one bite at a time.
How To Stay Focused As A Blogger So You Can Get The Most Important Stuff Done
Showing posts with label blogging. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blogging. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Monday, January 16, 2012
Feeling discouraged about blogging?...
this might help.
31 Unexpected Perks of Blogging You’ll Never Want to Give Up
You’ve got it! You’re officially a Have in a world of Have-nots!What do you have? It’s probably not money, fame, or tax-write-offs disguised as corporate jets. It’s something more powerful.You have a blog. And a darn fine one at that.
If you’ve said before that you’ll never give up blogging—surprise! You’re probably right!
Giving up a good thing is next-to-impossible. So it’s not a surprise to discover that blogging isn’t the sort of thing you just stop doing. In fact, anyone would be hard-pressed to give up blogging once they’ve discovered just how rewarding it can be. read the rest
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Quantity, Quality, Screaming, and Google Bombs
The gold mine of articles that informed me and lifted my spirits may require two different posts.
Yesterday I finally had to wipe out my reader when it blew past the 1000 mark for the fifth time. This is something I've hinted at in the past, but now I'm going to put it rather bluntly. In an attempt to run up their hit counters, many bloggers play the Google bomb game. There's nothing wrong with trying to influence your SEO by carefully crafting your title, but articles that are packed full of such obvious bombs is a turn-off. They also err on the side of quantity rather than quality. The end result is like screaming at your dog. It doesn't work in dog training, and it probably doesn't work well in the blogoshpere.
My reading speed is way above average and I am able to blow through a lot of material in a very short time. However, after several hours I just give up and delete my entire reader. I routinely hit the highest sites on my list first, then start in on the others. After becoming saturated with the "screaming", many no doubt fine articles end up being relegated to the trash bin. That is sad. If the goal is to become a news aggregator, fine. But if you want to actually have people read what you've written, it might be best to cut back on the number of posts.
"Dr. Zero" and the "American Thinker" sites are two fine examples of good blogging. It is rare that Dr. Zero posts more than once per day, while American Thinker posts an average of seven articles per day. Even Hot Air doesn't post an overwhelming number of articles per day. I've been just as guilty as the next person of falling into this trap of quantity vs quality, and the stress often gets in the way of living a full and productive life.
If we intend to stay in this battle for the long haul, and mark my words, it will be a long and very hard haul, we need to stop screaming at each other.
Yesterday I finally had to wipe out my reader when it blew past the 1000 mark for the fifth time. This is something I've hinted at in the past, but now I'm going to put it rather bluntly. In an attempt to run up their hit counters, many bloggers play the Google bomb game. There's nothing wrong with trying to influence your SEO by carefully crafting your title, but articles that are packed full of such obvious bombs is a turn-off. They also err on the side of quantity rather than quality. The end result is like screaming at your dog. It doesn't work in dog training, and it probably doesn't work well in the blogoshpere.
My reading speed is way above average and I am able to blow through a lot of material in a very short time. However, after several hours I just give up and delete my entire reader. I routinely hit the highest sites on my list first, then start in on the others. After becoming saturated with the "screaming", many no doubt fine articles end up being relegated to the trash bin. That is sad. If the goal is to become a news aggregator, fine. But if you want to actually have people read what you've written, it might be best to cut back on the number of posts. "Dr. Zero" and the "American Thinker" sites are two fine examples of good blogging. It is rare that Dr. Zero posts more than once per day, while American Thinker posts an average of seven articles per day. Even Hot Air doesn't post an overwhelming number of articles per day. I've been just as guilty as the next person of falling into this trap of quantity vs quality, and the stress often gets in the way of living a full and productive life.
If we intend to stay in this battle for the long haul, and mark my words, it will be a long and very hard haul, we need to stop screaming at each other.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Nothing to Say
Blogging is becoming ridiculous and unhealthy...
I really have nothing to say that hasn't been said already. Bloggers, in an effort to pump their stats, are posting for postings sake. These "citizen journalists", many who have families and jobs, are posting 10, 20, or more times per day. Do not tell me that their family, job, or personal development is not suffering, because I won't believe you.
If my readers don't know by now that Obama is a Socialist, hell bent on destroying this country, well so be it. As for me, I have books to read, art to make, cooking and organizing to do - much of which has suffered lately.
