blogs about blogging
One of the collateral benefits of Twitter is that I've come to follow some (for lack of a better term) pro-bloggers. Now, I've followed a number of professional blogs for some time, blogs that are extensions of a company, specifically about what that entity does (most notably); but these blogs I've started reading since reading their authors' Twitter updates ("tweets"), are different. They're blogs about blogging. So, we've established that there are corporate blogs, and, of course, there are subject-driven blogs. Daily Kos, TalkingPointsMemo and First Draft are all about politics from a decidedly progressive perspective. Nate Silver takes content honing to a new level of fine tuning, bringing us political projections from his exhaustive and unique polling and other election related data analysis at FiveThirtyEight. The NOLA Bloggers, three hundredish in number (many of whom I count among my friends met through blogging), blog about New Orleans and get together from time to time to talk about, well, blogging and New Orleans. While doing so, they eat well and, um, drink some too, with immoderate indulgence in bright conversation and excessive laughter [insert gratuitous plug for Rising Tide III here].
Blogerati! Lively Banter Guaranteed!
...As I was saying... Most of us blog about our lives, our jobs, our challenges, our children (very popular one), our pets (another biggie), our hobbies and sometimes even our significant others, but I've not been sure what I think about blogs that are the driving force for their own existence, blogs about blogging. In fact, I've taken special care not to blog about blogging, fighting an instinctive urge to apologize for long gaps in posting, determined that this is something I do for joy, to find community and to relieve stress rather than increase it by adding self-imposed deadlines (goodness knows I don't need to be creating extra stress for myself, since I've been blessed with plenty of others to do that for me).
Recently, thanks to Twitter, I've started following a number of writers who blog mostly about Web 2.0, social media and online marketing. Prominent among them are Remarkablogger, Copyblogger and Meryl Evans (who happens to be having a blog birthday bash promotion, offering entries for great prizes in exchange for a number of things, including linking to her blog). The post entitled How to Stop Being Invisible by Jon Morrow at Brian Clark's Copyblogger, gave rise to a very interesting discussion about why we blog and the complex possibilities for relationship between bloggers and their audience. Now, keeping invisibility at bay has never been my problem. I had much more trouble with getting accustomed to such visibility, as our fine Blog-City management, led by Alan Williamson & The Mayoress, has so optimized our sites for search that we're consistently rockin' the top of the search engine returns, but I digress (again!)... In "How to Stop Being Invisible" Morrow suggests that, "Blogs are a diversion," comparing them to the "class clowns" we all remember from high school, and suggesting that, first and foremost, bloggers must entertain in order to find loyal readership. It's hard to argue with that. While I might disagree with him about the source, remaining convinced that if we write about subjects that fully engage our passions and tag well, readers will find us and stay, humor, or the posture of the day, snarkiness, helps. As so often happens, the best of the post comes in the discussion that follows in comments. Recommended reading.
Updates for those among you interested in the more mundane goings on in the DotCalmville:
Baseball team's still 2-2. We were rained out Wednesday, Thursday and again today. If we can keep pushing it back my ace LHP might just have time to get in that Vancouver vacation with his family and get back before playoffs start. Heh heh.
Sis Bel seems to be responding well to the "experimental" chemo (Erbitux) and has more energy than she's had in a long time. She's in the kitchen making something that involves stewed apples (I smell cinnamon) and puff pastry and some kind of cheese (please let it be mascarpone).
Our Air Conditioning unit died yesterday. The nice maintenance lady (with one of the finest mullets of all time, man-short on top and all around her face and then in a pony tail all the way to her behind, so thick it had to be scruncy-secured in three places) tried hard, looking for the dastardly dead part in first the maintenance "closet" (actually a small apartment) and then a nearby empty apartment. She tried for two hot hours to get us up and running and then brought in a whole mess'a fans. Thankfully it's 72 and raining right now. Killed our baseball for the day but at least we're not needing to head to a hotel. With luck, she'll get it up and running while I'm at work tomorrow (just plain please).
I'm so far behind reading your blogs that I'm never going to get caught up (I blame Twitter and baseball and Middle Son being home). I do want to recommend Paula's Memoir series of posts about her experiences teaching, most of which has been at a large public high school outside of Denver, that we've all heard about but I won't name, lest this blog start turning up in search for it.
Anyway, I've gone long again. Oops. Peace. Out. Y'all.
I understand what you mean about being behind on reading your favorite
bloggers. It is summer, summer is crazy and lazy, but I am always on the
go. I love that we can enjoy baseball with our sons. There is nothing
else like it. My husband has discovered an age 45 and up baseball league
here that he may try out for. I think he's a little sick of softball.
Hi ''S",
Blogs about blogging, hmmm. I've been short on time lately, I'll pass on
those and go right for the mundane since socializing and entertainment are
the real reasons I blog though the class clown angle is rather interesting.
It's a shame the rain is messing with your baseball. I know you enjoy it.
Good news about your sister both health and cooking. Do her treats mail
well? It hasn't rained here in almost a week which is really unusual
around here. We were counting the hours between the rainstorms until this
week. The plants seem to love it. Honey is anti-air conditioning so since
the cool rainy weather has left I've been partaking in nudity and the high
setting on the fans. You'll be glad to know you don't have much catching
up over in Cattyland because I have yet to post this month. Maybe I'll go
do that now. Or not. I'm such a tease.
I don't know about anyone else, but I've been doing my best to help you
catch up on your blog reading--by not blogging very often lately!
That decision was made solely to help you out and had nothing to do with
getting married or our dog's medical emergency and continued care.
Saintseester, you get it, and you know how much fun you're having. I love
reading your posts about your family's involvement in youth baseball. You
go, girl. I hope to be around long enough to read your posts about your
husband's team. I know a couple of "old guys" who've managed to keep
playing.
Thanks for the plug. The formatting issue is ongoing, and I have yet to
figure out a solution. If I had a twitter, I'd be a goner. Only so much
time...
Paula, when I wrote that I hadn't finished reading the series (and still
need to get back and finsih your speech post), but just plain WOW. What a
gift you've given with those posts! I loved JWL's description in his
comment to Thank You. He called it "witnessing" and that's what it was.
A/C and computers--you sometimes wonder how anything in the history of
humanity ever got done without them.