This one came from Mandarine who picked it up from Lorelle . The end of January is always a good time to reassess goals for the year, and blog goals seemed like a good idea. So here are my goals for this blog (and others) this year:
1. Finally embrace my inner litblogger, instead of pretending she doesn’t exist, and maybe even dedicate entire posts to books I’ve just read, like others do.
2. See if I can find a local chapter of M.A. (Meme’s Anonymous) and start attending support groups. Of course, this will have to wait until after I’ve designed and posted the “Meme Meme,” “The Food and Books Meme,” “The Valentine’s Meme,” etc.
3. Quit coming up with ideas for new blogs and stick with making the two I’ve got going the best they can be (well, and keep the third one going at Halloween when it’s time to write another ghost story). However, I’m still so tempted to do a “Don’t Waste Your Time on These Books” blog, only because I wish someone would do it. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a site solely devoted to helping you create your NTBR list right along side your overwhelming TBR list? Anyone who wants to steal this idea from me and take on the challenge of creating such an animal, please feel free (or if someone’s already doing it, please let me know. Maybe it really needs to be a joint blog). Someone could also take on the challenge of “Don’t Waste Your Time on These Movies.”
4. Speaking of challenges: don’t be so afraid of them, and maybe come up with a few fun ones of my own.
5. Provide more links to great blogs in my posts, so people read them, and they don’t die. Some blogs I really enjoyed just eight short months ago have already died, and I can’t help feeling I should have provided lots more positive feedback (yes, of course, it is all up to me!). But seriously, if we all fessed up, we’d all agree how important comments are, and how disappointing it can be to be a “newbie” who doesn’t get any. I was so lucky to get positive feedback early on. I’m sure I wouldn’t have remained as diligent if I hadn’t.
6. Stop worrying who might be reading my blog and that I might offend people. It’s an unnecessary worry that can so inhibit a writer. I don’t tend to write particularly offensive stuff; it’s not possible to please everyone all the time; and if I’ve offended people, it really may have more to do with them than with me.
7. Become even more convinced that I can write and that people actually want to read what I write. Blogging has come a long way in helping me to accept this, but I still have that little inner voice that loves to make occasional appearances by whispering, “Who do you think you’re fooling?”
8. Learn more about the technical aspects of blogging. I think it’s about time I got past patting myself on the back, because I. Know. How. To. Italicize.
9. Contribute more posts, and encourage others to contribute to What We Said . Creating that blog was such a great idea on Bloglily’s part, and I’d hate to see it fizzle out. As a matter of fact, I think it could be grown into something much bigger than it actually is.
10. No blogging after 8:00 p.m. This will give me more down time, which I need. It’s important for the brain to slow down in the evening, and computer interaction does anything but slow down my brain.
10 comments:
I was surprised to see #7 but I guess you wouldn't be such a great writer if you didn't hold on to a few neuroses. Needless to say, "you can" and "we definitely do!" I always get excited when I see you have a new post. My only complaint is that you're not posting more often on your "Ian and Emily" site. I love that idea and want to see more entries before my sister and I steal it.
I'm planning to do more posts on What We Said soon. You are right it could be grown. We might also want to think about a blogroll to other feminist group blogs sometime.
The books to avoid one is tricky. I had the author of one book I'd been a little critical of flame me in comments once and that has made me slightly more cautious about what I say. I don't believe in censorship but...well I don't really like to hurt peoples feelings even though its unlikely most of the time an author of a book will actually find negative reviews.
With the encouraging people through comments thing- I know what you are saying but I don't think everyone finds comments encourage them to blog. I like getting them sure- but sometimes it can be a bit daunting to feel other people have expectations. My secret to sustainable blogging is only do it when I have time and feel like it because if it starts to feel like an obligation it stops being fun.
What newbies need to know is that the way to get comments is to comment on other people with similiar interests blogs, respond to comments on your own blog, link to other peoples blogs, and most importantly keep writing content on your own blog on a regular basis. There is nothing more to it than that. More than once I've seen blogs abandoned after a short time with complaints about how no one comments or notices when I myself have made an effort to comment but received no acknowledgement for my efforts. That's fine but not the way to grow a regular readership.
I don't know how this comment ended up being my thoughts on newbie bloggers! I'll stop it right here.
Admirable goals. I don't think you need to worry about not writing well, you write just fine :)
Wonderful goals! I need to think more about this as well, especially dedicating my blog to more specific subjects AND posting more on what we said. Actually, I think I'll post there tomorrow!
As for writing well, I think you are incredible.
I keep meaning to post more of What we Said, too! I've got at least three posts in my head. Great goals, Emily, although I agree with the others - worrying about the quality of your writing is one you can cross off the list.
Great list. I know I can find my missing tenth goal in there.
1. I thought this was already settled.
2. Memes are a fine way to fill blogging gaps -- please do not stop altogether.
3. I agree with MakeTea, we'd end up offending authors plus there is now way of knowing whether some lame book will not serve some purpose for at least one person on earth (apart from the author, I mean).
4. Hear, hear!
5. It sure feels good to get links from you.
6. I feel sligtly offended by #6
7. You're fooling me, that much is certain.
8. I am sure it is easier for a writer to learn technology than it is for a geek to learn to write good.
9. I have a backlog of almost ten posts for WhatWeSaid. I hear you.
10. If only I could...
Okay, everyone, I'm beginning to realize #7 sounded suspiciously like I was fishing for compliments. I wasn't (just, as Danny pointed out, letting my neurosis get the better of me), but thank you for feeling obligated to comment on it, and I will take it off and replace it with something else (Mandarine, can I have one of yours, since you're taking one of mine?)
And I think it's great to see others who are more kind than I and don't want to hurt authors' feelings by devoting a whole blog to books not worth reading. I guess I've worked in the book world too long, both in libraries and publishing, and have seen my fair share of bad reviews, so didn't think about that. But, it doesn't surprise me, because I know all of you are so kind and sensitive to others.
All right, and let's all get cracking over on What We Said. Can't wait to see what you have to say, Court.
(I accidentally deleted this comment, which I posted yesterday. So much for becoming more technologically savvy. Anyway, if you've come this far in the comments, you may have already read it.)
Danny, well if the likes of you think I can write and want to hear what I have to say, I can just squash that little voice. And we've planned to do one story a month for the "Ian and Emily" blog. Ian's in school as well as still "chef-ing," and I don't want him to be overwhelmed. However, last time we talked, we both had so many ideas, it may morph into more than one a month. Stay tuned...Meanwhile, be a little bossier with your sister. I'd love to hear your two takes on things, as well, and we already know you've got a great photo collection to accompany it. You and Kendall could also do a hilarious joint blog, I think. Also, you'd be great for "Don't Waste Your Time on this Movie." (Gee, can you tell I'm an acquistions editor?)
Ms. Make Tea, look forward to seeing you over at What We Said. Maybe it would have to be "Don't Waste Your Time on These Books Written by Dead Authors." And let's hope some "newbies" have found their way over here and read what you had to say -- good advice.
Yay -- more book posts! That would be a good thing :) And no blogging after 8 pm sounds like a very wise idea, although I'm not sure I could keep it up, if I made that resolution for myself (which is why I'm not -- I'm trying to be realistic).
I'm laughing and cheering you on! This was SUCH a GOOD post!!
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