Tag: blogging

I’ve transferred this post from Clarion Folk a day after it was written.

There are a lot of Good Bloggers (Darren, GaryVee, Scobleizer, to name a few of the _many_) out there, doing good and great blogging.

This is dedicated to you. For everything I’ve learnt, and everything I continue to forget. Thankyou.

I love reading posts, watching as fellow bloggers forge identities, and sometimes as they fall into and through the cracks.

I like Good Blogging. But I also don’t like it very much.

Following are the reasons I hate Good Blogging:

1. I use a word like ‘Hate’ instead of ‘Dislike’ in the Title of my post.

"Good blogging demands that I reign in my natural instincts .."

Sensationalism is an important part of good blogging. It’s far more than just being a sensationalist.

I can jump around and yell "Awesome" with the best of them. Seriously. I’m full of manic energy, I’ll sing loudly without being drunk, and when my eyes light up I won’t stop for just about anything.

But good blogging isn’t this. Good blogging is knowing the best time to use snippets of sensationalism. You can’t always be "ON".

I grind against this. For me, I don’t want to discipline myself to understand these subtle moves. When I see Hate, I like "Dislike is more appropriate". That’s me. I don’t want to change.

Don’t get me wrong, the "ON"ness is vital. Transferring wonder and excitement to people means I get to have the light in my eyes. But it has to be directed. Brought into control.

When I’m excited, I say the word "Awesome" a lot. I don’t want to think of other words right then, but good blogging calls me out and beats me around the head a little.

Good blogging demands that I reign in my natural instincts and discipline myself to become better at using an aspect like Sensationlism effectively in my writing.

2. I shouldn’t make witty post Titles, they don’t do SEO well.

"Good blogging makes me think harder."

This goes hand in hand with the first point.

My natural bent when writing a post or article is to think up something witty. Some play on words about the topic, or a pop-culture reference.

Good blogging makes me think harder. Witty titles come and go. But the melding of wit with strategy doesn’t come easy to me. And sometimes there is no wit to be had.

3. Part of me doesn’t want organic growth, it wants instant global recognition.

"Good blogging tells me not to act and plan my goals around 15 minutes of fame."

The Feeds! The Feeds! Why isn’t my Feedburner count sky-rocketing?

From what I read, good blogging is best done organically. Organic is the best foundation. Rock-solid. The fleeting glory of a front-page Digg is nothing compared to the Tortoise.

But I want to be the Hare! I want Digg to shower me with praise and stupid Slashdot to use one of my articles and for Scoble and GaryVee and all of YOU to read, feed, and send me Awesomes.

Good blogging tells me not to act and plan my goals around 15 minutes of fame. The Tortoise IS better than the Hare. Unless that dumb Hare doesn’t fall asleep. Then he’s WAAAAY better :) heh heh.

4. Posting Is Mostly Never Quick

"Good blogging says Shudup fool!"

Sure, sometimes it just rushes out. But like every single "How To Blog" piece I’ve ever read, TIME is a factor. Taking time to craft what you are saying will almost always have to happen.

Ask my friends and family, I rarely take time to think about what I’m saying. I rely too much on natural instinct and previous experience. That it will guide and direct the babble that proceeds forth.

Good blogging says Shudup fool! Pull your head in and think over what you are saying.

5. Fame obviously means a lot more to me than I like to think.

"I’m a little fish in probably the biggest pond, looking up at the whales that blot out the sun."

Despite point 3., it does actually grind me that I’m so affected by fame and fortune.

This isn’t a point against good blogging so much as a kick to myself. Why is it that even though I _know_ establishing a web presence is hard and long-term, organic and tortoise-like, Why is it that when I twitter Scoble my heart skips a beat waiting for his reply? Or when GaryVee asks his followers to ‘@’ him and I do and then I wait .. eagerly.

It’s crazy, but it’s human. I’m a little fish in probably the biggest pond, looking up at the whales that blot out the sun.

Man I want to be a whale.

