Blogging

I use www.blogspot.com it's free and easy to set up. Wanna check out my site? www.scpbp.blogspot.com

You can do almost anything, writing, photos, etc. I imagine at some time there will be no more free ones. Probably if you picked one that charged there would be more you could do with it.
Also I don't know what publishers think about blogs, if they consider a piece published. It's not a concern of mine right now, I'm just having fun!
Good luck with it!
Paint

I've got a blog at blogger.com also: http://fantasyauthor.blogspot.com/

Others use http://www.livejournal.com/

Paint said:

I imagine at some time there will be no more free ones. Probably if you picked one that charged there would be more you could do with it.

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Actually, Blogger/BlogSpot (same thing) offers just about as much customization, if not more, than many of the blogs that charge. I've tried LiveJournal and Xanga, and finally settled on BlogSpot. I've also looked into TypePad and MoveableType, both of which are paid services, and saw that most of the customizations I sought could be found in BlogSpot.

I've recently considered transitioning to WordPress, which is a free program that you can use to create your blog on your website. It's not a blog that you can update directly from its website, though, like many of the web-based blogs. I would simply convert all of my BlogSpot entries over the WordPress. It's kind of confusing, I know. All in all, I would highly recommend BlogSpot over many of the others, or even WordPress, if you have your own website to use it on.

Hope that helps!

TemlynWriting said:

Actually, Blogger/BlogSpot (same thing) offers just about as much customization, if not more, than many of the blogs that charge. I've tried LiveJournal and Xanga, and finally settled on BlogSpot. I've also looked into TypePad and MoveableType, both of which are paid services, and saw that most of the customizations I sought could be found in BlogSpot.

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MovableType, like WordPress, is software, not a service, and, like WordPress, is installed on your own hosting server. MT is still free for personal use, on a single blog.

Medievalist said:

MovableType, like WordPress, is software, not a service, and, like WordPress, is installed on your own hosting server. MT is still free for personal use, on a single blog.

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Oops! I apologize--it's been a few months since I looked into all of these, and I had mixed MT up with another service. Sorry about that!

I think blogger/blogspot has the best interface and presentation -- but livejournal continues to generate more hits because of the 'friends' feature.

veinglory said:

I think blogger/blogspot has the best interface and presentation -- but livejournal continues to generate more hits because of the 'friends' feature.

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I agree about Blogger/BlogSpot and its overall presentation. I like it a lot better. I can't believe that some of my friends pay for features on other sites, when the same features are free on Blogger.

I have a blog at LiveJournal, but I rarely use it. I've found that either you have to go private (or "friends only") because of the random immature trolls, or risk that by going public. I've also found there to be a great deal of drama and a clique-ish attitude throughout much of LJ. Sadly, I think much of that began when the did away with codes (attainable from friends, or by paying), and allowed anyone to join, as well as make multiple accounts. I on't care for LJ, but that's just because of my personal experience.

I use blogger/blogspot because I'm technology-adverse and it was easy and free.

Wow. So, I've got pretty much all of you bookmarked now. Great blogs!!

I got one too. Check the sig.

I have a blog at blogger.com too!

http://sanyuja-tittletattle.blogspot.com/

As the name suggests, its a non-stop chatting blog!

You can try rediffblogs.com too. It doesn't have a lot of options for templates. You can have images and all that, but the UI is not all that good.

I would still recommend blogger.com.

Another happy blogspot user here. Even though it's no-frills, you can still customize the html by hand and it's really easy to post content. I'm not an LJ fan at all - I don't know whether it's the default settings or too many thing to fiddle with, but many LJ blogs look cluttered.

Oh yes, a link: the Hal Spacejock blog.

Blogger here, but I also have a LJ and a blog on my own domain using Moveable Type, which was my original blog but I can't do the kind of customizing I'd like and it has a very limited audience.

I got into LJ because I had a group of friends from another forum who blog there so we're all on each other's friends lists. It's a fun way keep up. I also have a number of sites coming via feeds (slashdot, Making Light, Neil Gaiman's blog, etc.) and belong to a few communities.

I started a blogger blog because there are several AW'ers there and I wanted to be part of the conversation. That's where I post most and first, often cross posting at the other places. My blogger link is in my sig.

On the subject of blogs, Paperback Writer is daily reading for me. With 30 books in print in multiple genres, this is a lady with her head screwed on properly.

Cheers
Simon

Not that I've updated it lately, but I use blogspot too. (see my signature) I even used it to make a site for my wedding; I posted hotel info, directions, etc, then pics.

http://www.bruceandjenniferswedding.blogspot.com/

(on a side note, spacejock, when can we get your book in the U.S.?)

sassandgroove said:

(on a side note, spacejock, when can we get your book in the U.S.?)

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I'd love to know ;-) My publisher is based in Western Australia, and their books are usually of local interest only. (e.g. biographies, stories with a very Australian setting, that kind of thing) My book is their first real genre title with (potentially) worldwide appeal, so things are being handled differently.

In the meantime I'm getting a lot of mail asking the same question, so I put together an announcements-only mailing list. It's only for brief and irregular updates on the status of the books. You can also unsubscribe at any time.

Alternatively you can bookmark the Hal Spacejock news page

Cheers
Simon

As far as blogs go, I have both blogger and livejournal. Truth to tell, as far as set-up and appearances go, I prefer blogger.

Though lately my blog has been more about my jewelry business stuff rather than about writing.

http://jennipps.blogspot.com

I use blogger - www.writeslikeshetalks.blogspot.com.

Julia - Love yours! You really have done a lot of customizing - I have yet to find a lot of the code for how to do it, and I'm kind of a find it and drop it in person (as in, I do NOT know how to write it). Mind me asking how you did the search this site thing?

Thanks and good luck - Jill

Both of my blogs are on blogger.com. The link for one is in my sig. Here is the other: http://southern21.blogspot.com. I haven't tried LJ or xanga, but I did have a blog on AOL. I didn't care for it much. The way they have it set up, it's more for like beginners. Has anyone tried yahoo 360?

I use Blog, software installed on my computer which I use to publish my blog to my own domain. I love it - it's fully customizable.

Disclaimer: I'm biased. I found the software, had problems with it (I was no html/ftp geek), his help section sucked at that point in time (it's since been rectified), I asked the programmer for help, and then I married the guy.

My main blog is A Canadian in King Parakramabahu's Court. I will, of course, admit to having others.

I also decided to go with Blogger / Blogspot. I've currently got one that is mostly about updates on various hot rod projects, but I'm thinking of adding one with a social satire theme.

I have a blog too. It's on blogspot. I tried Live Journal but I didn't like it. It was way too confusing. I'm HTML illiterate I think.

http://formerlostgirl.blogspot.com here's my blog.

I don't have any links. Still trying to figure that one out. My blog is pretty random. It's just whatever I felt like putting up. I've been thinking of making one strictly for my writing and another for my sewing. Those are my two big interests.

So I'm trying to make writing my career and sewing my hobby.

quidscribis said:

Disclaimer: I'm biased. I found the software, had problems with it (I was no html/ftp geek), his help section sucked at that point in time (it's since been rectified), I asked the programmer for help, and then I married the guy.

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I *LOVE* this story (my SO is a techie that I met online in the very early days of online services, pre AOL)!

Another Blogger person here -- fishmonkey.blogspot.com

Killed off my LiveJournal recently. With the firends feature, it's just too much of a time suck.

Oh, and if it hadn't already been mentioned, Blogger/Blogspot has installed a new blog search engine, so you can search for blogs all over the web!