A Blog Blossoms

......continued from yesterday.

       I was now writing every day.  Blogging had begun to feel like a part time job that I wasn't getting paid for.  I was taking this job seriously.  When I wasn't writing my blog post, applying for jobs, or tending my Craigslist offerings, I was researching the art of blogging to learn what I needed to do to make my blog work best.  I did not have any schedule or particular plan.  I would just write something related to Halloween and post it sometime during each day.

         By my fourth post I signed up as a follower on Stephen T. McCarthy's blog and left him a comment so that he would know that I now had a blog.  He in turn became my first follower and left my first blog comments on my post of September 23rd.  Comments and a follower!  I was thrilled.

         On Sepember 28th I received my first unsolicited out-of-the-blue comment from Jennifer Hudson Taylor.  It was one of the most helpful comments I have received.  She suggested that I develop a blog schedule themed according to each day of the week.  I decided I would take her advice after my Halloween posting was finished.

          I soon began racking up followers and getting more comments on my blog posts.  My blogging enterprise was taking off.   However, I checked my AdSense request each day and still no approval.  I could not figure out what the problem was and my inquiries to Google went unanswered.  I did not understand, but I was starting not to care either.  It was becoming more about the writing and the potential that writing held for me.  Perhaps ads were not something I wanted on my site.

          My research was starting to indicate to me that AdSense did not really yield much income at all, if any.  Would I really want advertising on this blog that had become more about the writing than anything else?  I was faithfully composing articles that often involved a great deal of research at times and at other times were personal observations and memoirs.  The latter were the posts that seemed to elicit comments whereas the more informational posts were typically ignored.  I was starting to get a feel for the type of subject matter that was most likely to gain and retain readers.

          I was also becoming a part of a blog community that mostly consisted of writers, which was helpful to my writerly pursuits.  Having learned about National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) that would be occurring in November I decided to sign up and attempt to fulfill a long time dream of writing a novel.  The discipline of daily writing and corresponding with other bloggers was taking hold.   I was exerting a writing discipline that I had never had before in my life.  
        On Halloween, October 31, of 2009 I announced my new blog schedule which I would be working on concurrently with writing my novel, A Desert Place.  I became regimented with blogging and writing.  By the end of November, I had completed the 50,000 words required to "win" the NaNo competition and had successfully posted and commented on a daily basis.  In a two month span, I had passed the fifty follower milestone and was getting comments on a regular basis.  I set a goal of 100 followers by the New Year.

        What happen to AdSense?   Who knows.  It didn't matter to me now.  I was more concerned with blog integrity.  Now I had a writer's blog and I felt that ads might convey the wrong impression.  I was more concerned about getting readers and having a presence on the internet.  The all important platform was now my quest.  I needed to establish my name and my reputation.

 .......more of the story later, but first.......

        Tomorrow I'll be joining Elana Johnson's Writing Compelling Characters Blogfest.  If you haven't signed up yet, you still have an opportunity.  Most of you probably are well aware of the great potential in increasing the follower count on your blog by joining one of these blogfests.   This one should be a doozey since as I write this the sign up count is already at 151 participants. 

          My contribution to this blogfest will be in line with my One Year Blog Anniversary as I discuss how I have used "compelling characters" in some of my blog posts.

           Next Monday I will complete the history of Tossing It Out in a Blog Boggled installment which will describe the techniques I used to gain followers and encourage readership.  It's more Blog Science--some strategies you may have already heard and some ideas that may be new to you.  I hope we get some information interchange going where we can all learn something about blogging that will help us to blog better.

The Road Ahead

           Halloween is here at last!  I hope that my many posts about Halloween were entertaining, informative, and thought-provoking.  I have truly enjoyed the fine comments that readers contributed over the past forty-some days of the debut of TOSSING IT OUT.  Some of the ongoing discussion has been particularly enjoyable as this has been one of the goals of my blog. 

          Now with a new month arriving, I have decided to follow some advice offered to me by fellow blogger Jennifer Hudson Taylor .   Jennifer suggested that I create a blog topic schedule so to speak so that readers will know what to expect from week to week.  Much like television viewers have favorite shows that they can expect to see at regular weekly times, I too will have a special focus for each day's posting. To follow are the general topics that will be covered and which days they will appear.

Sunday:    As I have already been doing I will sent aside Sundays for religious topics that will include Bible studies and stories about religion.  Currently the topic has been Prayer and this topic will continue for a few more weeks.  Later, I will be looking at how religion affects us today and how it has shaped us in the past.

Monday:     With NaNoWriMo a main focus for me and many others during November, Mondays will be when I give my updates on the progress of the novel that I will be writing.  Mondays will also be devoted to the art of writing, literature, and all things that might have something to do with writing.  Even if you are not a writer and never plan to be, I hope to keep the posts on these of interest and value to everyone.

Tuesday:     Some of my biggest passions involve travel and culture.  Now I'm not a world traveler by any means but I have and still do travel extensively throughout the United States and  I never get tired of this wonderful country.  One can always find someplace interesting to experience.  And by culture I mean the arts:  visual, theatrical, musical.  I might do reviews of movies, recordings, or even restaurants.   There is a lot that can be covered on these topics so Tuesdays should never be dull.

