As seems true with my reaching any "great" milestone in life, this posting moment seems a little bit more anti-climatic than I expected it to be.
I'd figured that reaching a point where I blogged 100 times would be exciting or thrilling or auspicious or something. Upon reaching this occasion however, I find myself stitting here, looking around and saying, "OK, nice. Now what?"
Must be my cold subduing me.
Anyway. No party here. I have, however, been collecting various links regarding blogging tips, techniques, and resources and thought this would be as good an excuse as any to share them. (Listed in no particular order...)
Elmore Leonard: Ten Rules of Writing
Kent Newsome: Five Steps to Good Blogging
10 Must-Have Things That Should be on Your Blog's Side Bar
Blogger Help
Creative Commons
Robin Good: Where to Find Free Images and Visuals for My Blog
The Weblog Handbook - The Etiquette and Ethics of Blogs
Writing for the Web Comments and links about the fast-changing genres of Webwriting
Steve Rubel: Personal Blogs and Interest Conflicts
Steve Rubel: How to Manage Your Draft Blog Posts
Chris Garrett (Performancing Blog): Breaking News
Chris Garrett (Performancing Blog): 10 Tips for Attracting More Comments
ProBlogger: Blogging for Beginners
Kent Newsome: Blogs are Really Just Better Homepages
Raj Dash (Performancing Blog): Don't Put All Your Effort Into Blogging
Kent Newsome: Bloglogic and the Litmus Test for Link Love
Listible: Best stuff tu put on your blog sidebar
Lifehacker: 40 CSS layout templates, ready for download
Chris Garrett (Performancing Blog): Tell a Good Story
HaloScan: Free commenting and trackback service for weblogs and websites
The Morning News: How to Write a Thank-You Note by Leslie Harpold
MSNBC/Derek Gehl: Harness the Marketing Power of Blogs
So, what have these links (and my 99 prior posts) taught me about blogging?
1. I am not famous or important. I really don't care to be. I do have a unique perspective on life as I experience it and that is interesting enough for me to blog about and maybe others can pick up something useful because I was brave enough to open up and share first.
2. Linkage is overrated. Usually. Most people who spend quite a deal of time on the Net will end up crossing paths with regulars. We visit many of the same sites. We Digg the same things. Therefore, there is a high likelihood we both have seen the same link. My re-presenting it to you isn't very interesting--unless I can give a fresh perspective on the link's content or enhance it's experience.
3. Blogging is both easy and hard. It is pretty easy to find something to blog about, it is very hard to do it regularly with quality. Quality matters on the Net.
4. Don't steal someone else's content. That is just bad wrong. If you really like something just say so and give clear credit for your inspiration. Then expound on it and why it has meaning or value to you.
5. Use your own voice. Trying to emulate your favorite blogger may seem like a good way to be polished, but speak like you live. Save the fancy words and soliloquies for Shakespeare, unless that's what your blog is about!
6. Be kind to others with what you say. The world is filled with enough hate and meanness already. Sure, share a rant or two every now and then, but readers probably want to hear more about how you overcame your pain and frustration rather than how you wallowed in it.
7. I'm blogging 80% for me, 20% for others. Most of my thoughts here are just my creative need for expression leaking out. By nature I am a quiet and introverted person. I think of interesting things to say, but rarely do because I would rather listen to what others say then say things myself. However, some things I want to record in case I need to refer back to them. Or maybe point people to something of value to me that they may also find informative, amusing or simply helpful.
8. Our world is filled with many more creative, clever and diverse folks than the local and national news would have you believe exist. Blogging has taught me that the world does indeed contain kind and helpful persons. If we could break down walls and stereotypes, maybe we could learn to respect and get along with each other a little better.
9. We need more dialog with each other. Blogging is a safe way to talk and share ideas and stories, and sharing comments with each other can get us on the track to being more open to different opinions and viewpoints.
10. Keep an eye out for the unexpected and unknown. When you find it, go there. Then come back and tell us about it. We might all be richer for it.
Must be my cold subduing me.
Anyway. No party here. I have, however, been collecting various links regarding blogging tips, techniques, and resources and thought this would be as good an excuse as any to share them. (Listed in no particular order...)