I love Good Blogging. But I "dislike" it too. Growth and learning and creating is hard, and my nature rails against becoming better. So here’s to fighting hard and becoming a Good Blogger!

I’m not sure what to write. I’m experiencing a downtime in creativity, and i don’t know why (I guess a little more introspection might help). Maybe more a downtime in excitement. Not so much a downtime as a slow time. Ha ha .. enough changes there. I’m going through a period of slow creative motivational excitement. _Much_ better. Ha.

Really. Writer’s block sucks. Will be past it in a little while, but thought i’d share the pain.

Out.

There isn’t much more frustrating that sitting staring at that compile window on a big app, waiting .. waiting .. waiting.

Welcome to another .. Choose Your Own Adventure.

Do you ..?

1. Take a walk outside. You never know what zany events will occur that will take your mind off the insanity of compiling. You might get into a blue down at the pub, or walk through the park and find a dollar on the ground. You might see a cloud that looks like a sheep, or perhaps wander into a forgotten antiques store and find a box of comics to sit down and read.

2. Go and have a rest. This one’s a perler. I mean seriously, what is it that the programmer needs but never gets? Sleep.

3. Watch some telly. Specially if you’ve got a few taped shows to catch up on.

4. Do other work. Now we’re talking, keep the mind active! This is probably the hardest (except for maybe the next one), but the best. You get to maximise your time.

5. Continue to stare at the screen, willing your latent psyd-kick abilities into play. Don’t screw up, or I WILL DESTROY YOU.

• If you chose 5, congratulations! You have successfully traversed this Adventure.

       

It’s late, my mind is wandering, and this is almost as close to working as I can get while waiting for that Generating compile window to NOT BREAK.

There is no sleep for me,

None at all for this weary head.

Long ago did mortals rest,

The sun is shortly risen.

 

This screen before me,

It fades to blur.

Eyes focussed,

On something more.

 

Who caves first, Me

Or it?

Not sure I really care,

I’m such a git.

Heh heh. Nice last line.

Anyway, please don’t fret :), I have full use of all my faculties dear reader .. Well, I’m still typing, that’s gotta be something.

‘Nuff Said,

Unfortunately for me, I discovered CSS Reboot only a week or so ago. Not enough time for me to worry about participating. But I do intend to give it a fair wack next year. In fact, before then if the time and muse takes me.

Looking at Avalonstar last week, it woke within me a better understanding. Of what you ask, and well you should.

I don’t have a true innovative mind. I have a progressive, or evolve-ment brain. I can see the good in things around, and can emulate it, perhaps change a little, modify.

The idea of changing the way the information is viewed. This is the better understanding. No longer having the smaller incremental changes to a blog. A major list of posts, sidebar with comments, with latest posts, with asides. Headings up the top.

Avalonstar takes a bigger leap. The information has been reordered. No long is it in the blog format. Which is good. And by blog format I’m talking about what I think of as the traditional blog.

This morning I found a couple of other themes that are popping up. They take this idea. It’s a good thing, because I was thinking about entering the smithy and putting my own hand to creating a new way of presenting the information to you, the reader. Fortunately, others are doing this, with much greater skill.

So with that in mind, I’m probably going to change the theme of Dev Dawn.

I’d like to be able to let readers choose their theme. This would be a nice bit of additional functionality. We’ll see.

Paul Stamatiou is another blog that is taking this route, at least, I think that’s what direction he’s going, heh.

New Site Layout :)

In other news, I’ve reached an alpha stage with my latest small project. It’s a simple task/project management system. The cool thing is, it’s built with the new NetTalk 4 (from Capesoft), in Clarion.

So it’s built as a web service I guess. The exe runs, listening to a certain port, and serves the html to any browser pointing to that IP:Port. The server exe has ability to modify all of the files, while the browser interface is a simple login and access to the Tasks (and one level of Sub-Tasks).

I’ll be putting it up here once I get a few of the very large bugs written out. And some more functionality.

So now, let us depart for better things, until next we meet, seek the narrow …