Wednesday:   Hearing about what other people are up to is of interest to almost everyone.  I enjoy feature stories about the lives of others and the interesting things that people do.  I hope that the readers here enjoy this as well.  I will be giving you stories about musicians, artists, leaders, and just regular people who might provide insight about the work they do. 

Thursday:      Do you like mental challenge?  Do you enjoy debate?  Thursdays will be when I really want to get some intelligent commentary going.  I will be offering issues and controversies or things just to ponder.  I hope we can solve some the world's big problems and answer some of the questions that we sometimes wonder about.  Well maybe not, but I hope we can have fun with friendly discourse.

Friday:     I seem to have set a trend within this blog of talking about mysterious things on Fridays.  It seems to have caught on so I plan to continue this trend.  Fridays will be when we look at unsolved mysteries of crimes and missing persons, strange phenomena, scary stories, and the plain weird-- watch out when it's Friday the Thirteenth!

Saturday:     A trend that I've already begun on Saturdays will continue.  On this day the posts may be shorter.  I will be analyzing this blog as well perhaps looking at other blogs.  Coming attractions of TOSSING IT UP will be offered.  Saturday may be a hodgepodge day--kind of like Anything Can Happen Day on the old Mickey Mouse Club (for those of you who remember that).  Surprises can be fun!  Stay tuned for Surprise Saturdays.

           I hope this will help increase readership and keep current readers coming back.  If something's not working let me know what I did wrong and how I can make it better.  If a post does work for you please jump in with a comment.  I want your feedback.  And please, if you haven't done so already, click on the follower icon on the right hand side of the page and add your name to the growing list of Birdwatchers. 

          Everyone have a great Halloween!  Be safe and have fun.  Toss out some good stuff to those friends and strangers who come knocking at your door tonight.  And please toss some good comments to me.  I'll keep tossing it out to you.

Mysteries in the Night

           Halloween will continue to be a primary topic on this blog until the end of October--that is unless an onslaught of disgruntled comments ask me to stop.  I do have more to say on the subject of Halloween and the economy which I will continue. In future blogs, I intend to address issues such as Halloween as Tradition, ways that Halloween is celebrated, the whys of Halloween,  costume ideas, Halloween from the religious viewpoint, Halloween entertainment, Halloween stories, and other Halloween related topics.  If any readers have anything special about Halloween to bring up I'd like to talk about that as well. 
          
           In a comment to one of my earlier blogs, Jennifer Hudson Taylor suggested that a "regular blog schedule" might be a helpful approach to giving a sense of continuity to one's efforts.  She suggests that readers like to know what to expect and may come back if they are routinely looking for something that interests them.  I guess this might be similar to watching a favorite TV show on a regular basis.  Many of us are creatures of habit.  I may try to develop my entries somewhat along these lines. Maybe I won't go so far as WACKY WEDNESDAYS  or SOMBER SUNDAYS, but the idea has merit and I may be playing with this.  So in that spirit I offer you the following:

          In my post of a week ago, I talked about some DARK MYSTERIES that I had read about recently. Yesterday's Los Angeles Times offered an update on the story of Mitrice Richardson, a 24-year-old woman    who had just outright seemed to have disappeared after she was released  from police custody at 1:25 AM on September 17.  She had been arrested after she had refused to pay a bill at a Malibu restaurant and then police discovered marijuana in her car.  Witnesses reported that she had been acting "odd, but entertaining".  Later police decided it was okay to let her go and sent her on her way with no purse, cell phone, or car.  That was the last confirmed sighting of Mitrice.  Since then there have been several reports of possible sightings but nothing confirmed.  Earlier this week a body was found in a burning dumpster in Santa Fe Springs, CA but police determined that the body was not Mitrice.  However police and relatives of the young woman are convinced that she is still alive somewhere. Where is Mitrice?  Let's pray that this young woman will be found unharmed and can continue on with her promising life.

             In the same posting I also mentioned the death of Amy Farris, a talented violin player who had been  in the group DAVE ALVIN AND THE GUILTY WOMEN.  Suicide is the suspected cause for death but so far I have not seen any other confirmation about this.  I have seen nothing but praises and accolades for her talents and for her as a person.  The loss of someone like this is so tragic.  And there have been so many.
The story made me think of another musical artist who departed having left a huge impact, but with so much more that could have been accomplished. 

