Are You a Blogger?

Are you a writer?

Do you blog?

Are you a big blogger, meaning do you have many readers, or are you dragging along like Sylvester Stallone aka Rocky pulling a Semi?

Well, I was about to ask you a couple of questions here, and Viola' I found one answer. But since I value your input, I’m asking you first.

One: Do readers like long blogs?

I find it hard to believe that they do, for I believe that most people are busy.  I want to suck up the information (or be entertained) and get on with my writing, so I would assume that other's do also. However, the blogging gurus say that people like long blogs because they believe then it contains important content. (I have a bridge to sell you too.)

They say that Google likes long blogs and, therefore, moves them up in the searches. That way they get more exposure, and, therefore, you get more traffic.

I would say that one exception to this Rule (?) is #Seth Godin. He writes daily, writes short blogs, is one of the most popular bloggers in cyberspace, and he gets a ton of traffic. One difference is, that instead of a fancy webpage, he sends his information via email. Of course, you must sign up for it.

Two: Is blogging dead?

Some think so because there are so many of bloggers. One little blog gets lost in the shuffle, or else people are tired of reading them. Could be we

are dull and boring…speak for yourself Joyce.

Ok, just what answer did I find?

Back to Seth Godin. I found his book #Purple Cow. The point is we have seen many cows, brown ones and black and white ones, and soon we are tired of looking at cows. But if we see a Purple Cow! Wow. That gets attention.

Companies like Starbucks, and Apple, continue to grow in spite of critics. Why?

They’re purple cows.

See ya later.

Jo

Ps. Ha ha. Look up Purple Cows on the internet and you will see more than you can shake a stick at. Got'a come up with a new analogy./

More If’s, And’s, and no Buts.

Isaac Asimov said, “If the doctor told me I had six minutes to live, I wouldn’t brood, I’d type faster.”

More If’s to think about:

If the crowd likes sweets, does that mean we ought to sweeten most every food? And instead of sprinkling a few grains of pure cane sugar from Hawaii, grown in the sun, (didn’t we do that when we were kids with little repercussions), we hire scientists to create chemicals that trick our brains into thinking we are tasting sweet, all the while stacking on weight.

If the crowd likes big booms, explosions, and war games, does that mean we ought to up the ante in movies, books, and video games to see who can provide the biggest boom, fire, or car crash?

If children like solving puzzles and playing games via the internet, does that mean that the only way we can provide tension and conflict, it to kill something?

If the crowd likes to be chased does that mean we ought to provide a chase scene in every action movie?

 If the crowd likes digests over books, then should we offer more U-tube videos, sound bites, and quick reads?

If the crowd will stand in line for a popular attraction, and by-pass the meatier dramas, documentaries, or movies of substance, then do we need to sell the sizzle and not the steak?

If the crowd likes simple, cheap, fast and fun, then, in order to sell, do we need to enter those concepts into most all advertising?

It the crowd doesn’t like to read, does that mean we stop printing books?

Do you think when Michelangelo was carving David he was concerned about whether the populace would like it?

Do you think when Andy Warhol painted soup cans he thought that people loved Campbell’s Soup so much they would want a painting of that product on their walls?

Do you think when Orville and Wilbur Wright climbed into their bicycle made flyable with wings they thought they were going to get rich building airplanes?

No, these people were experimenting. They were expressing their creativity; they did what they wanted to do and in the doing of it, advanced their craft, and thus civilization.

There is an aspect of the crowd that creative people sometimes forget—that is that chase scenes wear out, that hype gets old, and that the new, the fun, the creative, gets their juices flowing.

Do the work that matters to you.

You’re the one to make a brighter day.

If

“If you can start the day without caffeine,

“If you can always be cheerful, ignoring aches and pains,

“If you can resist complaining and boring people with your troubles,

“If you can eat whatever food is put on your plate and be grateful for it,

“If you can understand when your loved ones are too busy to give you any time,

“If you can take criticism and blame without resentment,

“If you can watch friends go away on exotic vacations when you have to stay at home, without even a twinge of jealousy.

“If you can face the world without lies and deceit,

“If you can relax without beer, wine, or liquor,

“And if you can sleep without the aid of drugs,

“Then you are probably a dog.”

--Jack Kornfield

Perspective

Just a little encouragement for you writers who keep your butt to the chair and your fingers to the keys with the hope that what you are putting blood sweat and tears into matters.

This is from #Seth Godin's blog:

The crowd, your work, and a choice

The crowd prefers sweets.

The crowd gets on its feet when your band plays the big hit, and sits down for the new songs.

The crowd will pay far more for a steak dinner than a vegetable one, regardless of cost or effort or value.

The crowd will always pick the movie over the book.

The crowd would rather wait in line for the popular attraction.

The crowd likes to be chased.

The crowd likes explosions, resolved plots and ample lighting.

The crowd would prefer a digest.

The crowd never liked Ornette Coleman very much.

The crowd's favorite words include fast, easy, cheap, fun, now and simple.

The crowd needs a deadline.

The crowd is the group of people who don't get what you do, who loom on the horizon as the reward for making your work more popular.

And yet, the crowd continually gets more than it deserves because people like you make work that matters. Work that you're proud of.

Don't Get Mad

I have meditated. I believe in the Law of Attraction, I have gone to conscious raising seminars. One would think I would be calm, serene, and in divine accord with all living things, so why do I feel like adding all the swear words I can think of into one sentence?

“Stop trash talking yourself," wrote Lynn Hauka, “just because you still get mad enough to whack someone upside the head.

“You’re human. You’re built to have all kinds of emotions.”

Okay, Okay, think of this:

“If you can start the day without caffeine,

“If you can always be cheerful, ignoring aches and pains,

“If you can resist complaining and boring people with your troubles,

“If you can eat whatever food is put on your plate and be grateful for it,

“If you can understand when your loved ones are too busy to give you any time,

“If you can take criticism and blame without resentment,

“If you can watch friends go away on exotic vacations when you have to stay at home, without even a twinge of jealousy.

“If you can face the world without lies and deceit,

“If you can relax without beer, wine, or liquor,

“And if you can sleep without the aid of drugs,

“Then you are probably a dog.”*

*Copied from the  tim brownson  blog. He copied it from Jack Kornfield

I was set off this morning by reading some of Jon Morrow’s great wonderful stupendous prize winning guest blogs. I was supposed to be inspired. So, why was swearing?

Maybe it was the person telling me about the infamous #slush pile.

After you read instructions on how to query, you follow the agent’s instructions, you write a cover letter, a query, a tagline, a short synopsis, a long synopsis, include the first 10 or 50 pages of the manuscript, what happens?

It’s enough to make the most seasoned writer swear.

So, what is the guru’s advice?

“Network.”

“Meet agents person to person.”

“Go to Conferences.”

It’s  winter now and I will have to wait until August to get my butt up the state of Oregon to the closest conference I know about, the #Willamette Writer’s Conference. I first heard about it when I heard that Jean Auel sold the #Clan of the Cave Bear to agent #Jean Naggar.  Nagger auctioned the book, and Viola’. You’ve heard of it, probably read it, and the copious sequels as well.

Hark, before I leave this blog, instead of just kvetching, I do have some advice:

Go to #Chuck Sambuchino’s blog. He is a contributor to Writer’s Digest and has great advice. At at a conference in Las Vegas he gave away so much material I am referring to it still, years later.

For marketing check out #John Kremer’s Book # 1001 Ways to market your Book.

Both of these men are the real deal and are generous to a fault.