Source: Jibli
Blog That? Top 20 reflections on 2014.
December 31, 2014 by 53 Comments
Here’s my top 20 blogging reflections on 2014, an update from my 2013 list:
- Grateful for: The Community. (Simply the Best.) Friends. Followers, Likes, Comments, Engagement, Banter, Re-blogs. Thank you.
- Appreciate: Infrequent notes from silent followers. Always surprising and inspiring.
- Take any posts back: No. (But, I do grimace at a few.)
- Viral: Yes. One share titled: Gate A-4. 845,000 views. 487 likes. 15 Minutes of Fame can be frightening. Glad to be back to the Man-Cave.
- Blogging Challenges: Staying fresh. (Not good enough. This one feels tired. Who cares?)
- Secret Sauce for High Quality Content: (1) Read. (2) A silent partner(s). (Thank you.)
- Wish I Had More Time for: Reading and writing. (Especially Reading)
- Awards: Grateful for the fellow blogger recognition but haven’t been able to pay it forward. (Sorry.)
- Who do you call at 3am (when you need blogging help): Todd. Mimi. Lori. Beth. Carol. Ray. And continuing mention of the bloggers who brought me to the dance: Kurt @ Cultural Offering & Steve @ Anderson Layman’s Blog. (Thank you all.)
- Important: Attribution for shares. Regrets? 2012 post without owner’s consent. Apologies extended and post revised.
- Best writing aids/apps: For me (amateur): Save your time and money. Skip ’em.
- Best App in Supporting Role: Evernote. For clipping, storing, composing. No close 2nd place finisher.
- Most useful Utility Apps: 1password. TextExpander. Snagit. DropBox or iCloud. (sync/backup critical)
- Best Reading/Content Apps: Feedly. Pocket. Kindle. Tumblr.
- Best blogs to follow: Authentic. Have opinion. High quality writing and/or content. Succinct.
- Wish I knew how to: (1) Write well (or better?). (2) Photoshop images. (No time. Limited competency.)
- Mac vs. PC: Mac/iPad/iPhone wins hands down. Syncing and stability worth price premium.
- Chrome vs. Safari: (for Mac Users)? Toss Up. Safari for integration/syncing. Google for speed and widgets.
- Niggling Nuisances: Spam. Self-linking. Haters. (Few) Guest blogger requests unrelated to blog theme.
- Why Blog? Why not?
Notes:
- Related Posts: (1) 2013: Top 20 Reflections on 2013: A Blogger’s Retrospective. (2) 2012: Two Years and Counting
- Image Credits (modified text). Original Source: Miguel Fernandez @ gengen-den-strich.com via Tanya Khovanova’s Math Blog
Blog is a slog?
September 26, 2014 by 25 Comments
Excerpts from: When Blogging Becomes a Slog by Steven Kurutz, NYTimes.com:
The Petersiks’ trademark gung-ho enthusiasm seemed forced. And since the birth of their second child, Teddy, in April, they were increasingly voicing their difficulty in balancing work and family…the couple responded in a post titled “Feeeeeelings,” in which they confessed to “feeling off for a while” and missing the days when “we did this for the love.” Although they had scaled back outside projects to recommit to the blog, they were unable to shake the sense of “letting you guys down repeatedly.” They had decided to step away from Young House Love for an indeterminate period and explore other career options. The unexpected announcement has generated more than 4,000 comments so far.
Ms. Petersik responded in an email that “we really would like to clear our heads and refocus.” But they are not alone in their experience. Blogger burnout seems to be something that many of their colleagues in the world of home and D.I.Y. blogs, most of them in their 20s and early 30s, can relate to as well. Is the first generation of design bloggers aging out of the blogosphere? Or is this just a new twist on an old business story, updated for the Internet age?
…A tricky thing to avoid as a full-time blogger, considering that the Internet never sleeps, readers want fresh content daily and new social media platforms must be mastered and added to the already demanding workload.
…Pam Kueber…sees the Petersiks’ escalating stress levels and unhappiness simply as evidence of the latter: A passion turns into a hobby, which becomes a full-time career. “And in some predictable period of time, it consumes your life and sucks the joy out if it,” said Ms. Kueber, finishing the arc. “That last part of the Shakespearean tragedy is what you have to be mindful of not letting happen.”
Read full story @ When Blogging Becomes a Slog by Steven Kurutz, NYTimes.com
Image: Egozy
Like me. Like ME. LIKE ME DAMN IT.
