What is a blog? Does every writer need one? I just have never heard of it before? I have not even run into the word on here until a few days ago.
~~Tammy
~~Tammy
- Status
Blog is short for Weblog: a log (journal) on the world wide web.
It's also called a poor man's web site.
It's also called a poor man's web site.
Hey, yeah, that's a Zaz quote. Nice.
Blogs are for people who don't believe in proper spelling.
They are a great place to give away your writing for free.
There are some that are entertaining but really, I wouldn't waste your time. If you're going to have a web presence I'd stick to the old fashioned website.
The last thing a blog would be is a necessity.
I think they were started by people who hated their day jobs so bad they needed an outlet for wasted company time.
Blogs are for people who don't believe in proper spelling.
They are a great place to give away your writing for free.
There are some that are entertaining but really, I wouldn't waste your time. If you're going to have a web presence I'd stick to the old fashioned website.
The last thing a blog would be is a necessity.
I think they were started by people who hated their day jobs so bad they needed an outlet for wasted company time.
Tammy, if you do a web search for your favorite authors, you'll probably find that some of them have blogs. That's a good place to start.
I have a blog under my real name, but I won't tell you where it is. Neener neener.
Some bloggists have gotten their sites syndicated. Blogging is a big deal, if you're a good writer.
Blogs have been around for years, but weren't always called that. A famous news blog is Matt Drudge; there's also Lucianne.com.
In general a web log/blog is an online journal or diary. Yeah, some people say, "come see my blog" and you get to read all about their pink poodle, what they ate for lunch, and their mind dumps on any trivial subject that interests them.
But some bloggers are downright professional writers, desktop publishers, artists, and news pros, and photo journalists.
I used to think blogs were boring until I researched a bit a learned they aren't only for, "This is my live journal. Today I think I'll talk about what I was thinking of last night. It happened because it was a dark stormy night, and my boyfriend was late for dinner." Oh boy.
My blog has gone to friends, acquaintances and business contacts so they can sample my writing wares, and catch up on what I've been doing--but I always make the personal stories of quality I'd publish for real (and some I have).
Check out Amazon for books on blogging. There are plenty.
Some bloggists have gotten their sites syndicated. Blogging is a big deal, if you're a good writer.
Blogs have been around for years, but weren't always called that. A famous news blog is Matt Drudge; there's also Lucianne.com.
In general a web log/blog is an online journal or diary. Yeah, some people say, "come see my blog" and you get to read all about their pink poodle, what they ate for lunch, and their mind dumps on any trivial subject that interests them.
But some bloggers are downright professional writers, desktop publishers, artists, and news pros, and photo journalists.
I used to think blogs were boring until I researched a bit a learned they aren't only for, "This is my live journal. Today I think I'll talk about what I was thinking of last night. It happened because it was a dark stormy night, and my boyfriend was late for dinner." Oh boy.
My blog has gone to friends, acquaintances and business contacts so they can sample my writing wares, and catch up on what I've been doing--but I always make the personal stories of quality I'd publish for real (and some I have).
Check out Amazon for books on blogging. There are plenty.
This is a silly comment.
That's like saying my little black book is a big deal if I'm a good writer.
I do agree with this:
But and I'll have the final but here, the vast majority of blogs are wastes of space. The number that are syndicated compared to the number that need to be incinerated, there's a comparison.
Blogs need to die. Nobody cares about what Aunt Foo Foo had for lunch with her pet Fee Fee.
I'll let the Drudge Report stay but you don't see me reading it. I suppose there are enough humans to keep the bloggers in business, what business there is for a non-paying daily grind of bland updates and bad photography. I remain and will always contend, blogs are for people who hate their day jobs.
Blogs are just another form of self-publishing. Most people don't have anything useful to discuss or anything insightful to say. A few do.
Find the good ones and don't worry about the rest.
Find the good ones and don't worry about the rest.
I don't see blogs as any better or worse than personal web pages. They're harmless, and we don't have to read about Aunt Foo Foo and her pet Fee Fee if we don't like it. But somebody might.
I think blogs are a good thing to allow people to express themselves and share their experiences. That's the true spirit of a free world. When we go to a place like China where things like that are not allowed, and personal freedom of expression is oppressed, maybe we'll have a better understanding and appreciation for things such as blogs.
There are always the "back," "go to," and "close browser" buttons. Exercise your personal freedom to write, not write, read, and not read.
I think blogs are a good thing to allow people to express themselves and share their experiences. That's the true spirit of a free world. When we go to a place like China where things like that are not allowed, and personal freedom of expression is oppressed, maybe we'll have a better understanding and appreciation for things such as blogs.
There are always the "back," "go to," and "close browser" buttons. Exercise your personal freedom to write, not write, read, and not read.