When I feel the urge to write an opinion piece that may have some value, even if the value is only to myself, I'll be back.
Perhaps our time could be better spent on more one-on-one contact with people, educating them on what is going on in this country, instead of continually preaching to the choir.
Blogging for many has become nothing more than a narcissistic attempt at some form of celebrity. And the surest way to gain this false form of notoriety, is to strive to be the cleverest or meanest. It's making me tired...
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
What are doing today?.......
Internet Monk has a very good article on how and why we use the internet. I first read this type of reflection on 43 folders.
Random Thoughts About The Internet: What I’m Doing With It, What It’s Doing To Us, How It’s Changed Me, Etc.
May 26th, 2009 by iMonk
A bunch of things that occurred to me today, all related to the internet and what we do on it and with it.
On that note I'm heading outside to do work - lots and lots of work....
Thanks to Terry over at Abby Roads
Internet Monk has a very good article on how and why we use the internet. I first read this type of reflection on 43 folders.
Random Thoughts About The Internet: What I’m Doing With It, What It’s Doing To Us, How It’s Changed Me, Etc.
May 26th, 2009 by iMonk
A bunch of things that occurred to me today, all related to the internet and what we do on it and with it.
1. It strikes me that the predominant sins in this medium are narcissism and waste. We need to differentiate narcissism from various kinds of legitimate self-revelation, but we need to proclaim that narcissism is a sin many of us are absolutely exulting in.
And waste is waste. Time. Affections. Work. Mental energy. Significance. read the restOn that note I'm heading outside to do work - lots and lots of work....
Thanks to Terry over at Abby Roads
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Outstanding Response
Oh my! I sure didn't expect the level of emotion the city of Toledo would wrench up from the lower depths of people's psyche.
How about some Toledoens (?) jumping in to defend their bailiwick? If you have no clue about what I am talking about, read next post.
House Cleaning
Help Needed
Help Needed
****Thanks to Diva Mom Vickie over at Adventures of Bittyman and his Sidekick Ittyboy, my brand new Facebook friend, I realized that I was on Internet Explorer instead of my usual Firefox. I am such an idiot that when we hooked up our DSL, I never noticed that my computer guru took me off Firefox. Now how's that for dim? So now to get my Google reader fully stocked is just a matter of clicking on a little icon. Cool!
Blog Rollin'
****My blog needs it's links updated in the worse way. Don't be shy! Let me know if I have not included you on my links. I will do my best over the next few days to update but I could miss someone. It's ok for you to let me know by email if you prefer to not appear like a whiny, "what about meeeeee type", which I assure you would not be the case. Just sayin'.....
Facebook
****Please be my friend on Facebook. I love reading updates on what is going on in people's lives. Nothing is too mundane to warrant my attention. What you eat for breakfast (I hope it's bacon, though (unless you're a vegetarian in which case it would have to be fakin' bacon)), is of utmost importance to me. If the link is not the proper one you may find me by name Adrienne Streeter.
Comments
****I read each and every one of my comments and I try to respond to each and every one. But sometimes I actually have days where it appears that I have some semblance of a life, and then I don't get around to doing my part to make you feel welcome. You are!!!
****I have a few blogs I go to and leave comments on a fairly regular basis. It seems that everyone else is routinely acknowledged except yours truly. I hate that feeling. It's liked being picked last for the baseball team when you were a kid. So if I have inadvertently made anyone feel that way you have permission to flog me with a spaghetti noodle. A real class act is someone like Philip Blosser over at Musings of a Pertinacious Papist ,who actually came to my blog and thanked me for visiting him. Cool! I shall endeavor to be more like Philip.
Monday, October 6, 2008
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Better
by Merlin Mann
Politics, celebrity gossip, business headlines, tech punditry, odd news, and user-generated content.
These are the chew toys that have made me sad and tired and cynical.
Each, in its own way, contributes to the imperative that we constantly expand our portfolio of shallow but strongly-held opinions about nearly everything. Then we’re supposed to post something about it. Somewhere.
