Ask Arlee: How Should I Catch the Attention of a Blogger I've Mentioned In My Post?

Image via CrunchBase

         Today's question comes from Robin at Your Daily Dose:

Well, I do have one question for you. On my Thursday posts I dedicate Youtube footage that (ideally) resonates with something a reader wrote earlier in the week. Sometimes I have a difficult time getting that person to SEE it. In the past, I have taken several routes with this problem. I have left a note on their blog. Usually this is only necessary if they are a sporadic blogger. However, this isn't always the case. What do you think I should do? Should I have to hold their hand (aka leave a blog note)and lead them to the "good stuff?" Or should I just let them miss it? What would you do?

        Robin, I think you've taken the best approaches there are.  My favorite is the comment left at the blog of the blogger whom I've mentioned in my blog post.  If that blogger is a regular visitor to my blog I don't say anything about my mention of them.  I just hope that my comment will serve as enough of a prompt for them to come to see my post about them without being too blatant.

        Sometimes the direct approach is the way to go if you really don't want your featured blogger to miss your mention of them.  I try to avoid a direct email but I have resorted to that a few times.  More often I will leave a comment at that blogger's site that lets them know that they have been featured.  That usually does the trick with the added benefit of drawing a few of that blogger's readers to see what I've posted.  

        I guess it depends on how badly you would like them to see your post.  When you've included me as one of your dedications, I usually find it because you've left a comment at my site.  When you have directly told me in the comment that I've been featured, I'm over at your site right away.  Some I've almost missed but gotten to later because I'm visiting you after the fact and remember your Thursday dedications.  

        The best way to get your featured bloggers to be less likely to miss that you have dedicated a video to them is to get them in the habit of visiting your site all the time.   Isn't that the goal most of us have?  Your presence on the sites of others through your comments reminds us to visit your posts.  I know this to be true because my comments have dropped drastically since I have been commenting less on other sites. Time consuming I know, but it's the catch 22 of social networking.  It's a matter of priorities.

      So I've answered with the obvious that you already knew and that most of us bloggers learn pretty quickly:  Do we spend the time blogging and promoting our blogging efforts or devote our time to doing the things that we need to get done.  It's mostly about balance, but it's also a matter of priorities and what time we have available to us.   

     The bottom line is that I think you're doing your job the right way.  You, as well as I and all the rest of us, have to do what's best for our lives.  Some bloggers (such as Alex whose last name doesn't even have to be mentioned to know who I'm talking about) have things down to such a slick system that they can manage work, writing, blogging, and other activities with seemingly effortless proficiency.  We are all different and have our own life situations which face us.  

     Now back to the question.  I'm going to test the simple comment method.  I'll go over and leave a comment on Robin's most recent blog post. If I've already left one I'll leave another one referring to my current post mentioning her.  Since Robin is a regular commenter on this blog this may not be the best measurement as to how well my suggestion works, but we'll see what happens.  Will Robin see this post in which I've mentioned her?  Probably.

      Oh, and any of you who are reading this, why don't you stop by Your Daily Dose and say hello to Robin.  You can tell her that you saw her mention here.   And maybe later you'll be featured on one of her upcoming video dedications. 

        Can you think of any other ways to get someone to see a post you've put up that mentions them?   What is your best advice on achieving balance that includes adequate time for blogging?   Have you had a video dedicated to you at Robin's site yet?

    

Winner of Yolanda Renée's  e-book

The winner of the drawing for a choice of Murder, Madness & Love or the upcoming release Memories of Murder is commenter Sheena-kay Graham.  In order to make arrangements to receive your e-book copy please contact Yolanda at address: yolandarenee@hotmail.com and she'll send a gift card for the book to your email address.

Thanks again, Yolanda and all of you who left comments for her guest post!

