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 me no-working luck. Haven’t been on a no-working vacation in years. Many years.

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 Weekly Digest: Writing About Writing, Working on Books, Lots of Speaking Gigs, and Blog Struggles is a Success if you want to catch up.

What’s Happening with Lorelle on WordPress

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

Blog Challenge: Blog About Being Small was the opposite challenge of last week on Blog About Being Big – aka Successful.
WordCamp Hamburg, Germany was written and photographed by my friend, Ian of Letters Home To You, about the first European WordCamp.
Can You Sell Your Blog? follows the article on How to Buy or Sell a Blog which explores tips on buying and selling blogs.
How to Buy or Sell a Blog is the first of a two part mini-series on buying and selling blogs, looking at what others are saying and whether or not you should consider buying or selling your blog. It’s going to be a hot topic this year.
Pushing Internet Explorer 7 was news about Microsoft pushing Internet Explorer 7 onto corporate installations and possibly home installations. Since the web browser is your most important tool in blogging, you need to keep informed on what is going on within the web browser market.
Weekly Digest: Interviews, Non-stop Writing, Setting Clocks, and Challenging You to Blog Better was last week’s weekly digest.
Blog Challenge: Blog About Being Big – aka Successful is based upon something a friend of mine says all the time in Israel, “I want to be big!” What she means is that she wants to be successful, which she is, but she wants more successful moments in her life. The response has been wonderful as people share “big” moments in their lives.

Blog Struggles Series

My ongoing series on Blog Struggles continues to go strong. People are really identifying with my stories of some of the struggles I’ve had over 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.
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.
Blog Struggles: Recovering From a Traffic Spike really touched a lot of people as they related to the addiction that traffic spikes bring, as well as the hassles.

Lorelle’s News

Edublogs Magazine: At the bottom of this week’s Weekly Digest, I’ve now added a section covering my participation on the Edublogs Magazine including articles I and others have written. It’s an exciting project and I’m eager to help bring together blogging professionals with leaders in education, especially online and distance learning experts to help teachers improve their teaching skills with web and computer technologies.

Download Squad: The interview with Download Squad should be out soon. We had a great time talking about blogging, especially how to break down the stagnancy on the web by finding the passion in your blogging again. If you want the latest in hot computer technology information and news, check out their blog and podcast.

Alliance for Distance Education Summit: I will be among the key speakers in the Alliance for Distance Education in California in Pasadena on April 2-5, 2008. Now that I’m part of the Edublogs Network, I’m really looking forward to meeting other educational professionals committed to integration of web technologies into the classroom. The summit is open to the public and educational professionals, teachers, and leaders, so get your reservation in soon.

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 2 – 4, 2008. There is limited space available so register fast.

WordCamp Dallas: I’m one of the fantastic team of 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: Blogger and Podcaster Magazine will feature me as a regular columnist this year. The next article coming out soon will be on the business of blogging, part of a series. Get your issue in stores now! I’ll also be recording podcast versions of my articles so you can hear as well as read me.

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

News That Could Be News is holding a contest soon and a signed copy of my book, “Blogging Tips: What Bloggers Won’t Tell You About Blogging”, is one of the prizes!

The demand for my book continues to be high, so we’ve decided to extend the lower price a little longer, but stay tuned for a price increase. Get your book while the cheaper copies last. 😀

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:

Blasts From the Past

Here are some blasts from the past I’ve written that still are interesting today and might be useful to you:

Blog Herald Columns

Recent articles on the Blog Herald included:

Using Abbreviations May Hurt Your Blog takes a look at an often overlooked and forgotten HTML tag acronym and the issue of whether or not your use of acronyms instead of full terms hurts or helps your blog get found by searchers.
Are You Just Another WordPress Blog? There are still a lot of WordPress blogs out on the web with the default tagline still in place. I offer tips on changing your blog’s tagline in WordPress.
The True Consequences of Blogging Anonymously takes an honest look at the consequences of blogging anonymously, whether to protect your employment or life.
Consistently Blogging Consistently shares a personal story of mine about a delightful but inconsistent foreign language teacher and offers a comparison to blogs which also feature inconsistent and rambling content.
I Hate What I Blog About shares the stunning comment someone told me at a conference recently, and looks at the issue of really hating what you blog about, and why that’s not a good thing and how to get back to the love.
Edublogs Campus: Bringing Blogs to Schools is my take on a new way to help schools connect teachers with students and parents. Edublogs Campus is based upon WordPressMU and allows schools to replace their website with blogging software that allows each class, student, teacher, or whoever to have their own blogs. Just think what your school experience would have been like if your school newspaper was a blog?
The Art of the Weekend Blogger takes a look at a long-time tradition of a professional writing becoming one by working on the weekend. Many bloggers and writers have full-time jobs during the week, so their only time to blog is the weekend. I offer some tips to help the weekend blogger blog better.

Some recent weekly WordPress Wednesday News reports included:

Blasts from the Past of Blog Herald Posts

I’ve been writing for the Blog Herald for a year now, and I thought I’d highlight some of the more interesting posts I’ve published there.

Lorelle’s Linkworthy Links

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

Carbon nanotube carpet darkest thing ever made – I’m just fascinated with nanotube technology. Can’t get enough of what this stuff can do and mean for our future.
Harnessing the power of P2P looks at the benefits the “bad boy” of the web has for downloads.
Photos: Open-source housing for those in need – The Open Architecture Network is using social networking technology with architects on issues for building homes for the poor and displaced, another fascinating use of online collaboration.
Rite, Write, Right, Wright from Daily Writing Tips tackles a favorite spelling boo boo of mine that I find all over the place. I love it when I’m write. 😀
Complex and Complicated is another from Daily Writing Tips that looks at the issues in using these two terms, something I’ve struggled over plenty.

This is the Weekly Digest of Lorelle on WordPress.
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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.

3 Comments

jsh177

Posted February 3, 2008 at 9:53 pm | Permalink

Hey Lorelle,

Love the blog (long time reader)! FYI, your link to Edublogs magazine is reversed. It’s directing to edublogs.magazine.org rather than magazine.edublogs.org.

Cheers,

Jason Heath

Lorelle VanFossen

Posted February 3, 2008 at 11:47 pm | Permalink

@ jsh177:

ARGH! Thank you. It’s fixed now.

Chicago

Posted February 10, 2008 at 3:14 pm | Permalink

You have a great blog, you now have another regular reader here. Thanks and keep it going.

Lorelle on WordPress

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