Does Cutting Back on Blog Posting for Summer Hurt? (#!WSG)

Insecure Writer's Support Group

      It's the first Wednesday of the month which as most of you know means it's time again for another edition of the Insecure Writer's Support Group, the monthly event hosted by Alex J. Cavanaugh.   This is the time when writers from all over the globe discuss writing and all of the conflicting good and bad feelings that come with the pursuit of the literary arts.  This is a forum for commiseration and encouragement.  Maybe things aren't going quite like you'd like or maybe you're a bit nervous about what the future holds.   You might even be riding the high horse of success and feel like you're winning the race.   Whatever your circumstance join us and tell us what you're thinking.

Summertime Blogging Schedule

      Most of us would probably acknowledge that our blog traffic tends to drop some during the summer months.  In fact, a good many of you might even cut back during the summer months or even go so far as to put your blog on hiatus until about September or so.  I've seen this and it does make sense in a lot of ways.

         Every year I tend to do some traveling which interferes to some extent with my blogging activities.  I've tried experiments such as focusing on using guest posts to minimize my own energies on blogging.   Last year I cut back on posting days and tried to keep my posts shorter.   That approach worked well for me and when something works it's probably not a bad idea to stick with it.

         So for the summer of 2015 it's gonna be less posts and posts that might be a bit shorter than normal.   My schedule plan will be to essentially post Mondays only.  However there will be a few times when this will vary.  Since I will still be participating with Battle of the Bands posts on the 1st and 15th of each month and also the #IWSG posts on the first Wednesdays of the month there will be a couple of Wednesday posts in July and two Saturday posts in August that might essentially replace my normal Monday posts.   I might throw in a couple odd posts now and then, but for the most part my schedule will be as I've described.

          There will be summer cutbacks on my other blogs as well.  On my spiritually themed blog A Few Words there has already been the post Temporary Hiatus announcing my summer plans.  Since this is like my mission blog in a sense, I almost feel like I should keep that one going over the others, but averaging less than 50 visitors per post and typically receiving only a couple comments at the most, I feel like taking a break on that site won't be a drastic loss to the blogging world.  

           Tomorrow an announcement post will appear on my dream blog A Faraway View telling readers about my intentions for the summer vacation season.  That blog too has a small number of visitors per post, but it does have a loyal readership who regularly leave comments on every post.  Last year I posted dream song videos which didn't do too badly, but still it took time to compile that.  This year I'm going to save the time and not post on that blog at all until September.

           My memoir blog Wrote By Rote will continue to post each Saturday as long as I don't run into complications doing so.  That blog does have a more solid reader base and I'll do as I did last year and tie in my summer travels with the topics I will be sharing on that blog.  I also often tie in my Battle of the Bands contests with posts on Wrote By Rote.   

           Now, some of you might point back to my A to Z Challenge Elements of Blogging post "UpDate!".   I stirred a bit of controversy by chastising "slacker bloggers" who didn't maintain their blogs regularly.  Take note though that I am following my own guidelines about announcing my intentions ahead of time and I will still be posting regularly unless some circumstance prevents me from doing so.  

         Of course, here is where the insecurities develop.   It might be argued that less posting might lose some of my existing audience.  I think anyone else who has cut back on posting days can vouch that all it does is give them more time for other things and give each of their posts more time for other bloggers to visit and leave comments.  I think Alex J Cavanaugh might agree with this point.

         A complete break like I'm doing on my lesser visited blogs might cause me to lose some of my audience so that I have to go back to build them up, but considering the few that could be lost I don't guess that's much building to worry about.  I've got minor insecurities about these blogs but I always do throughout the year.

        The biggest problem with the summer schedule is that I have less time and opportunity to make the visiting rounds that are required to keep visitors coming to my blog.   I have my regulars who I can usually count on--I thank all of you--but there are always those who need to be reminded to visit me by my visit to them.   If I use the past summers as an indicator, I know my comments will drop which is something that would happen whether I was keeping a summer schedule or not.  The fact is that a lot of people are busy doing non-blogging activities like I'll be doing.  If I don't visit your posts as much during the summer, I hope you will understand my situation.

