Category Archives: How to Blog

Blogging: Don’t Believe Everything You Read

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I will be writing a bit more about Mexico, as I wait for all of the trauma to settle in. There was beauty too. A whole lot of beauty. But I’m mainly writing because one of my daily reads, The Pioneer Woman, is putting forth a bit of an illusion for her devoted readership. I’m talking about her useful post, Ten Important Things I’ve Learned About Blogging.

There is only one thing she writes that really hits it on the head — when she writes:

5. Allow your boundaries to set themselves naturally.
Don’t feel like you have to sit down and set rules about what you will and will not blog about from day one. Just blog, and see what feels comfortable for you.

I did that.

I’ve found, over time, that I tend to blog about the same things I’d talk to my sister about.

I’ve also found, over time, that I tend not to blog about things I wouldn’t talk to my sister about.

For example, I don’t blog about hanky panky.

I also don’t talk to my sister about hanky panky. If I did, she’d cover her ears and say, “Okay, gross.”

And you probably would, too.

What she doesn’t say here is that her blog is designed for a specific type of pleasure for her readers. Her boundaries are very much set by what her readers want to see from her. She knows what they don’t want to see because she has to listen to her readers complain in the comments section. I don’t think her sister has very much to do with it. Sorry to say, but if this is the kind of thing she talks about to her sister they have a very shallow relationship. Not to say there is anything wrong with shallow. If you can’t talk at all to someone you usually just put your best face forward and kind of fake it. And The Pioneer Woman definitely fakes it. But she does it very well. She does it so well that her blog is a must-read every morning. No one would tune in if it was just one complaint after another. No one wants to hear about how much her server costs or how long it takes her to edit and upload images. Or how frustrating it can be to always be taking photos while everyone else lives their lives.

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Why I Like Code

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Ten years ago I taught myself to read and write html. All of these years later I’m fumbling my way through CSS, PHP and MYSQL. I’m learning as if I were plunked into a foreign country and made to learn their language by simply jumping in and struggling through misinterpretations and frustration.

I am not someone who thinks in any logical way about anything. I am completely lacking in common sense, and all of my educational background — to the tune of a student loan that is upwards of $100 grand — is in the arts. Therefore it seems kind of contradictory that I would love code.

But I do. Somehow.

It is the same impulse that had me taking apart an iPod once and putting in my own toilet. It is my favorite refrain from the forgotten David Mamet/Alec Baldwin/Tony Hopkins movie The Edge, “what one man can do another can do.”

Strength is one thing. If I CAN’T do it, I mostly won’t attempt it. But if it’s possible? If it’s just a matter of figuring it out? I feel that I am up to the challenge most of the time. Even if it means delivering a finished product that is half-assed.

WordPress and php are entirely fascinating. All code is fascinating to me but PHP is my new favorite thing. One thing I love about it is the magic you can create with it. It is remarkable that one little comma or semi-colon can throw the whole thing off, but if you get the code just right? And stuff actually works? Amazing.

WordPress has a wealth of resources for those of us who want to dive right in and get our hands dirty with code. The thing is, it is totally logical and follows a set of rules. It won’t confuse you once you understand the basics.
The Codex at WordPress will give you almost every little piece of info you need to hack your current WordPress theme. And if it isn’t easy to understand in Codex — because sometimes it isn’t; sometimes they leave off the simple stuff you need to know, like how to wrap a php command. They just give you the command and you have to figure out how to wrap it and where to put it. Nonetheless, it is fabulous.

If the Codex doesn’t have it, chances are another blogger does have it. So do a google search and then poke at it. Just make sure you always have the old code to return to once you fuck up the new one you’re playing around with.

There is nothing more satisfying, I’ll have you know, than figuring something out and having it work. I am still confused by CSS. CSS freaks me out on any number of levels, but it is one of my last challenges. I prefer the code that makes things work.

So, if you find yourself completely confused by how WordPress works, do yourself a favor and start diving in, hacking your theme, and figuring out how it all fits together. It will be a grand learning experience.

One Really Important Thing I Learned Today

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In all of the years I’ve been online, I’m still surprised to find that every single day I find a new voice, a new vision, a new person who is handing out useful info, advice, or just plain beauty. Today’s cool person is Derek Sivers. I found him via Lifehacker (a great site) and immediately, I’ve already learned several important concepts. Some of them confirm what I suspected but weren’t yet a certainty (I HAVE MY CERTAINTY!).

Sivers gave up his investment in CDBaby and put it towards charity, musical education specifically. That is “his story,” but his blog is full of great advice that he gives away for free.

It’s a streamlined, non-cluttered site with the important stuff to know up front.

What drew me there was his post on how not to thwart your own development by assuming you are smarter than everyone else and that you already know everything. Not a good long term plan, it turns out.

He says to assume you are below average – and that may be the thing that saves you. The other really spine-chilling bit of news for me? Something he just wrote a week or so ago on why it’s important to provide something FOR others rather than just for yourself. This is especially true if you are hoping to make money as a blogger; you aren’t going to make a dime doing what I do on this site, that is, write for my own pleasure without giving back much to my three readers. And that’s why I only have three readers. The moment I start giving a lot back to readers? That’s when people will come, Ray. If you build it, they will come. People like information. They like a daily surprise. They like wit, beauty, even conflict. They like political discourse. They like commentary. So, if you wanna be a blogger, read Derek Sivers and you will learn much, Grasshopper.

Bloggers Never Stop Working

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That’s the thing about blogging that occurred to me last night, as we stumbled out of California Adventure — the souls of our feet aching, our psyches bled out, our wallets drained – my thoughts were on the Oscars. Or they were on this other site I’m trying to get launched, or they were on a part of a site that I know needs a lot of work but if it works it will be great. My thoughts on it never end. That either makes me driven or it makes me a maniac. This is one key aspect about blogging that is different from being a journalist.

Journalists don’t have to build things from scratch. They are always getting credit — mostly from so-called PR guys – but really, most people who bag on blogger and praise journalists give the credit for doing the actual reporting. That means they make phone calls, ask questions, write a story, get paid. Lately, many of them have been getting laid off yet the bloggers remain. Why? Because most of us did it before we were making money, and many of us would do it even if we weren’t making money.

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So You Wanna Be a Blogger — Everybody is Going to Hate You

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Ugh. This has not been a great week. If you want to blog, know this: the more successful you become, the more people are going to hate you. I am unfortunately an Oscar blogger, an invented genre, an invented profession and one no one respects. It is like uttering a dirty word in a crowded room of nuns when someone asks you what you do. I usually just say “I run a movie site,” or “I run an awards site.” It almost always requires further explanation.

The great thing about the internet is that people don’t often rely upon one site or one voice. They can hop around from site to site getting their daily fix. There is competition, always. And there is usually a winner. Everyone else scrambles to either top the winner or eke out a little piece of the pie on their own. I’ll let you in on a secret: it all kind of makes me sick and any day now I’m ready to jump ship and go teach elementary kids.

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