I recently won a cool book (The Huffington Post Complete Guide to
Blogging) over at All I Ever Wanted. (Thanks, Linda Sue!) If you
don't know her, pop on over and say hello. She is a talented artist
who creates all kinds of wonderful stuff in the medium of felt.
This is a great little book. In fact, I wish I had read it when I first
started my blog last year. It contains tons of valuable tips and info
This is a great little book. In fact, I wish I had read it when I first
started my blog last year. It contains tons of valuable tips and info
that I had to learn by trial and error, my first year in the blog world.
One of the points, made by the amazing Nora Ephron, is that daily
blogs are very much like soap bubbles. They only last a moment or
two. This is a hard concept to grasp for those bloggers who are
One of the points, made by the amazing Nora Ephron, is that daily
blogs are very much like soap bubbles. They only last a moment or
two. This is a hard concept to grasp for those bloggers who are
writers, used to publishing essays. Blogs aren't meant to be polished.
They're informal and temporal. It's a high speed medium that
They're informal and temporal. It's a high speed medium that
vanishes just as quickly as it appears.
So, bloggy friends, relax and enjoy the ride through the blogosphere.
Write like you talk, make your points clear, and fly by the seat of
So, bloggy friends, relax and enjoy the ride through the blogosphere.
Write like you talk, make your points clear, and fly by the seat of
your pants on some high flyin' blog bubbles!
bubble photo from Google Images
Bubbles or burps?
ReplyDeleteEither. Just as long as they're not blog farts!
ReplyDeletelol bill. have a few of those too.
ReplyDeleteneat book. capturing those moments if life and giving them another moment before they pop. blog on!
Just don't say anything that can be held against you, your family, or your boss. Words have a way to live beyond the moment when you don't want them to.
ReplyDeleteha willow. thats what i consider my first 100 posts. before i found my voice.
ReplyDeleteHey Willow - just stopping in to say "Hi" - it's so rare that I have a chance before there are a hundred comments......
ReplyDeletecarry on
Bubbles....I love bubbles...
ReplyDeleteThe thought of my words being bubbles makes me happy.
Nothing lasts, but like lakeviewer says above, you have to be careful sometimes! I don't edit a whole lot but I try not to blog in anger.
I hope you have a great week Willow!
extremely good blog advice!
ReplyDeleteYes I love this post and advice. It is so cripplingly hard for me as a writer who is used to 140 000 books if not more having to reign myself in on posts! Short stories normally about 5000 words I can muster but a brief Blog is a total challenge for me! I need this book! There is also another book coming out in August in the US on Blogging that sounds good and features a lot of Bloggers tips. I don't know if you are in it Willow? See? Even my comments can be wordy!
ReplyDeleteThe bubble (your picture) is how I seem to think my brain looks...haha Blog on!
ReplyDeleteGreat bubble and great advice...I'm working up to my 100th post, like Brian said, still trying to find my voice, but, also, not spend too much time on the technical stuff so my writing is authentic.
ReplyDeleteS
Ah, great advice. Yet hard for an essay writer to grasp. So used to spending months or years on a piece.
ReplyDeleteBubble - will have to recall that when I write my next post.
I consider my blog my own visual diary (hence the title, since I was brand-new to the city when I started it) and therefore not meant to be lasting. The days come and go, some images remain, fleeting memories, new ones added as they happen, "... never ending or beginning
ReplyDeleteOn an ever-spinning reel
As the images unwind
Like the circles that you find
In the windmills of your mind ... " (Dusty Springfield).
I (heart) Nora Ephron.
ReplyDeleteCan't believe you've only been doing this for a year!
your blog is just fine!
ReplyDeleteHello Willow,
ReplyDeleteThe bubble image is great. Someone is clever.
The bubble analogy is an interesting lesson. But as well as being here today, gone tomorrow, the body of our work is still 'out there' for all to see. The best of both worlds?
True. Great practice for the real world. I've taken blips from my blog for bigger writings and it works out well. It's like the little notepads I write all the little possible good things for writing, amalgamating into a writing, the blog is another notebook.
ReplyDeleteBreeze
Good advice Willow. Must see if the book is available in this country.
