Weekly Digest: Lorelle in San Francisco Talking Blogging and WordPress, Offerring Blog Resources, Beating a Plagiarist, and More

This week finds me in San Francisco starting a spring and summer of public appearances and conferences. I’m getting really geared up for WordCamp Dallas on March 29-30, 2008, and Successful and Outstanding Bloggers Conference in Chicago in May. I hear both of these are filling up fast, so get your registration in immediately.

I took time out to help Liz Strauss with a guest post while she’s on a business trip, and had some fun releasing my alter-evil twin, Lorraine, to talk about what you need to do to maximize your social networking when you get up close and personal at a blog conference.

This week also finds WordPress.com having trouble releasing future posts. The developers are working so hard on the WordPress 2.5 release on Monday, so they haven’t gotten to this new bug on WordPress.com. I expect it to be fixed soon. What does this mean for me? It means that future posts I’d written to be released while I’m working in San Francisco go unreleased unless I make an appearance and re-publish them.

Ain’t blogging fun. 😀

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.

Blogging Resources and Sources to Help You Blog is part one of a series of articles I’m writing to share the resources I use to help me blog. Next week, I’ll be sharing web technology resources, writing resources, business for bloggers and writers, and more.
Weekly Digest: Catching Up, Speaking San Francisco, Future Post Mixup, Talking to Blogger Talks, and More was last week’s Weekly Digest and update news.
Where Do You Go For Your Blog Research and References? The introductory article that looks at how we use the web to find the resources, facts, statistics, and more we need to write our blog content.
Lorelle Talks to Blogger Talks is the announcement of an interview I did with Blogger Talks.
Blogging Romance with Lorelle in San Francisco is the announcement of upcoming programs and events where I will be speaking, starting with the Romance Writers of America in San Francisco.
Don’t Write Away Your Rights points to a wonderful article by Jonathan Bailey on the Blog Herald about signing away, or not, your writes when you blog for pay.
The Real Hidden Value of Old Post Traffic looks at a wonderful lesson that can be learned from watching your blog statistics once in a while. Your old posts are still working for you, as are the old posts of other bloggers that continue to bring in traffic a year or three later.

Blog Struggles Series

My ongoing series on Blog Struggles continues to go strong. Many loved the kitty porn picture I published last week featuring the now recovered Holiday yawning while sleeping on his back in my knitting yarn.

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.
Blog Struggles: Surviving the When Blogging Goes Bad Blues look at how to keep on writing when life gets in the way.

Lorelle’s News

Guest Blogging With Liz Strauss: With Liz away this week in Austin for SxSW, I took over her blog for the day with Reviewing Your Face to Face Networking Techniques, a Lorraine style post with tips on why you should attend conferences and get “in the face” of everyone you meet.

Talking Romance with the Romance Writers of America in San Francisco: It was so much fun speaking at the Romance Writers of America San Francisco Chapter’s special event on Web Publishing for Authors on Saturday. I met so many wonderful writers and learned a lot about how the romance writing industry works. We talked a lot about how to maximize your blog with social networking and marketing techniques to help sell books and increase your marketability by leveraging the skills you exhibit on your blog.

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.

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. 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.

Interview on Blogger Talks: An interview I did recently with Blogger Talks is out: The Lorelle Story: An Interview with Lorelle VanFossen. It covers some of my web history, predictions on the future of the web and blogging, and a plea for new web technologies to make the web an easier place to blog and network.

Download Squad: The interview with Grant and Christina of the Download Squad’s Squadcast 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.

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.

Blogger and Podcaster Magazine: Blogger and Podcaster Magazine will feature me as a regular columnist this year. The most recent article discusses finding your blog purpose and client base, and the next one covers time and financial blog management. Get your issue in stores now or subscribe. There are some very hot articles on blogging and podcasting. They are improving their website and I’ll 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

My book, Blogging Tips – What bloggers won’t tell you about blogging, is selling fast, as people prepare for a price increase coming in May. Get your copy now before the price goes up.

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

My blogging resources article series will continue next week. The response has been overwhelming to this series and I’m very excited about sharing the resources I use to help me blog. I’m looking forward to seeing your lists, too.