       Really it's not a big issue--just a little nagging insecurity.  It's the old out of sight out of mind conundrum of marketing and maintaining a public image.  But it's only a blog.  But it's my blog and I've worked hard to keep it active and to have a relatively high profile.  It's my baby and I worry about my babies.   

        I may be slowing down for the summer, but I will be here.  I hope you'll be here with me.

        Do you see your summer blog traffic slow down in summer?   Do your blogging activities tend to slow down during summer?    What will you be doing this summer?

*************************

Arlee's A to Z Summer Road Trip

        I wonder if I might be able to meet up with some of you during my travels this summer.  I'm going to be all over the country and bound to have some time on my hands.   If we could set up some summer meetings that might be fun.  If you're interested, be sure to visit Wrote By Rote in my post upcoming Saturday June 6th and I'll give you some more details.    

Don't forget to vote on my current Battle of the Bands 

If you have not voted yet then visit Battle of the Bands and cast your vote.   I'll be adding votes up tomorrow Thursday June 4th to announce the winner on Friday June 5th.

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#ISWG: When I'm Dead and Gone

   
        Welcome to another monthly meeting of the  Insecure Writer's Support Group.   More than likely you know why you're here, but in the event you are unaware of what I'm referring to you can visit the blog of Alex J. Cavanaugh for more information and the list of bloggers who are members of the group.   All are invited just so you contribute your own #IWSG post on each first Wednesday of the month.   And now for my thoughts of this month:    


When I'm Dead and Gone

          My title might infer that this post will be about the legacy we leave behind as authors or whatever it is that we would like to be known for, but this is not the case.   For those who haven't been following my most recent posts, the "When I'm Dead and Gone" title refers to a series I've been doing about the topics of death and zombies.  It's a seasonal theme related to Halloween and Day of the Dead (November 1st) that revolves around my current Battle of the Bands post that uses the song of the same title.   I'm tabulating votes until tomorrow (Thursday November 6th) and announcing the winner on my Friday post.  If you haven't voted yet I hope you will by clicking on this link.

       Over the past year I've seen a number of posts suggesting that blogging is dead or dying with various reasons mentioned.  Likewise, there have been the doomsayers portending the eventual demise of Facebook, Twitter, and other forms of social media. 

        Historically though haven't we heard much the same dire predictions made for other things?   Vaudeville would be killed by motion pictures, movies by television, books by electronic data delivery, and on and on.  Some things did die for the reasons cited or for other reasons.  Trends run in cycles and often lose adherents.  Things come and go as new generations become interested and then eventually move on to the next new big thing.

         Same goes for literature genres.  Westerns, science fiction, detective stories, and other genres have seen peaks and lows of popularity over the years.  None have gone away entirely and a reading audience will probably remain ensconced for years to come as long as the writing is worthwhile and sometimes even if it isn't.   Boy wizards and romantic vampires may be with us for a very long time though perhaps their popularity will wane as the next novelty enters the limelight.

          If blogging dies then those of us who blog will have to find something else to do.   If the genre in which we write no longer sells books then we need to find another topic to write about.   It's not a good idea to just roll over and stop creating.  The fact is that if we believe that something that we do, something for which we had a passion, has died then perhaps we helped to kill it.   

           Nothing completely dies, it merely changes.  You might have learned something akin to that in physics or some other science course.  The Law of Conservation of Mass is what it's called.   My body may cease to function in the way that we know it, but I continue to exist in some form.   There are memories.  There is whatever I left behind of what I accrued in my life.  There is what I created.   