May 13, 2014 by 36 Comments
Bruce Feiler: For the Love of Being ‘Liked’ – For Some Social-Media Users, an Anxiety From Approval Seeking:
Walking through an airport newsstand this year, I noticed a novelty…I quickly snapped a photo and sent out a tweet to my modest list of followers…Then I waited for the love. I checked the response before passing through security. Nothing. I glanced again while waiting for the plane. Still nothing. I looked again before we took off. Nobody cared. My little attempt to pass a lonely hour in an airport with some friendly interaction had turned into the opposite: a brutal cold shower of social isolation.
We are deep enough into the social-media era to begin to recognize certain patterns among its users. Foremost among them is a mass anxiety of approval seeking and popularity tracking that seems far more suited to a high school prom than a high-functioning society…
…it all begins to seem a bit, well, desperate.
…Time for a rewrite, Mr. Shakespeare. This above all: to thine others be true.
…“In a lot of ways, the addictive part is in the anticipation,”
…”I noticed I get in this puppet situation,” she said. “I get bored, and there’s something compelling about being able to put something online, and all of a sudden there’s instant gratification of ‘They like me!’
…Maybe Warhol needs a rewrite, too: Today, everybody can be famous for 15 retweets.
…A growing body of research indicates how deeply our brains are wired to seek social approval.
Read full (and excellent) article at For the Love of Being ‘Liked’
Notes:
- Image: The Keep Calm-O-Matic
- Title: Shakespeare said: “The above all: to thine own self be true.” What does it mean? See here Wiki.Answers.com.
Related Posts:
Top 20 reflections on 2013: A Blogger’s Retrospective
January 1, 2014 by 56 Comments
- 2013 Regrets? Zero.
- Take any 2013 posts back? No. (But I do grimace at a few.)
- 2014 Goals (Resolutions)? None. Marching forward headlong.
- Blogging Challenges? Staying fresh. (Not good enough. This one feels tired. Who cares?)
- Grateful for? Followers, Likes, Comments, Engagement, Community. Re-blogs.
- Secret for finding High Quality Content? (1) Read. (2) A silent partner(s). (Thank you.)
- Wish I Had More Time for? Reading and writing. (Especially Reading)
- Few words leaving deep tracks? “Lately, I’ve been leaning toward kindness.” (Gillian Flynn)
- Best blogging platform? WordPress. (Can it get any easier?)
- Request for WordPress? Make customizing blog design easier. Enhance Search Function.
- Best writing aids/apps? For me (an amateur): All a waste of time and money. Skip them.
- #1 Blogging App? Evernote. For clipping, storing, saving, composing, everything.
- Most useful Utility Apps? 1password. TextExpander. Snagit. Dropbox. Alfred.
- Most critical Reading/Content apps? Feedly. Mr. Reader. Tumblr. Pocket.
- Best blogs to follow? Authentic. High quality writing and/or content. Succinct.
- Wish I knew how to? Photoshop images. Understand Adobe. (No time. Zero competency.)
- Mac vs. PC? Mac/iPad/iPhone wins hands down. Syncing and stability worth price premium.
- Google Chrome vs. Safari (for Mac Users)? Moved to Safari for integration/syncing.
- Niggling Nuisances? Spam. Self-linking. Guest blogger requests unrelated to blog theme.
- Why Blog? Why not?
Related Posts: Two Years and Counting
Image Credit. Note: “Got Blog” is a spin-off from the “Got Milk” advertising campaign.
We are, in other words, one another’s virtual enablers
June 17, 2013 by 47 Comments
NY Times, Sunday, June 16, 2013: Facebook Made Me Do It (Excerpts)
…That feedback loop of positive reinforcement is the most addictive element of social media. All those retweets, likes and favorites give us a little jolt, a little boost that pushes us to keep coming back for more. It works whether or not we post the typical social media fodder of lush vacation pictures and engagement announcements or venture into realms that showcase our most daredevilish antics and risqué behavior.
…Our growing collective compulsion to document our lives and share them online, combined with the instant gratification that comes from seeing something you are doing or experiencing get near-immediate approval from your online peers, could be giving us more reason to act out online, for better or for worse.
…We are, in other words, one another’s virtual enablers.
…the vast amplification of the potential audience a single person can reach has raised the stakes for all online activity.
…“It’s performative.”