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Where Everyone Is a Winner: A to Z Video Challenge

          If you haven't heard who was the winner of the A to Z Video Challenge yet, I am proud to announce that the winner by popular vote was Rachel Morgan of Rachel Morgan Writes.   Here is the winning video for anyone who has not seen it yet or would like to see it again:



          Rachel's video is indeed a winner as you can see when you watch it.  As her prize she will be featured on various A to Z co-host blogs, which conveniently coincides with the release of her new book Guardian (Creepy Hollow #1).  You will be hearing from Rachel on Tossing It Out this coming Friday.  I'm looking forward to what surprises she will have in store as I asked her more questions than she could answer in one post.   Which ones will she choose to address?   We'll have to find out on Friday when our Video Challenge winner stops by.


         The winning video was chosen by those of you who were kind enough to vote and you are winners as well.   The votes were well distributed among the entrants making the contest a close race.  I want to put out a big thank you to everyone who voted, who tweeted, who posted videos on their sites, and who supported the Video Challenge in some way.  


         And you can continue to support us by posting these videos on your sites, marking them as favorites on YouTube and leaving comments, emailing them to friends, and sending them out on social media outlets.   These videos are commercials for the A to Z Challenge.   With one last week to push the A to Z event let's do it up big and make a media blitz.  You'll be helping the cause of the Challenge and also helping get the talents of the video makers out in the eyes of the world.   You'll be doing something special that will be greatly appreciated.


         Though Rachel is the winner of the contest, in this post I want to recognize the fabulous efforts of the other participants:


            Ron Easton of  Dads Unlimited was the inspiration for the Video Challenge.  He posted a video recap of his 2011 Challenge Reflections back in December that set off an idea alarm in my head.  When I mentioned my thoughts to him about having a contest for people to send in A to Z promo videos he immediately came up with his entry to start the ball rolling.


            Ada Zdanowicz is someone I'll be talking about more in later posts.   She is the designer of the official A to Z logo.  Since I knew that she was also involved in video making, I contacted Ada about making a second video entry and she jumped right on it with her slick creative presentation.  Ada doesn't have a blog but she can be found at her website CollagePodge.com .   


           Nicole Ayers is someone you have seen often on my blogs.  Nicole is a talented writer to whom I have frequently turned for guest posts.   Not only did she assist me in putting together the Video Challenge and offering suggestions about it, she also submitted 3 videos of her own.  A big Bravo! to Nicole who can be found at The Madlab Post.  


         Also I want to thank these others who submitted their wonderfully creative and entertaining videos:






  Marta Szemik                      Marta Szemik's Blog
 Kathleen Medina                  Living 2012
 Dale Smurthwaite                 Smurfin' the Web
 Tracy Jo Blowers                Brand New Day  
 Reka Sang                           A Chronicle of Dreams
  Jocelyn Rish                        Jocelyn Rish
       I am so appreciative of all of the efforts of these bloggers and talented artists.  I hope that my readers will stop by all of their blogs to say hello and follow if you aren't already.   And don't forget to watch their videos if you haven't already.
          After all, the Blogging from A to Z Challenge is all about us--you and me and everyone one else who will be putting forth the April effort and who has already been putting forth the effort to make the April Challenge a big success.  The Challenge is many things and many people and I extend a thanks to all of you.
                 Have you included any of the A to Z videos in your blog posts?  Have you visited the videos directly on YouTube to "Like" them and add your comment?   Have you tweeted or Facebooked any of these videos?    What are some other ways you can suggest to share the videos?

Tumble 4 Ya!

From Nicki Elson (click link for other participants)
Post a picture, video, or whatever of the celebrity you most tumbled for in the 80s---along with your feeble justifications, of course. ;) Or, since it's come to our attention that there are, in fact, persons roaming the planet who weren't of crushing age during the 80s, which 80s star most makes you tumble now?  Jon Bon Jovi, perhaps? Christie Brinkly? Or were you more the ambiguous Boy George type?  


I'll Tumble for You
    
      I tend not to fall for celebrities and have crushes.   Not even in the 80's when I was a bit younger than I am now.  But there were a few that were my favorites and I'd sometimes think about them for more than a second or so.

Irene Cara--  I really liked her in the movie
FAME.  The song that she sang in FLASH DANCE is so upbeat.  