From businesses we’ve never heard of, to countries we’ve never visited, to infants who’ve had the random misfortune to be born into a family that’s on TV — it’s all grist for obvious jokes and shortsighted commentary that, for at least a few minutes, helps both the maker and the consumer feel a little less bored, a little less vulnerable, and a little less disconnected. For a minute, anyway, it makes us feel more alive. Does me, anyway.
But, in my observation, the long-term effect of each of these can be surprisingly different.
What makes you feel less bored soon makes you into an addict. What makes you feel less vulnerable can easily turn you into a dick. And the things that are meant to make you feel more connected today often turn out to be insubstantial time sinks — empty, programmatic encouragements to groom and refine your personality while sitting alone at a screen.
Don’t get me wrong. Gumming the edges of popular culture and occasionally rolling the results into a wicked spitball has a noble tradition that includes the best work of of Voltaire, Dorothy Parker, Oscar Wilde, and a handful of people I count as good friends and brilliant editors. There’s nothing wrong with messing up every single day. But you have to bring some art to it. Not just typing.
What worries me are the consequences of a diet comprised mostly of fake-connectedness, make believe insight, and unedited first drafts of everything. I think it’s making us small. I know that whenever I become aware of it, I realize how small it can make me. So, I’ve come to despise it.
With this diet metaphor in mind, I want to, if you like, start eating better. But, I also want to start growing a tastier tomato — regardless of how easy it is to pick, package, ship, or vend. The tomato is the story, my friend.
This doesn’t mean I’ll be liveblogging a lot of ham-fisted attempts to turn “everything” off. But it does mean making mindful decisions about the quality of any input that I check repeatedly — as well as any “stuff” I produce. Everything. From news sources to entertainment programming, and from ephemeral web content down to each email message I decide to respond to. The sh_t has to go, inclusive.
And, to be honest, I don’t have a specific agenda for what I want to do all that differently, apart from what I’m already trying to do every day:
* identify and destroy small-return bullshit;
* shut off anything that’s noisier than it is useful;
* make brutally fast decisions about what I don’t need to be doing;
* avoid anything that feels like fake sincerity (esp. where it may touch money);
* demand personal focus on making good things;
* put a handful of real people near the center of everything.
All I know right now is that I want to do all of it better. Everything better. Better, better.
To underscore, I have no plan to stop making dick jokes or to swear off ragging people who clearly have it coming to them. It’s just that it’s important to me to make world-class dick jokes and to rag the worthy in a way that no one is expecting. I want to become an evangelist for hard work and editing, and I want to get to a place where it shows in everything that I do, make, and share.
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Hello, my name is Adrienne and I'm a blogoholic. So what is a blogoholic? You guys that are in the same boat know who you are. You waste endless hours checking all your favorite blogs before you form an opinion. You check your stats more than once per day and worry if your numbers are down. You read com-boxes that have dissolved into vicious and cruel personal insults, and secretly enjoy seeing someone get their comeuppance. If the blogger doesn't respond to your comments (ever) you wonder what you've done to not be included in the "in-group." You slavishly follow priests (yes priests), who use questionable language, and sneer and belittle those that do not agree with their opinions.
Recently, several bloggers have questioned exactly what it is we are doing. It's a good question and one I have been mulling over in my little pea brain the past few weeks. For some bloggers, the intent is obviously to inform and uplift.
Blogs like New Liturgical Movement provide an informed and literate approach to the liturgy. They do this without personal insults. Jeffrey at Roving Medievalist uses his time and talent to share his love of architecture and art with us. Father Scott Baily takes the time to bring us beautiful devotions for each day, yet his sitemeter tells us that only about 50 folks visit him each day. Meanwhile, many thousands visit the sites full of venom, spite, and insults. Explain that to me if you would.
Many bloggers like Adoro, Cathy of Alex, and Ebeth over at Catholic Mom Climbing the Pillars share a bit of their life with us. We can laugh and cry with these folks, and yes, they sometimes rant, but one thing they never are is mean-spirited and cruel.
Do I think we should all stop blogging? Absolutely not! The blogoshere can be a wonderful place to connect with people and gather verifiable (a key concept) information. It is a place where talented writers can hone their skills. Carolina Cannonball can pack more humor into one short sentence or simple line drawing than most of us can in a life time of trying. Terry can inspire us with his art, and Mark in Spokane can give us an intelligent viewpoint of goings on in the political scene. Deb lifts us up with her beautiful photos, and Father Speekman shares his beautiful homilies with us.
