Comments on: Bloggination

By: Tate

Tate — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 23:00:55 +0000

I’d be inclined to think it’s because you generally fail at the internet.

By: Ash

Ash — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 17:11:38 +0000

I’ve no idea what the hell I was thinking, but just now I typed my old email address, your name in the “name” field.

You’re welcome to fix that up if you want. Ta.

By: Ash

Ash — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 16:48:35 +0000

Hey, Owen, I guess if you want to blog you do need to just sit down and hammer something out, regardless of whether anyone reads it, it’s any good, or what. It’s an entire learning experience, and at the end of it, even if you end up hitting “private post”, you’ve still given yourself something.

For me it’s about expressing whatever’s on my mind, and coming up with something that I know I’ll be interested in reading in a few years time if I re-visit it. If other people like reading it too, that’s a sweet incentive. ^_^

As I’ve said, practise will make you a better writer, but so will studying other peoples’ work whom you admire. If you’re not feeling confident, try reading new things (such as blogs, articles, books, forum posts…) especially in genres and styles you’re interested in. After a while you’ll get a sense of what sounds good and what doesn’t.

Which brings me to my final point: edit. Sometimes you’ll sit down, words will belch forth through your fingers, and you’ll end up with an awesome post; but re-reading it makes it a pile of crap. Cut, paste, delete until it reads smoothly in your head. I know people who find it helps to read out aloud. I also know I’m guilty of not doing this a fair percentage of the time, though I’ll come back later and fix things up.

Ummmmmmm, that said, don’t get all down on your audience point. I find getting lots of comments helps make you feel all special, so if you’re looking for readers, why not try engaging your audience somehow. This is a very good post example of that: It’s subtle enough that it doesn’t sound cheap, and you’ve got two insigntful replies already. Good effort. :-D

Note: Take all this with an arbitrary amount of salt. Tatey’s video looks like a really good resource from the minute or so I’ve watched so far.

By: Tate

Tate — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 01:20:47 +0000

Wow, you changed your theme again? Admittedly, this is a nicer theme than the previous one. Interestingly enough, if you’re seeking new WordPress themes you really ought to take a loo at Smashing Magazine –> http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/03/25/15-more-free-first-class-wordpress-themes/.

On a serious note, your reason for loosing interest in blogging are more or less the same reasons why I stopped in 2006.

Darren Rowse from ProBlogger.net raises some interesting points about taking and receiving in reference to blogging.

Essentially, regardless of what you blog about… you really need an audience to give you some satisfaction back.

Either lots of your friends need to read your blog, or you need to start blogging for a niche (Or something just extraordinary).

I assume you’re still on Facebook, take a look at http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=4899008003