alone having thousands and thousands of hits to your website the minute you sign up for Twitter. Phew. It's out there. It's said.
4) Niche!
You think people want to visit a blog that is dedicated to something that as many as three other people in the country have already written about? Do we live in a nation of clones? Get out there and find a subject that nobody on this planet has ever once spoken or written about at any time in human history. That is if you want people to be taking the time to read your blog. If your goal is to be boring, fruitless and ignored, by all means chime in on something that somebody may have heard about before. Yawn...
5) Write Something IF You Must. But...
*Sigh* Ok, I probably shouldn't really make this point before I've had my morning coffee, but we're in this far so I might as well go for it. (But I am not to be held responsible for any choking I may be forced to do if I encounter anyone who doesn't understand the following point..
The best blogs do NOT have content.
There, I said it. Let the cries of the ignorant and ancient ring out against me. Let's resurrect 2003 for the poor lost souls that want to say something and make a difference blah blah blah.
Look, the days of having something to say with a blog have gone the way of Humvees, CDs, and the Gin Blossoms. In other words.."bye bye!". Yes, I know there are still some hangers on out there who happen to be very prominent in the blogosphere that do still provide content in the form of (help me god) WRITING. And yes, I do read some of it, BUT...(hear this, minions)...there are exceptions to almost every rule. Please don't think that just because Seth Godin or (*gag*) Wil Wheaton continue to be popular even though they actually have writing on their blogs that you can do the same. Content is dead. People are far too busy to have to stop and read or think about anything. (I'm in Gen-Y. Hello????? I have shit to do!) Stick with bells and whistles. Preferably the ones that activate within .5-.9 seconds after arriving at your site. (According to a famous study, that's the average time it takes a person surfing the net to become bored with you these days.)
Ok, and I know that some of you dinosaurs are just not going to get it into your walnut sized reptilian brains that actually writing good content has gone the way of...well..the dinosaurs. So I offer this piece of advice to those who must participate in it.
Blog about blogs. That's really the only inroad left. Blog or (*shivers*) write only about how to blog. Or about people who blog. In a pinch for content, consider blogging about other social media. Preferably Twitter. MAYBE about Tumbler if you are desperate.
If all else fails, blog about Gen-Y. But please PLEASE be as broad, vapid, brief, yet offensive as possible when you do so. (See First Rule.) Otherwise, what's the point?
Nuff said. "Stacy", here I come.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Half Belated, Half on Time
Between keeping up with more than one blog, still trying to understand the world of Twitter, a stubborn head cold and auditioning for plays, some things are bound to get left behind. But give me credit when it is due me, I fill in the void, albeit belatedly.
Fellow blogger, Twitterer, and freelance writer Melissa Breau, interviewed my last week as part of a series she is doing on freelance writers. Part One of that interview can be found right here. Part two is coming sometime this weekend.
Do me the favor of reading it, and letting me know what you think, and do her the favor of reading it, along with other posts of hers, and leaving comments and questions for her. She writes on many topics.
And of course, follow us both on Twitter, if you have it, though she is better at it than I am.
Fellow blogger, Twitterer, and freelance writer Melissa Breau, interviewed my last week as part of a series she is doing on freelance writers. Part One of that interview can be found right here. Part two is coming sometime this weekend.
Do me the favor of reading it, and letting me know what you think, and do her the favor of reading it, along with other posts of hers, and leaving comments and questions for her. She writes on many topics.
And of course, follow us both on Twitter, if you have it, though she is better at it than I am.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Some Fine Tips From Another Who May Be Too XYZ?
I came across this post, and I wanted to share it with readers of this blog, because I think it sums up perfectly how to keep a positive outlook when one finds that life has not turned out in a way that society would call successful.
Read it here.
I have not met Maggie, though I left a comment on her Brazen Careerist page about this blog post.
I have been in a similar frustrating situation, but for several years longer. However, if I had been able to assert as positive an attitude as Maggie only two years out of college, I would perhaps be in a different place today. But what matters, I suppose, is that I have begun to reach more positive, constructive places in my life now.
All of the ideas she presents are good ones, and I have attempted each of them in some degree. As I have said to other bloggers in the recent past, however, the volunteering thing hasn't quite panned out for the good for me. I just haven't found a good organization yet. One that will appreciate me for what I do, and won't burn me. I will be posting about my views on volunteerism in another post in the near future.
Another thing that Maggie has going for her is a network within her community on which she can rely. One that she is continuing to build. One of my biggest weaknesses over the years has been a lack of a network. I know nobody in the town in which I live, and have no immediate prospects for meeting anyone. Too XYZ and all of that. But had I reached out as early and as often as Maggie had, I am once again sure I would be in a different place now.
I am not beating myself here. I did what I could. But she provides a prime example of the importance of local relationships both when things are bad, and as things improve. (More on that from me as time goes on as well.)
Read it here.
I have not met Maggie, though I left a comment on her Brazen Careerist page about this blog post.
I have been in a similar frustrating situation, but for several years longer. However, if I had been able to assert as positive an attitude as Maggie only two years out of college, I would perhaps be in a different place today. But what matters, I suppose, is that I have begun to reach more positive, constructive places in my life now.
All of the ideas she presents are good ones, and I have attempted each of them in some degree. As I have said to other bloggers in the recent past, however, the volunteering thing hasn't quite panned out for the good for me. I just haven't found a good organization yet. One that will appreciate me for what I do, and won't burn me. I will be posting about my views on volunteerism in another post in the near future.
Another thing that Maggie has going for her is a network within her community on which she can rely. One that she is continuing to build. One of my biggest weaknesses over the years has been a lack of a network. I know nobody in the town in which I live, and have no immediate prospects for meeting anyone. Too XYZ and all of that. But had I reached out as early and as often as Maggie had, I am once again sure I would be in a different place now.
I am not beating myself here. I did what I could. But she provides a prime example of the importance of local relationships both when things are bad, and as things improve. (More on that from me as time goes on as well.)
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