Blogging Challenge: Blog The Opposite of You

Blogging is about opinions. That is the defining difference between a website and a blog. Opinions. Freedom of speech. Freedom of expression. Having my say. This week’s Blogging Challenge is to blog in someone else’s shoes. Write a post on your blog as if you were the opposite of who you are. Since blogging is […]

Blog Exercises: Prepare for Summer

It’s Editorial Calender check-in and check up time. May is the shift from spring to summer. From blossoming flowers to green leafed trees casting shade, the weather is changing, bringing warmer days to the northern hemisphere and colder temperatures down under. For those of us living in the Pacific Northwestern United States, we are experiencing […]

Blog Exercises: How Long Are Your Paragraphs?

How long are your paragraphs? Have you measured them lately? One of the telling differences between traditional writing and writing for the web is the length of the paragraph. Look at the example below. Which is easier to read? On the left, the paragraphs are huge, long blocks of text. On the right, the paragraphs […]

Blog Exercises: Fall in Love with Words

There are certain clues that tell you how much a restaurant will cost. If the word “cuisine” appears in the advertising, it will be expensive. If they use the word “food,” it will be moderately priced. However, if the sign says “eats,” even though you’ll save money on food, your medical bills may be quite […]

A Day of Healing and Suffering at the Clackamas Mall

“I feel greedy.” We stood in the cold outside the Clackamas Mall, arms wrapped around each other, watching the crowd expand to release individuals and couples to step forward and place their candles on the memorial stage. The faces of the two deceased smiled over the mournful group gathered before them. The photographs were snapshots […]

The Freedom in Freedom of Speech

Before and after WordCamp Whistler 2009 in Whistler, BC, Canada, I took advantage of the good graces and lovely home of Glenda Watson Hyatt of Do It Myself Blog (@GlendaWH) and her husband, Darrell Hyatt of Enabling Abilities to Appear in Vancouver, British Columbia. Spending time with Glenda and Darrell is filled with laughter and […]

Blog Challenge: Describe Your Computer Setup – Then and Now

This week’s blog challenge is to blog about your computer setup as it was “then” in the early days of your computer life, and how it is now, in your modern technology life. What computer tools are you dependent upon for your blog that surround you on your desk? Do you podcast? What do you […]

Blog Challenge: Symbols

Symbols Dictionary is an online encyclopedia of “Western Signs and Ideograms” which makes the Da Vinci Code look like child’s play. Your blog challenge this week is to find a symbol from among the thousands of symbols in the Symbol Dictionary and write a blog post that incorporates the meaning and history of that symbol. […]

Weekly Digest: Catching Up, Speaking San Francisco, Future Post Mixup, Talking to Blogger Talks, and More

Yikes, it’s been a rough few weeks. Along with some nasty business stuff, which is actually normal in my line of work, I was supposed to be on my first real, non-working vacation in 14 years, which turned into a workation. What should have been normal was much less fun than usual as my husband […]

Weekly Digest: Book Contests, Blogging Big and Small, and More

There have been a few contests that will be coming up soon featuring my book, “Blogging Tips – What bloggers won’t tell you about blogging”, as prizes, so stay tuned for announcements on these. I’m also going to be heading off for a three day vacation – a real non-working vacation – next week. Wish […]

Blog Challenge: Blog About Being Small

Last week, I challenged you to blog about being “big” or a success, giving you the challenge to blog about a moment when you felt “big” or write about what it would look like if you were “big” or a success. This week, I want you to think “small” – when you weren’t a success. […]

Blog Challenge: Write A Biographical Post

We all know people who have changed our lives. Some we know well and intimately, like good friends and family. Others, we know only through their existence on the planet, fame, fortune, or infamy. Yet, their lives influenced our thoughts, decisions, and feelings about ourselves and the world around us. Writing a biography is different […]

Speed Blogging: What is Getting In Your Blog’s Way

Blog Chalk Talk offers “Daily Blogging Tip: Practice Blogging Quickly”, an interesting challenge to see what is getting in the way of your blogging efforts. Start a timer. Give yourself, say, 10 minutes. Go! See how much you can write, how fast you can edit, how quickly you can find and insert a relevant photo, […]

2007 Year of the Widget

Newsweek saluted 2007 as the Year of the Widget (print version): …thanks to widgets, taking multiple steps to track down headlines in one place and then check your e-mail in another may seem woefully outdated this time next year. These mini-applications—also called “gadgets”—are simple bits of code, easily dragged onto a desktop or pasted into […]

Blog Challenge: What Have You Learned This Year?

Last year, I asked my readers to blog about “100 Things You Learned This Year You Didn’t Know Last Year”, and I’ll ask again. Your blogging challenge this week is to blog about 50 things you learned this year that you didn’t know last year. Hey, that’s less than one a week. You must have […]