Bloggers have a lot of power, but if we blog without remembering the Two Great Commandments; Love God and Love Your Neighbor, then we become no better than the insulters and demeaners. If visiting the snarky sites brings a lack of harmony to your day, well, don't go there. Vote your opinion of this behaviour with the left click of your mouse.
This is a reprint of something Merlin Mann, the guru behind 43 Folders (a productivity blog), wrote recently that struck close to home about the issue of blogging and our time and talents. He posted this on his personal blog on September 5th. I have edited a few less-than-savory words and have left some in because, well, they fit, and I hope he will forgive me my presumptions.
Better
by Merlin Mann
Politics, celebrity gossip, business headlines, tech punditry, odd news, and user-generated content.
These are the chew toys that have made me sad and tired and cynical.
Each, in its own way, contributes to the imperative that we constantly expand our portfolio of shallow but strongly-held opinions about nearly everything. Then we’re supposed to post something about it. Somewhere.
From businesses we’ve never heard of, to countries we’ve never visited, to infants who’ve had the random misfortune to be born into a family that’s on TV — it’s all grist for obvious jokes and shortsighted commentary that, for at least a few minutes, helps both the maker and the consumer feel a little less bored, a little less vulnerable, and a little less disconnected. For a minute, anyway, it makes us feel more alive. Does me, anyway.
But, in my observation, the long-term effect of each of these can be surprisingly different.
What makes you feel less bored soon makes you into an addict. What makes you feel less vulnerable can easily turn you into a dick. And the things that are meant to make you feel more connected today often turn out to be insubstantial time sinks — empty, programmatic encouragements to groom and refine your personality while sitting alone at a screen.
Don’t get me wrong. Gumming the edges of popular culture and occasionally rolling the results into a wicked spitball has a noble tradition that includes the best work of of Voltaire, Dorothy Parker, Oscar Wilde, and a handful of people I count as good friends and brilliant editors. There’s nothing wrong with messing up every single day. But you have to bring some art to it. Not just typing.
What worries me are the consequences of a diet comprised mostly of fake-connectedness, make believe insight, and unedited first drafts of everything. I think it’s making us small. I know that whenever I become aware of it, I realize how small it can make me. So, I’ve come to despise it.
With this diet metaphor in mind, I want to, if you like, start eating better. But, I also want to start growing a tastier tomato — regardless of how easy it is to pick, package, ship, or vend. The tomato is the story, my friend.
This doesn’t mean I’ll be liveblogging a lot of ham-fisted attempts to turn “everything” off. But it does mean making mindful decisions about the quality of any input that I check repeatedly — as well as any “stuff” I produce. Everything. From news sources to entertainment programming, and from ephemeral web content down to each email message I decide to respond to. The sh_t has to go, inclusive.
And, to be honest, I don’t have a specific agenda for what I want to do all that differently, apart from what I’m already trying to do every day:
* identify and destroy small-return bullshit;
* shut off anything that’s noisier than it is useful;
* make brutally fast decisions about what I don’t need to be doing;
* avoid anything that feels like fake sincerity (esp. where it may touch money);
* demand personal focus on making good things;
* put a handful of real people near the center of everything.
All I know right now is that I want to do all of it better. Everything better. Better, better.
To underscore, I have no plan to stop making dick jokes or to swear off ragging people who clearly have it coming to them. It’s just that it’s important to me to make world-class dick jokes and to rag the worthy in a way that no one is expecting. I want to become an evangelist for hard work and editing, and I want to get to a place where it shows in everything that I do, make, and share.
Yes, even if it makes me sound like a fancy guy who just doesn’t get it. So, yes. I am cutting way back on trips to the steam table of half-finished, half-useful, half-ideas that I both make and consume. And, with respect, I encourage you to consider doing the same; especially if that all-you-can-eat buffet of snark and streaming produces (or encourages) anything short of your “A” game. If I’m not laughing at your joke, complimenting your insight, or leading the Standing O for something you spent 10 seconds pecking up on your phone, it may not be because I don’t get it; it may be because I think we’re both capable of better and just need to find the courage to say so. In as many characters as it takes.
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