          Come to think of it a lot of this does have to do with legacy, but that's not really the main aspect I'm thinking about for the moment.   My thoughts of dying are more in the metaphorical sense.  Sometimes we can die but still be living and breathing, functioning in some sense of what is considered normal.  Almost zombie-like, but not in the gory flesh-eating sense.   Zombie brained and blinded by disappointment, disillusionment, and other dis and dats.

          That's dying in living.  That's watching whatever it is that you once enjoyed and wanted to share with others fade from your grasp.  Just because something is no longer popular doesn't mean we have to stop doing it and consider it dead.

           There was a time when skinny neckties were in fashion.  Then guys started wearing wide ties and skinny ties looked out of place.   Once when I was traveling I came upon an old department store in a small town that was going out of business.   They had a lot of old out-dated merchandise at extremely cheap prices.   Skinny ties were ten cents each so a coworker and I bought several along with white dress shirts that were at a clearance price of fifty cents each.   We started wearing these as a sort of uniform while we loaded and unloaded our equipment truck as we traveled from town to town.   It made for a cheap uniform that didn't look half bad and it didn't matter if we messed the clothes up.   Then I noticed that a lot of the punk bands that were gaining popularity were dressed similarly in the promo shots of them I'd see in the magazines.  My friend and I were almost fashionable with our makeshift cheap uniforms.

          So what's the point of that story.  Heck if I know.   You can make of it what you will.   I guess I meant it to be an example of what I was trying to say in this post.   And if someday my blog grows out of fashion I can think of it as a skinny tie.   Maybe that interpretation works.

           Do you keep up with trends and fashions?   Are you doing NANO this year?   Have the comments and visits to your blog dropped since NANO began this past Saturday? 

       

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Zombie Acropolis

The Acropolis in Athens (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

          It's not necessarily Greek to me why the zombie genre is so popular in modern culture.  Humans have long been interested in reanimation and resurrection as well as the supernatural aspects of the living dead.  We're scared and yet morbidly fascinated with the concept of zombies.   I'll give you my theory about the popularity of zombies this coming Friday November 7th.

          This post today is not a real post, or at least not in the sense you might expect.  If anything this post is more related to what Alex J. Cavanaugh was talking about in his post that asked the question "Have authors killed blogging?"    In short Alex was wondering if blogging has been hurt by too much promotion by authors.

          I'm not trying to sell anything, but my post today is all about promotion.   The "Zombie Acropolis" title is merely a come-on somewhat related to my most recent topics.  As you might know, blogging experts recommend a catchy title to lure visitors to your posts.  If for no other reason, I figured that my chosen title might lure a few folks to chide me for misspelling "apocalypse".   And since zombies are an attraction of themselves I thought some zombie fans might stop by as well.

         I don't mean to disappoint anyone, but count this as another blog experiment--like maybe Dr. Frankenstein might come up if he had been a blogger.  Besides I've had this title sitting in my to-go queue since spring when I was developing my short blog posts for the summer vacation season.

         By the way, on the subject of attention getting blog titles, there has only been one stand-out post traffic wise on Tossing It Out of late.   For the most part traffic here is adequate, but not overwhelmingly amazing.  Not viral.  The posts where I've taken part in some fest or interactive event usually get the most visits.   However the biggest surge on this blog in the past several months was the post with the title "That Wasn't Very Nice".   I'm guessing that a lot of visitors were expecting some real dirt about something bad that happened.   Instead they found a post about ballet and Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring.  I thought that the topic was very interesting, but judging from the relatively small number of comments compared to the high number of visits on that day I'm guessing that most visitors were not particularly interested in the topic I was presenting.   I suppose that some might have thought I was not very nice in insinuating that they were going to get to read about something not very nice and they found a story on The Rite of Spring instead.

          Still, I'm going to promote a few things right now.  First don't forget the Wednesday  Insecure Writer's Support Group monthly meeting to be held at hundreds of blogs including my own.  My post will be staying kind of on topic with death, zombies, and whatever comes to my mind between now and then.   Coming on Friday, as I mentioned earlier, I'll be divulging my zombie theory and announcing the winner of my most recent Battle of the Bands vote.

