CBC radio's Spark has been running segments with Merlin Mann, a well-known productivity blogger and creator of 43Folders.com. Merlin has been teaching listeners how to go about creating a blog and building the best "digital you" one possibly can.
You can listen to the segments here: http://www.cbc.ca/spark/blog/merlin_mann/
Just what I needed, a link to another blog I have to read! You've got to stop giving us so much good information, or I won't have time to get the rednecks out of their next mess.
Wow, you know, it's intimidating! I spent years just "writing". Remember when we just did that? Now in the last 6 months I learned about blogging, didn't understand it at first, but I got one and was all proud! Still can't say I really know how to use it...I'm probably the only one to visit it...but it is kind of an outlet. I enjoy it, I get to pretend people are reading. Kind of like when you're young and writing in a diary and choosing your words carefully because someone might actually read it.
I have no clue about "tagging", I keep reading that but I just stare blankly. Now the new buzzword is "twittering". Enh?? Help me?
Sharla, I'm same as you. I have a blog but it ain't launched... Nary a word on there. I need to do something??? to it, what??? Don't understand tags or Twitt. And if I was to write on it today, I don't think anybody'd be interested 'cause all I'm concerned with at the moment is...
Do people who read a lot have flat asses?
Now, how many folks gonna 'fess up, in public,' to havin' or frettin' over a flat ass?
Ergh, hits a nerve... I'm not idle otherwise, but sometimes I think I must've lost my mind when I decided to try writing a blog entry -- a REAL one -- every day. Result? Well, the site stats tick upwards over time. But I worry if that ~1.5K words a day might be, as it were, better spent elsewhere.
(Dennis Cass recently blogged about an article on The Onion's AV Club site, reviewing Web sites which have become books. Long odds, though.)
All of which said, thanks for the link to Urban Muse, another nice site to explore at leisure. (If I find nothing else than her link to the blog about the Jersey Shore, she will have made my week... be still, my nostalgically beating heart!)
Keeping a web presence is part of marketing and turning your name into a brand. Considering the wave of e-books, online marketing, and all else E a blog is a very sensible notion.
Hello Janet - thanks for a great link (will have to show it to my other half who is dubious about the value of blogging when I could be doing 'real' (as in £s) writing ..!)
I vote for Query Shark not the conferences. Oh dear, were we actually supposed to vote? :)
Great link. I just started blogging a month ago and it's a lot of work. I'm guessing that when I get it "perfected" (no time soon), it won't be as time consuming to keep up.
Conferences are great and all, but the nice thing about Query Shark is that people can go back and reference it time and again. It's the bite that keeps on biting.
A very interesting post. I agree totally. I've been writing a self hosted blog for the last couple of months. My first book has just hit the shelves and it's a way of making sure that my name pops up high on the list in a google search. I also use Twitter for smaller updates. I'm really interested in the internet possibilities for promotion. It means I can reach a much larger audience than through conventional publicity...but we'll just have to wait and see what effect it has on my book sales!
Many thanks for the link. I didn't need convincing but its nice to be reminded of the benefits of blogging. Especially for folk like me down in the Antipodes where it can be extra hard to get noticed by the usual methods.
Maybe if there was a blog...class! Blogging for Dummies. The quick short surefire methods to get everything posted, updated, links read, tagged, "twittered" (oh don't get me started), and drag traffic to your site all in fifteen minutes a day. Yay!!
Starting a blog was my 50th birthday present to myself. It's helped me work on my writing, leave a history for my children, and made me happy. And I was happy until I read about not being able to sell anything that I post...
Meh.
What about Anne Lamott and her Salon.com gig? All of those are in her books.
For the year I have been blogging my creativity and writing has improved. Although now I have decided to reduce the number of my posts in order to get my "real" writing done, the work-in-progress manuscripts.
23 comments:
This is interesting. Tracy Marchini recently posted her own proof that blogging works, here: http://www.tracymarchini.com/2008/11/blogging-works.html
CBC radio's Spark has been running segments with Merlin Mann, a well-known productivity blogger and creator of 43Folders.com. Merlin has been teaching listeners how to go about creating a blog and building the best "digital you" one possibly can.
