so....this one showed up today.
i printed from one of the many blogs i read a post called 'on how to grow your blog' and i wish i could remember which one it was because i would love to give it credit and a connect it with a link (sigh).
anyway, it gave several suggestions, starting with the most important question - what is the end goal for writing a blog?
that is a good question. i like writing it just to write, but secretly do i want more?
a chow life, which is a great blog combining life with great recipes and beautiful photos, wrote in this post: "While I don’t believe I need the validation, it’s certainly nice to be noticed from time to time. "
i would say that this is true. i don't NEED the validation, but to be noticed is really really really nice. and to be read...i would love that! plus i think i need those delicious cupcakes with nutella(!) frosting.
on a side note, there was a sale on lobster tails and i have never bought lobster to cook at home...ever, so i got them, boiled them and ate them. they were so good. i could eat it a lot of lobster.
I know! After writing for money and then NOT writing for money, I knew that I still had words up in my head that needed to come out. Or my head would explode. I started blogging in late 2005. Most bloggers have to get out there and comment. Comments usually bring in other readers, but I have to say that commenting grows your blog if the people who read your blog are similarly inclined to grow theirs. If most of your readers are not bloggers, you're sort of screwed. Sort of.
ReplyDeleteFor writers, it can be a frustrating prospect. Bloggers like Dooce and Amalah and Pioneer Woman are practically no longer human. They're products and though they get comments by the truckloads, they don't have to reciprocate. And they don't. You and I can't survive like this.
Years ago I had designs on making a new writing life for myself that would pay the bills. Or some of them. I gave that up. I came too late to the party and I'm not willing to throw my family under the bus (even just to tell a really funny but highly personal anecdote) just to gain hits. It's a conundrum. So I went back to teaching and found that I have gained a lot of material there, but I can't mine it all the time. I think people might get tired of that.
Or maybe they won't. I once wrote about a Cinco de Mayo recital at my school where a kid's skirt fell off (she had jeans on underneath) and I got called out by one reader. It was funny, but she thought I was making fun of her culture. I guess she wouldn't appreciate the story about the riding lawnmower then.
We should talk about blogging sometime. Keep on writing!
you are so right. your stories are so great and i am glad to see you back. You are also wrong in that you could SO pay the bills with your writing. I suggest a book - my life and the classroom.
ReplyDeleteHey Ann - I try to remind myself to come visit your blog, because when I do I always find it energizing, entertaining, and edifying.
ReplyDeleteAmy Spence