Blog Boggled: Where This Blogger Gets a Bit Lazy

        Well, I was all ready to moan and complain about all these things that bug me about certain blogs, but then I got filled up with so much love that I forgot what I was going to say.  Maybe I'll remember some of my complaints later.   I guess if I want to complain about anything it should be about Daylight Savings Time and how I lost my precious hour of sleep.  Why do they have to mess with our schedule every year and get my sleep cycle all confused?

      But blogs about blogging have been all over the place lately and maybe I don't need to add to the mix right now.  Maybe if I wait long enough somebody else will address one of my gripes so I don't have to air it at all. 

      For me, blogging has been quite a learning experience.   The learning experience has included discovering some excellent blog posts about blogging which often have some excellent comments that have led me to more blog posts about blogging. Collectively, we have access to a real wealth of information in the realms of blogging. Here are some recent blog help posts that I have found:

      Most of you have probably already seen the excellent infomation provided in several posts by Jody Hedlund .  Check over the entire series if you haven't done so already.  She addresses many of the same issues that have bugged me.

        Theresa Milstein through a comment she made on Jody's blog linked me to an excellent blog post about improving one's blog:   Tips for a better blog and what makes readers stop reading was written by Jane Friedman at Writer Unboxed

         Jane offered a number of links which I found quite interesting including the ProBlogger site which will be keeping me busy with the tips it has to offer about blogging.

Now concerning this award I spoke of on Saturday:

       On my post for Saturday I mentioned that I had received--for the second time-- the prolific blogger award from Jamara Falconer.  Like many others of you have noted upon receiving these awards, at times it becomes somewhat time involving to find recipients who have not yet received an award to pass them on to.  So taking a cue from other bloggers I offered the award up to whomever felt they might like to receive this Prolific Blogger Award.  Well, I did get a request and it's like "Doh! Why didn't I think of her?" (slapping my forehead).

        Part of being a Prolific Blogger is being a good commenter.  Yvonne from Welcome To My World Of Poetry has been a faithful follower of mine and many others for some time.  And if I'm not mistaken I believe she has left a comment on every post I've put on the Tossing It Out site since she began following.  Her comments are always sweet, encouraging, and helpful--in other words I can tell by what she says that she actually reads the post and leaves a relevant comment. If you look at her blog posts you will see the same loyal followers commenting on her poems time after time.  She has followers from all over the world.

      Yvonne, I am honored to pass this award on to you for your consistent postings and your prolific comments.  Readers-- If you are not familiar with Yvonne's site, she delivers lovely little poems that offer witty looks at her life and thoughtful observations she makes about the world around her.  Her poems are to the point and easy to understand, which probably accounts for the universal appeal that she has.  She also includes wonderful photos that bring you further into her world.  I've never met Yvonne, but I feel like I've known her for a long time.  I encourage you to visit her site, become a follower, and let her know that I sent you.

So one Prolific Blogger Award  goes to Yvonne at Welcome To My World Of Poetry. 

         If any others of you would like me to recognize your work let me know and I will officially pass this on to you as well.  I know I'm taking the lazy way out but I think many of you know how it is.  Thanks for understanding and even if you don't understand, thanks most of all for reading.  Hope to see you tomorrow when I present some thoughts about Michael Jackson and his film THIS IS IT.

Blog Boggled: First Impressions

        Do you remember when you first met your blog?  Was it love at first sight?  Or did it take some time for you to get know and understand and fully appreciate your blog?   Are you still in the courting stages?  Or do you now just take your blog for granted?  Even worse, is your blog beginning to annoy you, become a burden to you, or just isn't the same blog you fell in love with in the beginning?

        I'm still happily married to my blog (note to my wife-- please don't be jealous, my blog could never take the place in my life that you occupy) and I'm trying to keep my writer-blog relationship healthy.  But maintaining that relationship is ongoing work and takes a great deal of time and patience.   A blog is an investment of talents, emotions, and time.

       As I continue reading other blogs, I continue to find others posing the same questions and pondering the same thoughts that I have been looking at over my past several Blog Boggled Mondays (if you have not been following, you can search back through my archived articles for other articles about blogging).  There are several good posts that others have done, one of my favorites being a series of excellent posts by JODY HEDLUND, who has several really fine posts on the subject.  Today KATIE GANSHERT is supposed to be posting her take on some blogging issues -- you may wish to check out what she has to say.  There are many others who have discussed this same issue and if you are one of those please give the link to yours in the comments to this post or direct us to other sites on the same topic.

        Blog Science is how I've been thinking of it.  That is a study of how blogging works and how it relates to the human mind.  In addition to science it is also art.  There is the literary aspect of the written blog and the visual artistic aspect of the photo blogs and the other visual art blogs.  There are culinary blogs and craft blogs, mommy and daddy blogs and grandparent blogs,  cat blogs and dog blogs, and now here I'm talking about blog blogs.  There is no end -- you name it and somebody will blog it.  The real question that many of us want answered is who will read these blogs and what will keep them coming back.

         Like when meeting someone for the first time, blog first impressions have a big impact.  Something either catches your eye to attract you, repels you to make you look elsewhere, or makes you feel so indifferent that it makes little impact.  And it's different for different people.  Initially most of us are drawn in by some sort of visual stimulation -- pictures, colors, fancy borders and wallpaper, movement, sparkle, and so on-- but once you get past that does the blog really have anything to offer.

          Personally, yes I'm captivated at first by glitz and gimmickry, but once the novelty has worn off I want there to be something there to keep me interested.  If I'm looking for information, that's what I want.  If I want something to read, then give me something to read.  When I pick up a book to read, I don't expect fancy borders on the pages or pictures everywhere unless that's part of the purpose of the book.  I'm not condemning anyone's blog because I am amazed by some of the things I see on some of these sites.  Granted I'm easily impressed when it comes to technology and I don't know how to do a lot of this stuff I see, but I haven't found anything I'll sit and look at for hours because I am looking for content to feed my intellectual curiosity.  If you grab me, then you need to hold on to me.

           I will continue to explore this in future posts perhaps, but I really want some opinions.  What grabs you when go to a new blog and what keeps you coming back?   How does a blog win you over?  Do you still like your blog?  How has your blog changed from when you first started it until now?  What kinds of changes would you like to make to your blog in the future?  What kinds of changes do you think I should make to TOSSING IT OUT?   Say whatever you like.  I want some real honest information, so get tough!


Update:   Robyn Campbell also asks why we blog on her post for today.