I signed up! Yep, that's right I now have a blog...
Don't quite know what I am going to do with it, yet. (I sure wont mention Aunt Foo Foo.)
But I got one... It's all mine... Yessiree.....
:eek
OMG WHAT HAVE I DONE?????
I need to go lay down.
~~Tammy
Don't quite know what I am going to do with it, yet. (I sure wont mention Aunt Foo Foo.)
But I got one... It's all mine... Yessiree.....
:eek
OMG WHAT HAVE I DONE?????
I need to go lay down.
~~Tammy
Some folks use their blog as electronic letters to friends and family. Instead of waiting for the postal service to deliver dozens of letters or running up huge phone bills, you post a note to your blog and those close to you can check in from time to time to see how you are doing, and leave comments if they wish.
I think that's kind of neat, and I keep in touch with a number of friends that way. The only thing to keep in mind is that your blog is visible to anyone on the Internet who might happen across it unless you can get it set up with password access.
Give some thought to the kind of content you want to put up, and have fun with it, Tammy.
I think that's kind of neat, and I keep in touch with a number of friends that way. The only thing to keep in mind is that your blog is visible to anyone on the Internet who might happen across it unless you can get it set up with password access.
Give some thought to the kind of content you want to put up, and have fun with it, Tammy.
blogs
<blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>That's like saying my little black book is a big deal if I'm a good writer.<hr></blockquote>
Not really.
Ever hear of Dave Barry? He was one of the first bloggers. But since you don't read much, perhaps you've missed out.
People use blogs, personal websites, traditionally published books, and yes, even AW to show their ignorance and irritation at the success of others. Oh well.
<blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>That's like saying my little black book is a big deal if I'm a good writer.<hr></blockquote>
Not really.
Ever hear of Dave Barry? He was one of the first bloggers. But since you don't read much, perhaps you've missed out.
People use blogs, personal websites, traditionally published books, and yes, even AW to show their ignorance and irritation at the success of others. Oh well.
congrats, Tammy
Hi Tammy and way to go on creatinig a blog. I don't write about aunt foo foo either. Mine contains articles I've published elsewhere, and articles I decided not to market.
This has been an excellent way for me to share my writing with friends and some distant relatives I recently connected with who say, "send me your writing". A cousin said, "I'm glad someone in this family is a writer!"
I also share it with prospective mentees and members of my workshop who are into the web. The like the look and feel of seeing something live, published, more than if I just snail them a clip. Go figure.
Whatever your objective, enjoy, play, express yourself.
TTFN.
Hi Tammy and way to go on creatinig a blog. I don't write about aunt foo foo either. Mine contains articles I've published elsewhere, and articles I decided not to market.
This has been an excellent way for me to share my writing with friends and some distant relatives I recently connected with who say, "send me your writing". A cousin said, "I'm glad someone in this family is a writer!"
I also share it with prospective mentees and members of my workshop who are into the web. The like the look and feel of seeing something live, published, more than if I just snail them a clip. Go figure.
Whatever your objective, enjoy, play, express yourself.
TTFN.
Re: congrats, Tammy
Would anyone be interested in posting their blogs... or is it a "for friends and family" thing?
Would anyone be interested in posting their blogs... or is it a "for friends and family" thing?
Re: congrats, Tammy
Ever hear of Dave Barry? He was one of the first bloggers.
Whooptee f&#@in' doo.
Actually, I do read blogs.
I'm just playing devil's drunken advocate making useless and points impossible to defend in a bland attempt to grab someone's ire, like a goon in some haloscan comment box.
My black book is interesting, by the way. It isn't filled with phone numbers. It's loaded with answers to the question, "What's wrong with you in one sentence?"
Ever hear of Dave Barry? He was one of the first bloggers.
Whooptee f&#@in' doo.
Actually, I do read blogs.
I'm just playing devil's drunken advocate making useless and points impossible to defend in a bland attempt to grab someone's ire, like a goon in some haloscan comment box.
My black book is interesting, by the way. It isn't filled with phone numbers. It's loaded with answers to the question, "What's wrong with you in one sentence?"
Re: Poor Tammy...
Tammy,
Your misfortune in acquiring a blog has prompted me to step from the shadows once again, to share with you a story about... a dude I knew.
He was a writer, and for a long time that was his only problem. Then he heard about this strange, apparently amphibious fantasy creature called "Blog". He wrote a short-story about said amphibious creature. Editor rejected story with short note: "Blog not amphibious creature. Blog electronically syndicated personal serial. Please no more short stories serving no purpose but to high-light author's cultural ignorance."
These words stirred something deep within my friend. It felt like love - but after his ensuing experiences with "Blog", he decided it was last night's chili.