          And speaking of voting, U.S. citizens don't forget to vote tomorrow Tuesday November 4th.  Let's vote the old bums out and bring the new bums in.   It's a pain in the bum, I know, but someone's got to stir the political pot now and then and that someone is us.

         But whether you're voting in the political elections or not, don't forget the really important vote!  If you haven't voted on your favorite song version in my Battle of the Bands please do so as soon as you've finished reading this outlandish post I've put up today.   Please!

         Aren't you glad I don't have a book to promote!   Can you imagine?

          Are you a fan of the zombie genre?   What type of blog promotion annoys you the most?    Is there anything that's keeping you from voting in the Battle of the Bands (and don't say you don't know anything about the music--you don't have to know anything, just listen)?

         Now go vote at When I'm Dead and Gone.

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What Works?...and what doesn't

What's Happening?
         
        Anyone who has been following my blog for some time is probably aware of my keen interest in the topics of marketing and promotion and how the two can be used effectively in blogging.  I'm not going to delve too deeply into my own thoughts on marketing as you can do a search of my blog under the terms "marketing" or "promotion" and come up with plenty of posts on those and related topics.  

        In fact my A to Z theme in 2012 was marketing and promotion and those posts would be a good place to find out some of my thoughts on the subject as well as get an idea of what the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge is about.   If you want to read the first installment of that series you'll find it here and then just continue on if you want more.

        The current blog event is about what you bloggers think and have to say about marketing, promotion, and related ideas.  There's no magic formula that I know of that makes for successful marketing.  Sometimes what works in one instance may fall flat in another.   Other times totally absurd ideas may work in a big way. Some ideas are fairly tried and true while others are just a shot in the dark.  Sometimes they work and and sometimes they don't.

       With What Works....and what doesn't we want to get some idea of what some of you may have actually tried or observed.   We hope to learn some of your philosophies, psychological insights, hard factual data, or your pipe dreams about marketing.   We want to try to figure out What Works...

Why What Works...?

     In November Yolanda Renée and I were having an email interchange about the guest post she did at my dream blog, A Faraway View.  We were examining stats and experimenting with different tactics to see what worked in drawing visitors to the site.  A Faraway View typically is a low activity blog, but our combined efforts brought considerably more viewers to her post than I usually get.   Though the numbers for that post are still low, through our combined marketing efforts the post garnered some of the highest views and most comments of any other post on that site.  Was it due to our marketing efforts?

          During the course of our exchange I came up with what I thought might be a good idea for a blog event.   The "blogfest" should have a wide range of interest among most of our followers since we all are promoting something whether we admit to it or not.   This would not be just a fun blogging exercise, but " a blogfest with information you can use."

        The premise would be for participants to tell about a marketing idea they've used that worked or one that didn't work.  Their post could describe a campaign that succeeded in a big or small way or one that failed drastically.  This wouldn't only be limited to authors but also apply to those who have gone into business,  observed in another business campaign, participated in an organizational event, helped their kids with a fundraiser, or anything where a bit of promotion was necessary.  In other words this is a blogfest anyone could participate in and everyone can learn from.  Posts can be informational, a personal experience account, or a funny marketing story.  Experience gained from a promotional effort in one area can have applications in other efforts.  

         The ultimate goal is to learn what others have done right that we all can use and what to avoid.  Hopefully we can get marketing stats like Yolanda and I were doing in our study and other hard data that might be compiled into specific or fairly decent conclusions.   We want to know What Works... and I'm sure many of you would find this type of information useful as well.

Also Brought to You By:

         Since I've had more than a few interchanges on the subject of marketing with my good friend Jeremy Hawkins, I contacted him to bring his knowledge to the table.  I know Jeremy is very interested in marketing since he has a number of ventures going.   His artistic expertise provided us with a super cool logo for the event.

