Weekly Digest: Blogging on Blogging, Speaking at SOBCon and WordCamp Dallas, and More on Blogging

This week has been a busy one as I prepare for two intensive blogging article series coming up in the next couple of months. I doing a lot of research and I’ll give you a hint. One is about personal blogging and the other is about blog writing. Stay tuned for more hints.

I’m sent to speak at WordCamp Dallas and SOBCon 2008 this year and have more details below. I’m working on confirmation of many other speaking gigs and workshops. It’s going to be a busy year.

This is the Weekly Digest from Lorelle on WordPress. To subscribe to the Weekly Digest category of Lorelle on WordPress, you can subscribe by the Weekly Digest feed or by email with the Weekly Digest Email Subscription to stay up to date on what is happening in Lorelle’s world of WordPress and blogging.

The last issue of my weekly digest was End of Year Rush, Lorraine is Bad, Awards, and Kicking Blogging But – As Usual is the last issue of my Weekly Digest.

What’s Happening with Lorelle on WordPress

Here’s the latest blog posts on Lorelle on WordPress.

• What Did You Learn Last Year? Do You Look Back? It’s that time for reflection, though I do it more frequently than annually, and many are writing about what they’ve done over the past year and I highlight a few.
• Blog Challenge: Intelligent Online Toys and Play Things is an interesting twist to my blog challenges. I wanted bloggers to blog about their favorite online play things…um, well, you know what I mean.
• Blog Struggles: When An Old Post is New Again takes a look at some of the struggles I’ve had when a past post suddenly gets picked up and sensationalized. I discuss the methods I use for keeping my old posts up to date, especially when fame comes knocking.
• SOBCon: Be There for the Business of Blogging! I’m going to be there. I hope you are. I talk about the upcoming conference and who is speaking, and look back at last years incredible event.
• Are You Ready and Willing for CSS3? I take a look at some of the news about the upcoming CSS3 and what it means for web designers.
• Weekly Digest: End of Year Rush, Lorraine is Bad, Awards, and Kicking Blogging But – As Usual is the last issue of my Weekly Digest.
• WordPress 2.4 Release Delayed announced that the next version will be released in March and be called WordPress 2.5, in order to give more time to the new features and improvements.
• Unworthy Again: Nominated for Performancing Awards: Okay, so they’ve nominated me and I’m feeling guilty again. SIGH.
• New Article Series – Blog Struggles: In this new ongoing series, I share with you some of the intimate thoughts, internal debates, conflicts, and challenges I have faced over the past 14+ years of blogging. So far, the series includes:
  • Blog Struggles: The Search for Blog Content: We put so much energy into “finding” blog content that we often forget the best source for good blog content: from within us. I offer tips and techniques for pulling content from your head.
  • Blog Struggles: Ideas and Drafts: We come up with such great ideas and then what? We jot them down, make lists, start post drafts, and they sit there staring at us, as we procrastinate over what to do with all these ideas and how to keep them in check. I offer tips on how to best keep track of your ideas and drafts.
  • Blog Struggles: The Blog Focus: As part one in a sub-series of posts on Blog Struggles, I look at the issue of the blog focus, your blog’s ability to turn you from a blogger into an expert.
  • Blog Struggles: Why Should Your Blog Have a Focus: Your blog doesn’t have to have a focus, but if it does, these are the reasons, and benefits, of why it should.
  • Blog Struggles: Finding Your Blog Focus: Continues the Blog Focus theme and offers tips for finding your blog’s focus and direction.
  • Blog Struggles: Changing Your Blog’s Focus: Once you find your blog focus, how do you change your blog? Or should you start a new blog? I cover the tips you need to know to redirect your blog.
  • Blog Struggles: When Spelling, Grammar, and Punctuation Interferes With Your Blogging looks at the issues around the impact of poor writing habits and skills and whether or not they impact the success and reading of your blog.
  • In Blog Struggles: When Are Too Many Comments Too Many Comments?, I share a struggle I faced not long ago about an over-enthusiastic commenter who left a ton of comments on my blog within a few hours, making me very suspicious. We are often faced with suspicious comments, so what do we do? How should we handle them?
  • Blog Struggles: Taking The Moral High Blogging Ground addresses the issue of deciding which ethical and moral road to take on your blog.
  • Blog Struggles: Blogger’s Depression looks at the rarely discussed by normal aspect of blogging: depression. When the enthusiasm for the effort is lost and apathy sets in, and how to overcome it.
  • Blog Struggles: It’s The Rituals That Help Us Focus: I share some of the rituals I use to get me “in the blogging mood” and ask you to share yours.

Lorelle’s News

SOBCon 2008: SOBCon: Be There for the Business of Blogging! I will be there, will you? The Successful and Outstanding Bloggers Conference is one of the hottest events for bloggers. The best of the best gather and I’m so honored to be one of the lucky ones. It’s in Chicago on May May 2 – 4, 2008. There is limited space available so register fast.

WordCamp Dallas: I’m one of the speakers at WordCamp Dallas on March 29-30, 2008. Registration is required so sign up fast. The line up includes some top multimedia, WordPress Plugin and Theme experts, and other top bloggers and industry leaders.