My friend spent the rest of his day at the computer, growing more excited and more exasperated as he first downloaded an indecipherable program called 'movable type' which he believed to have some mystical connection with 'Blog', and then failed to understand the incredibly explicit directions at blogger.com. By midnight, however, he had achieved by the sweat of his brow a blog he could call his own. It felt like home - until the janitor showed up and asked him why he was still in the Library which closed at ten, and could he please turn off the computer and depart unless his ass was glued to that chair?
When he got home, he immediately signed onto his blogger account again. He couldn't think of anything to write. So he typed a small message stating that this was, indeed, his blog in case you wondering, and that, could you believe it, this was his first post, and further, that more posts would follow. He pushed the publish button, and wrang his hands watching the clock icon going round and round and round...
And then... there it was! His first post. He was in business. He had a daily editorial, an immediate forum for his exalted opinions. It felt like Nirvana - until he lay down in bed and realized that he was now obligated to write something tomorrow... and the day after that... and the next as well, endlessly, into the black hole his future was swiftly becoming.
But he put that thought aside with another: think of the masses that would read his blog, who would never touch his books. Or maybe they would... Maybe his delightful web-presence would inspire them to wend their way to a local Barnes & Noble and acquire his poor first book of Short Stories. It was exciting.
But time took care of that.
Sometimes he would sit all day staring at the familiar blinking mutilation of a stick figure which stood out like an oasis in the desert of glowing white that was his non-existent post, trying to think of an exalted opinion. But his thoughts did Russian Ballet around the idea of his Aunt Foo-foo.
And what was worse, the masses never showed up. The only hits his blog recieved were his own anxious ones.
To make a long, dreary, and tragic story short, which my friend, you know, would have liked - being partial to short fiction - he committed suicide.
In his note he made the following points:
(1. Blogs are parasites for a writer. They make him feel guilty if he doesn't give them his most valuable time. They inspire that terrible latent passion for editorialism which lies at the heart of his ego.
(2. Blogs aren't worth the trouble they demand. Perhaps your opinions really are exalted, interesting. But if they are, why are you wasting them in a medium for which you don't get paid, and no one will read anyway? If you're a writer there are better ways to spend your time.
(3. Blogs are habit-forming, and there are no support groups and medications to ease withdrawal. My friend still listlessly works on his blog - errr.... would if he was still alive.
(4. Finally he pointed out (curiously enough, considering it was suicide note) that he was referring only to the special case of a writer enamoured of the idea of a blog, who 'didn't quite know what he was going to do with it yet.'
So beware. This path lies before you...
~ R.Q.
Tammy,
Your misfortune in acquiring a blog has prompted me to step from the shadows once again, to share with you a story about... a dude I knew.
He was a writer, and for a long time that was his only problem. Then he heard about this strange, apparently amphibious fantasy creature called "Blog". He wrote a short-story about said amphibious creature. Editor rejected story with short note: "Blog not amphibious creature. Blog electronically syndicated personal serial. Please no more short stories serving no purpose but to high-light author's cultural ignorance."
These words stirred something deep within my friend. It felt like love - but after his ensuing experiences with "Blog", he decided it was last night's chili.
My friend spent the rest of his day at the computer, growing more excited and more exasperated as he first downloaded an indecipherable program called 'movable type' which he believed to have some mystical connection with 'Blog', and then failed to understand the incredibly explicit directions at blogger.com. By midnight, however, he had achieved by the sweat of his brow a blog he could call his own. It felt like home - until the janitor showed up and asked him why he was still in the Library which closed at ten, and could he please turn off the computer and depart unless his ass was glued to that chair?
When he got home, he immediately signed onto his blogger account again. He couldn't think of anything to write. So he typed a small message stating that this was, indeed, his blog in case you wondering, and that, could you believe it, this was his first post, and further, that more posts would follow. He pushed the publish button, and wrang his hands watching the clock icon going round and round and round...
And then... there it was! His first post. He was in business. He had a daily editorial, an immediate forum for his exalted opinions. It felt like Nirvana - until he lay down in bed and realized that he was now obligated to write something tomorrow... and the day after that... and the next as well, endlessly, into the black hole his future was swiftly becoming.
But he put that thought aside with another: think of the masses that would read his blog, who would never touch his books. Or maybe they would... Maybe his delightful web-presence would inspire them to wend their way to a local Barnes & Noble and acquire his poor first book of Short Stories. It was exciting.
But time took care of that.
Sometimes he would sit all day staring at the familiar blinking mutilation of a stick figure which stood out like an oasis in the desert of glowing white that was his non-existent post, trying to think of an exalted opinion. But his thoughts did Russian Ballet around the idea of his Aunt Foo-foo.
And what was worse, the masses never showed up. The only hits his blog recieved were his own anxious ones.