Source: The New York Times: Facebook Made Me Do It by Jenna Wortham, Technology reporter
A Blogger’s 33 Observations on Blogging
February 9, 2013 by 12 Comments
Baldur Bjarnason @ Studio Tentra titles his post: 33 Observations On The Year 2012. Terrific post. Here are a few of my favorite observations:
#1) Doing good work is its own reward, while sharing it leads to suffering. Most of the time nobody will notice, so it’s hard to see why anybody should bother.
#5) The vast majority of those I encountered were incredibly nice and friendly, even when we disagreed.
#6) I have almost no readers but some of my work is read a lot. The number of people that will read every post of mine is miniscule. Most of the traffic comes from retweets or links. I have more than a thousand followers on twitter, but of those only about ten will click on a link to a post of mine to read it…No matter how hard I work, the best I can hope for is to catch the attention of somebody more influential who will momentarily lend me some of their traffic. [Read more…]
Blog of the Year…
December 8, 2012 by 80 Comments
Thank you to my friends for nominating me for this award: Carolyn @ abcofspiritalk, Sandy @ Another Lovely Day, Cristi @ Simple.Interesting, Dogdaz, Ivon @ Teacher is Transformer, Joyat60, Kalabalu, Kim @ Tranquil Dreams, Melody @ Donkey Whisperer Farm Blog, Misifusa, Renee @ Rendezvous With Renee, SarahPotterWrites, Tarasai @ Writerfield and Iamforchange. I’ve been procrastinating in “paying it forward”…for fear of leaving out and disappointing so many exceptional bloggers that I follow. (Anxiety remains.) Yet, Renee’s words (subtle that they are…sarcasm dripping) have been ringing in my head: “Just pay it forward, Dave.” So here we go…
Yep. About right.
September 17, 2012 by 29 Comments
Now you can more fully understand why the exercise in the last post was such a struggle.
Source: themetapicture.com
Books, Books, Books
September 1, 2012 by 30 Comments
Thank you Maureen at Magnolia Beginnings for presenting me with The Booker Award. It’s a tall order to list my top 5 books of all time (so I’m giving you 11). And, I’ve excluded “self-help”, “business” and “autobiographies” from this list. Here we go:
- The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
- A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines (Review @ this link)
- The Education of Little Tree by Forrest Carter (Review @ this link)
- Run Rabbit Run by John Updike
- Home by Marilynne Robinson (Review @ this link)
- Peace Like a River by Leif Enger
- All the Living by C. E. Morgan (Review @ this link)
- Plainsong by Kent Haruf
- Blindness by Jose Saramago
- The Trilogy by Cormac McCarthy (All The Pretty Horses; The Crossing; Cities of the Plain)
- Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
- Straight Man by Richard Russo
- A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
My nominees for The Booker Award are listed below. If you choose to participate, the rules of the award are to: 1) Nominate 5-10 bloggers and let your recipients know. (2) Post The Booker Award picture. (3) Share your top 5 books of all time.
Social Media Citation…
August 17, 2012 by 11 Comments
And on this note…I’m signing off… 🙂
Related Posts:
All-Blogger Alert!
August 4, 2012 by 15 Comments
Here are links to notable blogging/writing posts in the past week:
Kurt Harden @ Cultural Offering with I Love a Tradition and Ray Visokski @ A Simple Village Undertaker with Officially A Tradition where they invite bloggers to a face-to-face meeting in Newark. (I was reading too fast. I thought they meant Newark, NJ which would have been a no-brainer. The idea has me thinkin’. Maybe something smaller and more local? Yes, Brenna, me too – way (way) out of comfort zone. On the other hand, YOLO?)
Madame Scherzo: The 10 Most Commonly Misunderstood Words In English. (Got me on “Enormity” and several others.)
Michael Hyatt: 15 Resources For Pro Bloggers (Or those who want to be). (I’m not a Mac user but there are solid tips in his post.)
Caitlin Kelly @ Broadside: BlogHer 2012 — was it worth it? “Three days of full-on intensity, 5,000 bloggers in one midtown Manhattan hotel, about 80 percent of whom — maybe 90 percent — were female, and under the age of 40…”
Internet Friendships…
May 13, 2012 by 21 Comments
Related Posts:
- Something sacred about…
- Are you an Internet Addict?
- Should I check E-Mail?
- If you can’t entertain yourself with your own thoughts, then go ahead and text, Plato…
- Sanity and Tweets…
- Things to do when the internet is down…
- Life Goal Aid or Blocker?
- Our fantasies of substitution (with tech) have cost us…
Source: Adapted from Themetapicture.com
Live & Learn 