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

Nice Things Said About Lorelle

Donna of What’s Past is Prologue cited Blogging Resources and Sources to Help You Blog as a good resource for genealogy bloggers. Well, Donna, stay tuned. I’ve got more to help with your genealogy research coming. 😀

Second Wind writes up a nice recommendation about Lorelle on WordPress saying:

She is very methodical and clear in her composition, and there are some pretty cool gadgets and design features in the blog itself (what about that graphical article signature? Is that cool or what?).

But the real juice is in the tons of articles ranging from technical to more philosophical and content-related issues.

Way to go, Lorelle, I can only imagine the amount of work you put into your blog, and that´s why I must recommend it to any WordPress enthusiast out there.

And this is why I keep doing what I do. Thank you for the kind words.

Specky Boy offers “63 Essential WordPress Hacks, Tutorials, Help Files and Cheats” and includes some of my articles on different sites, including the WordPress Codex, the online manual for WordPress Users. You all know that I’ve written a ton of the articles on the WordPress Codex, right? Sometimes, even I forget how many.

Andrew Pavelski writes about how to write timeless content and cites Lorelle on WordPress as an example. This is something I’m very proud of and he makes some really good points about what defines timeless content on your blog.

I’m seeing more and more posts like this from The Adventures of Mauser Girl and Pinoy Tech Blog that speak of the overwhelming ugly that smacks your blog from comment spammers and content scrapers – the ugly of splogs on the web. We’re hit by mean commenters and junk commenters on our blogs, then slapped by those who steal our content, leaving us frustrated. We feel like we are spending more time dealing with the ugly than with the positive aspects of blogging. I will be talking more about this and how to maintain perspective over the next few months. Thanks for the reminder!

Another of the reasons I keep doing what I do is when I can do this: Cue the Trumpets by Lamb and Frog. I quoted Amber in an article in the Blog Herald on Are You a Writer Who Knits or a Knitter Who Writes? and rocked her world. I’m still smiling at her response. Thank you, Amber, for giving me such wonderful inspiration. It’s people like you that help me do my job better.

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

Blog Herald Logo I’ve had a lot of fun with some of the articles I’ve written on the Blog Herald lately, including a checklist to help you prepare for the upcoming release of WordPress. A lot of the regular contributors are covering some other fascinating blogging issues and news, so go check them out and subscribe to the Blog Herald feed.

Recent articles on the Blog Herald included:

WordPress Upgrade Preparation Checklist covers some basics and beyond you may need to do to prepare your WordPress blog for upgrading to WordPress 2.5 next week.
Are You a Writer Who Knits or a Knitter Who Writes? A lot of people are struggling with answering the question of whether or not you are one thing or the other while doing both things. It’s an interesting look at how we label ourselves.
Breaking Trust: How Not To Link to a Plagiarist reports on an uncomfortable experience I had uncovering a wonderful article, and how I almost published a story about it – before I found out that I was referencing a plagiarist, not the original author. The article includes clues and tips on how to help you determine if you are reading an original or copy.
Banging the Pots and Pans on Your Blog offers tips and suggestions on publicizing your blog posts and blog, making some noise in the process.
What Are Your Blog Resources? This is an announcement about next week’s series on blog resources, specifically sharing the resources and sources I use to help me blog.
FireFox Bravely Battles On in the Browser Wars takes a look at how FireFox is doing in the browser wars and how some sites are finding FireFox surpassing the individual Internet Explorer versions for the first time.
Thou Shall Not Blog takes a look at the reasons many can’t blog by order of work, government or religion.

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 here are some of the articles I’ve covered dealing with comments and comment spam.

Lorelle’s Linkworthy Links

A Legal Issues Primer for Open Source and Free Software Projects released by the Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC) is a great but technical guide to help you understand GPL and open source licensing.
Is SEO A One-Time Activity? by ifacethoughts asks a good question about how we are using and abusing SEO and what it is really all about. Worth an answer, don’t you think?
Usability Bliss and Utopian User Interface Dreams from from Cre8pc on Usability & Holistic SEO looks at the reality and illusion of usability on the web, citing what others recommend and have to say on the issue. Delightful.
How to Be a Good Neighbor In an Attention Economy is self explanatory. Part of participating in the social web is being a good neighbor. So how do you do that?

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.