To make a long, dreary, and tragic story short, which my friend, you know, would have liked - being partial to short fiction - he committed suicide.
In his note he made the following points:
(1. Blogs are parasites for a writer. They make him feel guilty if he doesn't give them his most valuable time. They inspire that terrible latent passion for editorialism which lies at the heart of his ego.
(2. Blogs aren't worth the trouble they demand. Perhaps your opinions really are exalted, interesting. But if they are, why are you wasting them in a medium for which you don't get paid, and no one will read anyway? If you're a writer there are better ways to spend your time.
(3. Blogs are habit-forming, and there are no support groups and medications to ease withdrawal. My friend still listlessly works on his blog - errr.... would if he was still alive.
(4. Finally he pointed out (curiously enough, considering it was suicide note) that he was referring only to the special case of a writer enamoured of the idea of a blog, who 'didn't quite know what he was going to do with it yet.'
So beware. This path lies before you...
~ R.Q.
Re: Poor Tammy...
We would like to thank our sponsors for another enlightening episode of "Let's tear people down while we can."
Who said it's an every day thing? Who said it's for everybody?
Let me tell you the very easy answers to both of those questions: Nobody.
We would like to thank our sponsors for another enlightening episode of "Let's tear people down while we can."
Who said it's an every day thing? Who said it's for everybody?
Let me tell you the very easy answers to both of those questions: Nobody.
Re: Poor Tammy...
(1. AW boards are parasites for a writer. They make him feel guilty if he doesn't give them his most valuable time. They inspire that terrible latent passion for editorialism which lies at the heart of his ego.
(2. AW boards aren't worth the trouble they demand. Perhaps your opinions really are exalted, interesting. But if they are, why are you wasting them in a medium for which you don't get paid, and no one will read anyway? If you're a writer there are better ways to spend your time.
(3. AW boards are habit-forming, and there are no support groups and medications to ease withdrawal. My friend still listlessly works on his AW posts - errr.... would if he was still alive.
(4. Finally he pointed out (curiously enough, considering it was suicide note) that he was referring only to the special case of a writer enamoured of the idea of an AW board post, who 'didn't quite know what he was going to do with it yet.'
So beware. This path lies before you, robertquiller.
(1. AW boards are parasites for a writer. They make him feel guilty if he doesn't give them his most valuable time. They inspire that terrible latent passion for editorialism which lies at the heart of his ego.
(2. AW boards aren't worth the trouble they demand. Perhaps your opinions really are exalted, interesting. But if they are, why are you wasting them in a medium for which you don't get paid, and no one will read anyway? If you're a writer there are better ways to spend your time.
(3. AW boards are habit-forming, and there are no support groups and medications to ease withdrawal. My friend still listlessly works on his AW posts - errr.... would if he was still alive.
(4. Finally he pointed out (curiously enough, considering it was suicide note) that he was referring only to the special case of a writer enamoured of the idea of an AW board post, who 'didn't quite know what he was going to do with it yet.'
So beware. This path lies before you, robertquiller.
Re: Gala:
I am still feeling a little intimidated by my blog. But I have decided that:
I don't care if anybody ever reads it.
I only plan to post things that are important to me.
I have lived an interesting (if not strange) life.
I am a very unique person and I may be able to help
someone, someday with their own acceptance of
oneself.
But mostly, I have decided that my blog is for me and if someone else finds it and wants to read it then that is their business.
I guess we'll just have to see what happens. But I do appreciate all of your posts.
~~Tammy
I am still feeling a little intimidated by my blog. But I have decided that:
I don't care if anybody ever reads it.
I only plan to post things that are important to me.
I have lived an interesting (if not strange) life.
I am a very unique person and I may be able to help
someone, someday with their own acceptance of
oneself.
But mostly, I have decided that my blog is for me and if someone else finds it and wants to read it then that is their business.
I guess we'll just have to see what happens. But I do appreciate all of your posts.
~~Tammy
Re: Gala:
Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! I'll read it! I'll read anything: labels on sauce bottles; shopping lists left in library books; self-assembly instructions in Japanese; dead people's love-letters..
I call it 'research', but really I'm just a nosy cow. If I wasn't a writer, I'd be a Peeping Tom/Tomasina.
aq
Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! I'll read it! I'll read anything: labels on sauce bottles; shopping lists left in library books; self-assembly instructions in Japanese; dead people's love-letters..
I call it 'research', but really I'm just a nosy cow. If I wasn't a writer, I'd be a Peeping Tom/Tomasina.
aq
Re: Gala:
Robert Quiller, that's exactly why a blog wouldn't be a good fit for me.
Gala, I've been thinking the same thing.
Robert Quiller, that's exactly why a blog wouldn't be a good fit for me.
Gala, I've been thinking the same thing.
- Status