Blogger and Podcaster Magazine: It looks like I will be continuing my work with Blogger and Podcaster Magazine into next year. The last three issues included articles on tips you need to know on blogging mistakes, editorial calendars for bloggers, and improving your writing skills. I’m working on a series on turning your blog into a business for the next couple months.

Blogging Tips: What Bloggers Won’t Tell You About Blogging

It appears my book, “Blogging Tips: What Bloggers Won’t Tell You About Blogging” sold very well before the holidays, so I hope my book is making some new and old bloggers happy to finally get a real bloggy gift.

You can order a copy from SplashPress or the new Blog Herald Bookstore. If you would like to order multiple copies, please email me first as that requires special handling.

For more information on the book, see the original announcement and a recent update with reviews and other information, as well as the Blogging Tips Book official page.

Most Popular Articles on Lorelle on WordPress

The most popular posts on Lorelle on WordPress the past few weeks were:

• WordPress 2.4 Release Delayed
• Adding Avatars and Gravatars to Your WordPress and WordPress.com Blog
• Contact Form WordPress Plugins
• What Do You Do When Someone Steals Your Content
• Learning About Blogging and How to Blog
• Designing a WordPress Theme From Scratch
• HTML, CSS, PHP, and More Cheat Sheets
• Do-It-Yourself Search Engine Optimization
• Hundreds of Resources for Finding Content for Your Blog
• Writing Effective, Attention-Getting Headlines and Titles on Your Blog
• Unworthy Again: Nominated for Performancing Awards
• Free Photos for Your Blog
• WordPress Plugins for Images, Photographs and Graphics

Blasts From the Past

Here are some blasts from the past I’ve written that still are interesting today:

• Housekeeping: Cleaning Out Post Drafts
• How Do You Choose a WordPress Theme?
• Finding Your CSS Styles in WordPress
• Busting Blog Ad Clutter
• Google’s Custom Homepage New Feed Excerpts

Blog Herald Columns

Recent articles on the Blog Herald included:

• My Blog is a Resource For Me. Is It? This was a short post that has gotten a lot of positive attention and negative responses, which surprised me. I thought it was one of those “this goes without saying” kind of posts. I mention a blogger who told me that his blog was a resource for him (what he really said was “My blog is for me and only for me.”) and I thought he’s right, but he’s also a bit wrong. When you hit the Publish button, your blog becomes about who reads it, too.
• I Need to Comment More. Don’t You? I’ve been traveling and so busy lately, I’ve forgotten to comment on other blogs so I wrote a kick ass reminder to myself and others that we can’t forget the “communication” part of the definition of blog.
• Internet Explorer 8 Getting Ready for You is a reminder that the web browser is our blogging friend, and IE8 is getting ready to hit the streets. I just hope we web designers are ready for it.
• Should Journalists Be Required to Comment? Should Bloggers? A year ago I ran across an article about how CNet is requiring their journalists to comment on their other journalists blogs, and it got me thinking. A lot of people starting thinking about this and sharing their comments on the issue, too.
• Don’t Blog About That Which You Understand Not is a simple thought, but some had problems with it. For me, there is nothing more important that blogging 1) what you know, 2) what you are passionate about, and 3) what you know best.

Some recent weekly WordPress Wednesday News reports included:

• WordPress Wednesday News: WordPress 2.4 is 2.5, Release Delayed, Security Release Issued, WordPress Groups Group, Talking to Plugin Authors, and More
• WordPress Wednesday News: Mandatory WordPress Security Release, Sneak Previews of WordPress 2.4, Hoodies, Vote for WordPress, Moving to WordPress, Custom Fields, and More
• WordPress Wednesday News: WordPress 2007, Nominated for TechCrunch Crunchies, More WordPress Blogs Hacked, WordPress Events in 2008, WordPress.com Blogger Wins, and Snow
• WordPress Wednesday News: Akismet Day, Two Million Bloggers, Plugin Security Warnings, And WordPress is the Best CMS
• WordPress Wednesday News: WordPress Theme Viewer Waits, New Social Network, Security Issues, Austin Grows, Gravatars Enabled, WordPress Books, Matt Cutts, and More

Lorelle’s Linkworthy Links

As I crawled through the web recently, I ran across some interesting posts and articles you should check out:

• Making promises – Seth Goodin reminds us all, including me, that we better watch what we promise. Someone may expect us to keep our promises.
• Seth Goodin – The truth about word of mouth – This is a great way to look at the power of word of mouth, especially online.
• 34 Writing Tips That Will Make You a Better Writer – This is the reader’s answers to improving your writing from the Daily Writing Tips blog.
• The Incredible Em & Elastic Layouts with CSS – From Jon Tangerine, more web designers have got to break free of the fixed width designs and try some flexible or “elastic” width designs. Use up the screen’s real estate.

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Lorelle VanFossen is a member of WordPress, WordPress.com, the 9Rules Network, and author of Blogging Tips, What Bloggers Won’t Tell You About Blogging.