Olivia Newton John -- She always seemed so pure and wholesome.   I liked her in GREASE and other movies that she was in.  I also liked her music.

Amy Grant--She was pretty young then and she probably looks the best of my choices now.

Jane Fonda (Image via RottenTomatoes.com)Jane Fonda-- My wife and sister used to work out to her exercise tapes while I looked at the picture of Jane on the cassette cover.  From what I've seen of her lately, she still looks pretty good.

 Luba Kowalchyk--She was a singer from Canada.  She was a rocker who I used to listen to a lot.


Lisa Dalbello--Another singer from Canada who could really rock excellently.  She was very attractive and  her music was cutting edge.   If you watch any of her YouTube videos I think you'll see what I'm saying.  Check out "Gonna Get Close to You"--man, that's 80's.


But I suppose if I would have had a  celebrity crush at that time it would have been Pat Benatar.    I guess I had a thing for rocker girls.  "Love Is A Battlefield" is a video that I still like to watch.  There's just something about Pat Benatar that I liked.

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Type Is Not My Type : #IWSG

Image via Wikipedia

       Our A to Z co-host Damyanti Biswas who has the blog Daily (w)rite was recently talking about Word programs as opposed to typewriters.  This got me to thinking about my own experiences.  I disliked typewriters immensely when I had to deal with them.   Being able to use Word programs was like a dream come true.

        Technology is exciting, but it also scares me.  Electric typewriters were better than the manuals, but still it was a hassle when you made a mistake.  Correction ribbons and white-out kind of helped but I would still end up with a messy looking manuscript.   I wrote a lot by long hand in my notebook with my Bic pen and I liked that just fine.  But nevertheless I was deterred from being a professional writer and just doodled for myself and anyone who cared to take a peek.

        I once bought a Sears Type-O-Graph.  This was in the late 1980s.  This novel little machine was like a typewriter that instead of making impressions with type heads it had little pen tips that wrote whatever it was that you were keyboarding.   It also made really cool graphs and did a few other tricks.

       The store demonstration sold me on the Type-O-Graph, but after I started using it I realized that it was too complex for me to want to learn about.  Besides that, the little pen tips ran out of ink pretty quickly if you used them a lot and those things were expensive.  The machine was not very effective and not economically practical.  Besides, even though the graphs and diagrams that the machine could create were kind of cool, when would I need to use this?   My whole point in getting the Type-O-Graph was to make writing easier and truth be told it did not do that.

        When I finally started using computers I discovered true facility in writing.  No more erasures and an easy view of what was going to be put on paper before it was printed.   I could easily edit.  My fingers were able to fly faster across the keyboard.  And I could look at the internet when I wasn't keyboarding.

         However, I was also now head to head with advanced technology.  There is so much that I don't get about computers.  There is too much to learn and new things keep coming.  Just when I think I've got something down they change it.  New versions of Word, new operating systems, new software, new hardware.   When does it all end!!!   I can't keep up.
       

          I'm kind of concerned how things keep changing.  Google, Blogger, Facebook--I get used to something and they make it different.  Sure it's supposed to be improvements that they're making, but I liked the old ways.   I can't keep up Twitter, video on YouTube, or all of the other things that are so abundant that I can't even name them all.

          Someday I just know a computer virus is going to eat everything I've ever created, steal all that I have including my identity, and then infect me and my wife with some brain eating disease that will turn us into zombies. Then some stupid zombie author will turn me into a damn story about zombies and instead of writing a book, I'll be a book. 

           Of course, I suppose there's an upside to that.  I like to see the up side to things, but I'm not thinking of it right at this moment.

           Let's leave it at this:  I'm kind of happy with the way things are right now and I don't want things to keep changing so fast.  I'm glad we don't have typewriters anymore and I like computers.  Leave my Windows and Word the way it is now because I'm used to it.  Stop messing with Blogger, Google, and Facebook.  All this change makes me feel so insecure.

            To hear from other insecure writers go here.

           

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