You can listen to the segments here:
http://www.cbc.ca/spark/blog/merlin_mann/
Just what I needed, a link to another blog I have to read! You've got to stop giving us so much good information, or I won't have time to get the rednecks out of their next mess.
Heaven knows what the world needs is yet another rationalization for blogging.
Wow, you know, it's intimidating! I spent years just "writing". Remember when we just did that? Now in the last 6 months I learned about blogging, didn't understand it at first, but I got one and was all proud! Still can't say I really know how to use it...I'm probably the only one to visit it...but it is kind of an outlet. I enjoy it, I get to pretend people are reading. Kind of like when you're young and writing in a diary and choosing your words carefully because someone might actually read it.
I have no clue about "tagging", I keep reading that but I just stare blankly. Now the new buzzword is "twittering". Enh?? Help me?
Sharla,
I'm same as you. I have a blog but it ain't launched... Nary a word on there. I need to do something??? to it, what??? Don't understand tags or Twitt. And if I was to write on it today, I don't think anybody'd be interested 'cause all I'm concerned with at the moment is...
Do people who read a lot have flat asses?
Now, how many folks gonna 'fess up, in public,' to havin' or frettin' over a flat ass?
Haste yee back ;-)
Ergh, hits a nerve... I'm not idle otherwise, but sometimes I think I must've lost my mind when I decided to try writing a blog entry -- a REAL one -- every day. Result? Well, the site stats tick upwards over time. But I worry if that ~1.5K words a day might be, as it were, better spent elsewhere.
(Dennis Cass recently blogged about an article on The Onion's AV Club site, reviewing Web sites which have become books. Long odds, though.)
All of which said, thanks for the link to Urban Muse, another nice site to explore at leisure. (If I find nothing else than her link to the blog about the Jersey Shore, she will have made my week... be still, my nostalgically beating heart!)
Is that a hint that my blog is dead?! Well, I've been dedicating my time to my real writing. Yeah, that.
Thanks for the link, Janet! It's great to see some many people commenting on it, too.
So are you keeping up Query Shark?
Keeping a web presence is part of marketing and turning your name into a brand. Considering the wave of e-books, online marketing, and all else E a blog is a very sensible notion.
Ya Ya Ya, Ihearya.
Query Shark will be back in the pool shortly.
It's either conferences or the Shark but not both. My request for an extra day per week was refused by ebay.
[does a happy dance]
Good to hear that the shark hasn't been turned into shark fin soup. Thanks, Janet!
Hello Janet - thanks for a great link (will have to show it to my other half who is dubious about the value of blogging when I could be doing 'real' (as in £s) writing ..!)
I vote for Query Shark not the conferences. Oh dear, were we actually supposed to vote? :)
Great link. I just started blogging a month ago and it's a lot of work. I'm guessing that when I get it "perfected" (no time soon), it won't be as time consuming to keep up.
Conferences are great and all, but the nice thing about Query Shark is that people can go back and reference it time and again. It's the bite that keeps on biting.
validation ahoy!
A very interesting post. I agree totally. I've been writing a self hosted blog for the last couple of months. My first book has just hit the shelves and it's a way of making sure that my name pops up high on the list in a google search. I also use Twitter for smaller updates. I'm really interested in the internet possibilities for promotion. It means I can reach a much larger audience than through conventional publicity...but we'll just have to wait and see what effect it has on my book sales!
Many thanks for the link. I didn't need convincing but its nice to be reminded of the benefits of blogging. Especially for folk like me down in the Antipodes where it can be extra hard to get noticed by the usual methods.
cheers
Melinda
Maybe if there was a blog...class! Blogging for Dummies. The quick short surefire methods to get everything posted, updated, links read, tagged, "twittered" (oh don't get me started), and drag traffic to your site all in fifteen minutes a day. Yay!!
Starting a blog was my 50th birthday present to myself. It's helped me work on my writing, leave a history for my children, and made me happy. And I was happy until I read about not being able to sell anything that I post...
Meh.
What about Anne Lamott and her Salon.com gig? All of those are in her books.
Denese
For the year I have been blogging my creativity and writing has improved. Although now I have decided to reduce the number of my posts in order to get my "real" writing done, the work-in-progress manuscripts.
The link was interesting, thanks for sharing it.
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