            Gene Eugene was a musical genius the way I look at it.  I had been a fan and follower of Gene's for many years when I heard that he had died.  He was the primary creative force behind the highly innovative Christian rock/funk band ADAM AGAIN.  Gene produced, engineered, sang, played, and wrote most of the songs on the group's albums.  If they had not been hindered by the label of being identified as a "Christian" band they might have been much bigger than they were.  Let's face it-- to be indentified as a "Christian" band tends to turn off a lot of the pop music audience. Nevertheless, Gene was highly regarded in his music circles.  He also lent his immense talents in contributions to other groups' recording efforts and produced the albums of many more in his Green Room recording studio in Huntington Beach, CA. On March 20, 2000 Gene Andrusco (his real name) died in his sleep.  His friends said he had not been feeling well prior to his death and had said he had a headache before he had gone to bed.  He had also been in a car accident prior to his death and had been complaining about headaches. I never saw any absolute confirmation of what the cause of death was but at the age of 38 it was far too soon.  I met Gene at a party once, but didn't talk to him as much as I wished later on-- I think I was so surprised to find him at this particular party, a Halloween related party strangely enough, that I was just taken by surprise that he would have been there.  In any case, any rock music fans who are not familiar with Gene Eugene and the music with which he is associated you should check him out.  Some of the bands that he was connected with besides ADAM AGAIN are the LOST DOGS and THE SWIRLING EDDIES, not to mention the numerous bands for which he produced albums.  Click on this link to read more about Gene Eugene .

          Finally, last week I talked about another stupid gang-related death.  One could probably do an entire blog about nothing but this topic.  I am not going to go into this subject today, but I'm sure that I will sometime in the future.

           Leave a comment if you wish.  I'd love to hear what anyone has to say about any of this.  Anybody familiar with the music of Amy Farris?   Do you have any favorite Christian artists?  What is you opinion of Contemporary Christian Music?  I look forward to hearing from you.

Writing in the Dark

        Halloween is a time when kids go out walking in the dark going to strangers' homes in hopes of receiving a reward for their efforts.  Blogging is like writing in the dark hoping that someone out there will take a look and validate the blogger's efforts with a comment or by becoming a follower.  The kids have the advantage of having a door to knock on and they can tell if the lights are on or off to give them an idea who is participating in the event.  The payoff is immediate and the reward is tangible.  The bloggers are writing or whatever they may be doing and just tossing it out there hoping that someone is going see what they are doing.
        Writing in the dark is not like dancing in the dark like the great Fred Astaire (I will get back to Fred one day, but not today). Writing in the dark might be a little closer to what Bruce "the Boss" Springsteen is talking about in his song "Dancing in the Dark" but still really not exactly the same. Neither is it like walking in the dark -- as I've said before you can usually see where you are going in the typical sense of walking in the dark.  However, without some light it's rather difficult to write or read. No fair using the argument that you "write" on your computer with the lights off -- the screen provides the light. Personally, I've got to have the lights on when I'm on the computer or it gives me a headache. The bottom line is I'm not talking about lighting.  When I talk about "writing in the dark" I am speaking metaphorically -- but I think you probably knew that.
         We're taught in any class that teaches about writing to start with an outline. Writing teachers encourage the writer to start out with outlines, notes, chararcter studies, time-lines, and other organizational methodology. Then from all of this organization the writer starts the writing process.  Organized thought and presentation is vital to creating a coherent and easy to follow product for the reader. Usually a writer wants to put across a point or tell a story and in order to do this one point must lead clearly to the next. But a question to those who are writing a blog:  How do you approach writing in the case of blogging?
          I would imagine that some writers out there carefully organize their thoughts, especially if they are trying to convey something complex or technical perhaps. Others, like I have been doing, might approach their writing efforts much like they would in, say, writing a letter to a friend.  Basically it's a randomization of free form thought in the form of written word, stream of consciousness with doses of free association.  I have a point in what I'm trying to say, but I may wander considerably while saying it and maybe even change the outcome as a result of thinking it all through.  Most blogs are fairly conversational and that's probably what most people are looking for.  Am I right or wrong on this point?  What would you say?
          But here's what I'm talking about:  Creative writing like novels or short stories -- is it better to approach them organizationally with an outline, etc or just randomly, letting the stories play themselves out organically and pruning them later with editing?  I am curious to know what works for other writers.  Do you write the story as you have planned it or does it just come to you while you are writing it?  I would imagine there is some of both involved, but which method is most effective for you and how well does it work?
            Today I was reading in a  blog by Jennifer Hudson Taylor,       http://jenniferswriting.blogspot.com/ , about a writing competition, or perhaps a better word would be challenge, called National Novel Writing  Month (see  http://www.nanowrimo.com/ ).  Jennifer was asking readers if anyone had ever participated or was thinking about it.  I too would like to pose this question.  I was intrigued by the idea and am thinking about signing up. I think I like the approach of writing in the dark for this one.  According to the rules, you can start with an outline and character studies and such, but you cannot start the actual writing until November 1 and must finish by November 30 at which time your completed product would have at least 50,000 words.  In order to truly challenge myself I think I would  not think too much about what I will do but just start on November 1.  To me that would be the real spirit of completing a novel in 30 days.  I am going to start pondering this and try to decide in the next few days so I can get signed up.  What the heck.  If anybody else is participating please let us know how it's going and what your thoughts are on the subject.
          So in the mean time I'll keep writing in the dark and tossing it out to you.  And maybe in November I'll be writing in the dark a whole lot.  Out go the lights.  Knock, knock!  Who's there?  Trick or treat!  You want candy?  No I want comments, lots of comments.  And please sign up to be a follower of this blog as well.  Thank you!