        And of course no great blogging event would be complete without Alex J. Cavanaugh.   Alex has mastered the art of cross promotion, building his name, blog recognition, and brand by promoting others.  I owe a special thanks to Alex for being at the helm of this event while I was on vacation and during my subsequent illness.  That's why we call him "The Captain".

Be sure to check out all the blogs of the hosts.  And if for some reason the Linky List does not appear on my page you should be able to find it on theirs:

Arlee Bird - http://tossingitout.blogspot.com/

Yolanda Renee - http://yolandarenee.blogspot.com/

Jeremy Hawkins - http://www.beingretro.com/

Alex J. Cavanaugh - http://alexjcavanaugh.blogspot.com/

Now let's find out What Works...and what doesn't.  
Here's the list of participants!  

<!-- end LinkyTools script –> *****
Remember--if you don't see the Linky List here then check the other participating sites.  I've been having some computer problems.

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Oh How I Miss You!

         Of all the bloggers you read  who would you miss most if they stopped posting?   Or what about the blogs that have gone dormant with the bloggers silenced for who knows what reason?  Who do you miss reading?    Today is our day to tell about those bloggers inactive or still heartily chugging away who somehow touched us or made a dent in our world with their writing.                  



 November 8, 2013 - hosted by Andrew Leon, Alex J. Cavanaugh, and Matthew MacNish

The bloggers we really miss…and the ones we would really miss! 

Do you have a couple blogger buddies who aren’t posting as often? Those who’ve pulled back and seem absent from the blogging world? Do you have blogger buddies you are grateful they are still around and would miss if they vanished? Now is your chance to show your appreciation and spotlight them!

On November 8, list one to three bloggers you really miss and one to three bloggers you would miss if they stopped blogging. Then go leave a comment on those blogs.

Our blogger friends are special – time to let them know! 

Gone But Not Forgotten

         My bad memory tends to obfuscate people and things that don't stay on my mind.   If I don't seem to comment on your posts as much as I used to it's only because I'm trying my best to keep up with visiting those who have commented on my most recent post and I must apologize for not even doing so well at that.   I am trying to do better.

          There are several blogs that I know that haven't been posting.  It would take a bit of research to think of who they belong to since because they have been out of my sight they are in the deeper recesses of my mind.  And I probably need to invest my mind in some other things besides trying to remember those blogs.

           One blog does stand out since it is frequently on my mind.  The Saga of the Concrete Jungle was from a blogger whom I helped get started with his blog.   He had a number of interesting posts and then left as he was going in a good direction with his subject matter.

            This blogger is hindered by the fact that he is a prison inmate who does not have internet access.  His half-sister managed his blog for him using post material that she entered for him.  In turn she would print out comments to send to him so he could respond.  It was a slow process that fettered any effective social media interaction.   His half-sister has since had a couple of kids and a job that keeps her too busy to manage the blog.  Hopefully one day new arrangements can be made for this blogger.

Don't Stop!

          Last year I did a post that mentioned the commenters I'd miss.   There are plenty more and if you are a regular commenter at Tossing It Out then you know who you are.   I just want to say a big thanks to all of you for keeping me motivated.  But as I mentioned in times past, I appreciate all commenters who stop by my site even if it's just once a year.    The comments keep me posting.

         Don't think it's copping out for me to say I'd miss all of the bloggers I follow, but I would and I do.   Sadly for me there are so many great blogs to visit and not enough time to see every post.  Some of those blogs might be out of my mind at times, but I'd miss them if I went to visit and they were no longer there.  It's very sad to visit a site only to see that the last post was months ago or more or even worse that the site is no longer even there.