ReplyDeleteI don't believe the Huffington Post is a blog bubble but the Drudge Report is. The difference between the two is day and night in appearances. But now I will have to go out and see if this book is available.
ReplyDeletePick a Peck of Pixels
I do love the idea of ephemera on the screen!- Jayne
ReplyDeleteI'm now up to eight blogs, only two of which are public. I find that they are more useful than a filing system. Yesterday I started writing a diary in long hand again. That was curiously satisfying in another way. Maybe because of all those essays and reports I had to write when I was at school, I find it very hard to get away from the concept of writing for someone else to read.
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting i am new to blogging myself so this sounds like just what I'm looking for. Love your blog found it by accident.
ReplyDeleteElectricwitch.
LOL. Great blog. Just joined followers. Check out my blog guys. Great tips and resources. Cheers!!!
ReplyDeleteI'm a blog newbie, but I'm trying to not take myself too seriously. I think it helps that I'm not really a WRITER so I don't have to fight with myself about quality or content. Also, I'm used to making my stories short because I can see the glazed look in people's eyes - "get ON with it already!"
ReplyDeleteYes, the first rule is to keep it snappy
ReplyDeletethe average blog reader has the attention span of a gnat
blogs are ephemeral things and quite different from books or essays
Oh, well, back to the grindstone of working on a real piece of writing
blogging is so much more fun........
I susbcribe to the stream of consciousness theory of blogging.
ReplyDeleteWeaver of Grass is organizing an inspiration meme for Wednesday, where you can write about people who have inspired you. As I began my journey exploring my sources of inspiration, a whole book began flowing from my memories. A blog meme just didn't seem the right size although if I were younger, with less life experiences, a meme would suffice. It's good computers have "edit" options! I love the bubble, Willow and am on my way to check out "All I Ever Wanted". Thanks for posting.
ReplyDeleteethereal posts. I looked through my past posts and they're not even bubbles anymore, they're barely ghosts.
ReplyDeletegood thing i'm not a sophisticated writer! ;) i always write what i'm thinking.. to my family's grimace! LOL ;)
ReplyDeleteBrain farts are what daily blogs are all about ...
ReplyDeletehi willow - see i treat my blog entries as kites. i fly them to see what breeze they can catch. because of that ambition i build them carefully! have a lovely afternoon. steven
ReplyDeleteI absolutely agree willow about the transitory nature of the daily blog - that is what makes it so exciting for me - and I do also agree about it being "chatty" rather than erudite.
ReplyDeleteI look forward to reading your inspiration blog for our meme on Wednesday.
Perfect analogy, Willow. I love Nora Ephron and her writing. Sounds like a good book that every blogger should read. Good advice!
ReplyDeleteBubbles is good... look out, next post of mine... we're going BUBBLY!
ReplyDeleteWhat a gorgeous photo!
ReplyDeleteBy The Seat Of My Pants is my favorite airline!
ReplyDeleteJust So!
ReplyDeleteSounds like a fun book--congratulations! It's true--I think one of the reasons I like reading blogs is it's a way to just for a second get into someone else's brain for that nano-second or two! It's fun. Always intrigues me what people have on their minds.
ReplyDeleteThe authentic voice - it works every time.
ReplyDeleteMarc! Eight blogs? How on earth do you keep up with all of them? I can barely manage one!
ReplyDeleteTony, I LOVE Doris Day!! Thanks for the smiles. :):):)
ReplyDeleteI have to reign myself in when it comes to blogging which I have been doing on another site that shall remain nameless (clue: it just closed down!!), for less that two years. Once I start.........
ReplyDeleteIt's a bit like writing a letter - when I start with the words 'just a quick note to ........." I end up writing 'a book'. I still write some letters which start out as 'a quick line', the old fashioned way with a fountain pen. Put put me in front of a computer and that's it! A tome!
Loved this post.
ReplyDeleteBut I err...do talk this way! Hee.
"Blogs aren't meant to be polished.
They're informal and temporal. It's a high speed medium that
vanishes just as quickly as it appears."
--Well, sinc eI am now on my 4th blog I know all about temporal. Jsut as I build up any sort of followin gI shut it down for one reason or another. Grrr..