Elmore Leonard: Ten Rules of Writing
Kent Newsome: Five Steps to Good Blogging
10 Must-Have Things That Should be on Your Blog's Side Bar
Blogger Help
Creative Commons
Robin Good: Where to Find Free Images and Visuals for My Blog
The Weblog Handbook - The Etiquette and Ethics of Blogs
Writing for the Web Comments and links about the fast-changing genres of Webwriting
Steve Rubel: Personal Blogs and Interest Conflicts
Steve Rubel: How to Manage Your Draft Blog Posts
Chris Garrett (Performancing Blog): Breaking News
Chris Garrett (Performancing Blog): 10 Tips for Attracting More Comments
ProBlogger: Blogging for Beginners
Kent Newsome: Blogs are Really Just Better Homepages
Raj Dash (Performancing Blog): Don't Put All Your Effort Into Blogging
Kent Newsome: Bloglogic and the Litmus Test for Link Love
Listible: Best stuff tu put on your blog sidebar
Lifehacker: 40 CSS layout templates, ready for download
Chris Garrett (Performancing Blog): Tell a Good Story
HaloScan: Free commenting and trackback service for weblogs and websites
The Morning News: How to Write a Thank-You Note by Leslie Harpold
MSNBC/Derek Gehl: Harness the Marketing Power of Blogs
So, what have these links (and my 99 prior posts) taught me about blogging?
1. I am not famous or important. I really don't care to be. I do have a unique perspective on life as I experience it and that is interesting enough for me to blog about and maybe others can pick up something useful because I was brave enough to open up and share first.
2. Linkage is overrated. Usually. Most people who spend quite a deal of time on the Net will end up crossing paths with regulars. We visit many of the same sites. We Digg the same things. Therefore, there is a high likelihood we both have seen the same link. My re-presenting it to you isn't very interesting--unless I can give a fresh perspective on the link's content or enhance it's experience.
3. Blogging is both easy and hard. It is pretty easy to find something to blog about, it is very hard to do it regularly with quality. Quality matters on the Net.
4. Don't steal someone else's content. That is just bad wrong. If you really like something just say so and give clear credit for your inspiration. Then expound on it and why it has meaning or value to you.
5. Use your own voice. Trying to emulate your favorite blogger may seem like a good way to be polished, but speak like you live. Save the fancy words and soliloquies for Shakespeare, unless that's what your blog is about!
6. Be kind to others with what you say. The world is filled with enough hate and meanness already. Sure, share a rant or two every now and then, but readers probably want to hear more about how you overcame your pain and frustration rather than how you wallowed in it.
7. I'm blogging 80% for me, 20% for others. Most of my thoughts here are just my creative need for expression leaking out. By nature I am a quiet and introverted person. I think of interesting things to say, but rarely do because I would rather listen to what others say then say things myself. However, some things I want to record in case I need to refer back to them. Or maybe point people to something of value to me that they may also find informative, amusing or simply helpful.
8. Our world is filled with many more creative, clever and diverse folks than the local and national news would have you believe exist. Blogging has taught me that the world does indeed contain kind and helpful persons. If we could break down walls and stereotypes, maybe we could learn to respect and get along with each other a little better.
9. We need more dialog with each other. Blogging is a safe way to talk and share ideas and stories, and sharing comments with each other can get us on the track to being more open to different opinions and viewpoints.
10. Keep an eye out for the unexpected and unknown. When you find it, go there. Then come back and tell us about it. We might all be richer for it.
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Robert Frost -- The Road Not Taken
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Robert Frost -- The Road Not Taken
Grace willing, I hope to make it through my next 100 posts with style and substance. I hope you stay around to enjoy the trip with me. It has been fun for me.
See you in the skies,
--Claus
2 comments:
Congrats on reaching the century mark. I've never counted the posts on my personal blog, but I think I've got that many.
"7. I'm blogging 80% for me, 20% for others."
I'm with you on this one, although I would put it as "I'm blogging 99% for me and my family, 1% for others." Not all of us blog for the purpose of becoming "famous". As one of the 20%, I should say that I really enjoy your blog.
Thanks for the encouragement, Jim! Nice to know I may be on a good track here!
I've really had a fun time so far doing this. Helps me keep my ideas organized and it is much easier to point a family member to a supporting link on our blogs than try to tell them to type in a URL.
Speaking of #8. Just today Daily Rotation had a link to RUN IE 7 WITHOUT INSTALLING IT (free): If you want to test IE7 without the risk of installing a beta software, here is a simple way to do it (shellcity). That link then takes you to a BlogSpot blogger from India's post where he suggested a way to run IE7Beta in a "standalone" mode. Well I did that same (erroneous) technique and posted about it way back when over at the Houston Chronicle's Tech blog posting Only the brave need apply: IE 7 Beta 2 Preview.
So I dropped in a comment that provided Jon Galloway's Runing IE7 Beta 2 Preview next to IE6 (the right way). Jaganath ended up posting an update to the correct link and giving a kind word for me for the link in his post update. Not that I was really looking for that...just wanted to make sure others avoided the pain I went through.
Long story short...a local blogger reading a national tech headline site, links out to an Indian blogger and gives some useful information (and plugs the Tech Blog) while at it.
I'm glad I could help, but it really shows how small a world we "virtually" live in!
Post a Comment