         However, in the spirit of this blogging event, I will mention a few bloggers who deserve attention from more readers because of some of the excellent content they deliver.  Good writing combined with topics that make me think more comes from Larry at DiscConnected, Andrew Leon at Strange Pegs and Stephen T. McCarthy at Ferret-Faced Fascist Friends.  They often leave some good comments on my blog and I'd especially  miss those.

         But let me reiterate--I'd miss all of you!

  Battle of the Bands Winner!

       

        My most recent contest was two versions of "Iron Man" (click link to compare the versions).   First was the original by Black Sabbath and up against them was the mellow Cardigans version.  It was not even close in the final tally.  Even the votes for the Cardigans were half hearted as Black Sabbath easily swept the contest 20 to 3.

        Who did I vote for?  I always loved the Sabbath version, but now I'm more of a Cardigans guy.  They did a rather daring and unique interpretation and it makes sense to me.   Change that Cardigans to 4 votes and they still lose big time.

          Next Battle comes next Friday November 15th.   What will I pick?   Hmm. 

  

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Defining Respect as a Blogger

"Can I please get some respect here?"

What Hath I Wrought?   

      "If you open a can of worms you might as well make spaghetti."  "When you bust a beehive you'd better run like hell."  Maybe you've heard those sayings before.  I never have and I think I just made them up for this post.  You're welcome to use them whenever you want to.  Be sure to link to this post if you do use them (so this post can get more hits).

        In any case, my Monday post Do You Feel Respected as a Blogger? did a little of both of these things.  I sure busted the beehive and got swarmed, but I ain't runnin'.   I'm gonna face the swarm and the stings and try to calm the buzz that was created by that post.  The spaghetti thing sounds disgusting but that probably is the best solution to the controversy stirred by the post in question.

        I'd planned on taking the respect issue to a different level today and tie everything together neatly into a compact little post.   Fat chance of that I guess.  First there were your comments.  Thanks to all who left such fantastic comments on my "Respected Blogger" post.  I know I can usually count on my readers to provide great comments, but this time you outdid yourself.   Did you ever!   That threw one monkey wrench into my short sweet Friday post idea.

        Then Alex J. Cavanaugh went and threw a hornet's nest into the bee fray with his response to my post.  Time to be afraid!  We had bees and hornets and earthworms all over the place and everybody running like crazy.  I will say that most everyone was running to the same place but I won't get into that today if I'm going to have a relatively short post that more than a dozen people will read.   Today I just want to define some of the terms being used and elucidate what may have been misunderstood in my Monday post.

A Clarification of What Some Wondered 

           In answer to the question "Did your blog post go viral?", the answer is no.  Nor did I expect my Monday post to go viral.  The content for virality wasn't there.  My Monday post was an information gathering post and I think it was pretty successful in that respect.

         My ratio of comments to page views was 50% which is way higher than I normally get.  That was until Alex's post drew more traffic and the ratio dropped to just under 40% which is still not bad.  On a typical post I get an average of 25% of those who stop by leaving a comment which I find acceptable.   As the page view numbers increase the comment ratio decreases.  On my posts that have surpassed 1000 views the comment ratio goes down to about 1% --and that's getting into the realm of more comments than I can handle comfortably so 1% of the high numbers is fine by my estimation.

          However let's save the stats issue for another post as it gets a bit more complicated--too complex to get into on a short Friday post.   Alex and many others brought up the stat issue and it's an important one for bloggers to address.    There were other issues mentioned as well that will be examined in a later post.   As it is, today's post is getting too long if I am to take into account what some of you indicated in the "Blogger Respect" post comments.  Likewise, I will examine in a later post the subject of viral posts--what they are and why we would want them.

Here's the Point I Was Trying to Make in my
 "Blogger Respect" Post

         For me--and I think for many of you--the act of writing a blog post includes an intrinsic desire for someone to read what we have labored to produce on our little sites.  We read each others blog bits and say nice things and hope that they in turn will come see our site and say nice things in return.  It's all nice with feelings of love and friendship and, yes, respect within the community in which we blog.   There's nothing wrong with that and I thought I clearly indicated that in my "Blogger Respect" piece.  I cast no condemnation or disdain for the concept of blogger community.

        The respect question that I was asking had more to do with how those outside the community look at your or my blogging activity.   Are we respected as bloggers beyond our own limited community?

         When I first started my blog I was so proud and excited to be a blogger.   I told my friends and family about my new blog.  I put up my blog link on Facebook.  I even printed up business cards with my blog address so I could give them to the people I would engage in conversation about my blog.  I was excited, but I was about the only one.  People I'd talk to about my blog would politely listen and then change the topic a soon as they could.  No one cared.  Business cards probably ended up in trash cans.  I wasn't getting any respect for being a blogger.

         Even after I'd become fairly established as a blogger and known in the community of bloggers with whom I interacted, I didn't get any real respect for my blogging from most people outside that community.  In the writers group I attend they gave me the floor to talk about blogging and then moved on without much of a word more.  Blogging is apparently not real writing to most of them.

          "Blogger" is almost like a joke in some circles.   Other than a few high profile bloggers, the press looks at us with disdain much of the time.  Even President Obama referred to "bloggers" in an almost derogatory fashion in a speech on Thursday October 17, 2013.  Most of us are just wannabe journalistic types, people yakking about some niche they're absorbed with, or small time authors trying to get their books noticed--not what I think but I'm speculating that this is along the lines of what a good many people probably think when they hear the term "blogger".

       LET ME REITERATE!!   THAT LAST THOUGHT IS NOT THE WAY I SEE IT.  I am one of you (those of you who blog for whatever reason)!   I am a blogger and I'm proud of what I do and I respect what you do.   I am glad to be a part of such a special community of humans.  But I want blogging to be more respected than it is.   The world doesn't have to read our blogs, but it would be nice if they considered blogging to be just as viable a means of communication as other forms of journalism and writing.

      I hope this clarifies my position on what I consider respect as a blogger.   Perhaps I did not express myself well enough on Monday.  Or perhaps some were not reading closely enough or misconstrued what I had said.  Or maybe I was misinterpreting the signals I was receiving in the response to what I had said.  Maybe one of you who is more precisely analytical than I (Andrew Leon or Jagoda for example) can tell me what happened.

       I want respect as a blogger just as I think you would like to be respected for the life accomplishments of which you are proud.  But there is more to this than what I've touched upon in this post.  Upcoming posts will explore the concepts of the viral blog post and community.  And I will also take the issue of respect to the next level as I have been promising.  I hope you stay with me and continue to provide me information that can be helpful to all of us.

      And to think that my post about respect was just a tossed out lead-in to my Battle of the Bands post on Tuesday!  You can still visit that post and cast your vote if you'd like.  And you can see what song inspired my "Blogger Respect" post.   Thanks to all of you who do that.

        Did I clarify what I mean by respect as a blogger?   Do you think that a lot of non-bloggers just don't get what blogging is about?    From a professional standpoint, do you see blogging as something that is worthwhile or mostly a matter of being a part of a community in a hobby-like fashion?
     

         
**FREE PROMOTION**

This weekend only you can get a free download of FAR OUT: The Hiidden Truth by Elbert Derryberry.  The "sales" number went way up on Wednesday when I first announced the giveaway.  Give this one a chance.   Read my review at Amazon to get my take on this e-book.

 A search for the Hidden Truth! A Futuristic Science Fiction adventure with a Christian slant. The hero travels through both space and time, to challenge the reader to question conventional wisdom and to look for the Hidden Truth.

I know the author through the Writers Workshop West, the writing group of which I am a member.  This is Mr. Derryberry's first book.   I encourage you to download the book and give it a read.  It's short so it will be a small investment of your time.  And while it's free the monetary investment is nothing for you.   If you read the book, please don't forget to review it on Amazon.   Support this new author!

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