Thursday, September 14, 2006

Inside This Blog


I was recently interviewed about my blog. Fortunately it was an email interview so I was able to ponder the answers before submitting them. The content of the interview covered areas such as entertainment, opinion, venting, free speech and local writing.

I was asked what made this blog appear more successful than other local blogs. I don’t really know the definition of success with a blog. Yes, there are up to 100 readers every day and it’s fun getting comments, but for me it is just a commitment to get something out there six days a week (seven if I’m pissed off about something.) The blog is more of a tool to get things out of my head so I can move on. Most local blogs don’t post every day. Christ, some post monthly if that, and there is nothing more boring than nothing. I guess people start blogs with good intentions, but soon run out of ideas or commitment. At that point it would be a good idea to delete it and move on. It’s like seeing a garage sale sign on a utility pole for a sale that happened six months ago.

I have checked out other local blogs when the writers post a comment on this blog or when someone tells me that someone is trashing me somewhere. The only “local” blog I see that has real writing talent is Mother of Three at http://www.motherhoodishell.blogspot.com/

***NOTE: I wrote this article on Monday so I did not write the this because Mother of Three wrote about Rust in her blog on Wednesday, so I’m not trying to kiss her ass because she was nice to this blog, she is simply a damn talented writer.***

Yes, it is a Mom Blog, but when she is writing about things other than children this blog is golden. She is thoughtful and honest and very much in touch with her feelings. I really appreciate when words can take you places, or as she does for me since she is local she takes me to places I’ve already been that need to be revisited. I would love it if she had a Mom Blog and a parallel Mom Off-Duty Blog where she could really kick out the jams with her writing, but being a mother of three, and a wife of one, I’m sure it’s hard to muster the energy that would take. If you read this Carrie, I so appreciate your work, and the reason I no longer post responses on your blog is because your stats are able to be viewed by all your visitors, and I’d rather keep my IP address to myself at this time. But be assured I’m in the background saying, “Right On!” Also tell Slave Hubby I enjoyed his walk to the Rusty Cup post. As for your claim to have lesser writing skills than he, it just isn’t so. You kick butt, thanks!

Anyway, back to Rust, even if one doesn’t like the writing or the content there is always a fun/silly photo to look at every day. Will I get tired of putting out an article every day? Not at least for the next month.

Do I have any future plans? Yes, I’m toying with the idea of blogging my works of fiction. Each day I may blog a book chapter. This blog will be viewable by invitation only, and I may not get around to it for a couple more months, ( I’m copywriting and getting a LCCN for the part II of the first book) but I’m thinking of it more every day.

As for comments that people leave, I may respond if they are current articles, but I don’t have time to comment on archived articles. I did once for the very first article on the blog. Someone had some complaints that I had to address. It was my personal favorite, by the way. I did set up a forum for those topics that won’t go away or won’t blog very well.

I consider this blog to be something that belongs to the community, so it is able to respond to the community where other media outlets are unable, like letters to the editor of the Daily Astoria can not publish your comments unless you leave your name. Anonymous is OK here.

Most importantly, I started this blog to shed some humor on local topics; though some of the stuff here isn’t funny. None of it will be remembered in a hundred years.

By the way, one of the most shining moments in my short blogging life was at the Sunday Market last week when I over-heard someone using the term, “Dried Salmon County.” Hee, hee,hee…

8 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I like your blog. I'm not crazy about "the mom blog."
Astoria was in need of a community blog with humor....Thanks

10:53 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The reason your blog appears/is sucessful is because you write articles on a very consistant basis.

When I first started mine I had a few hours of free time everynight to write articles and I had a lot of hits back in the day, (yes 4 months is "back in the day" in blog time) now I have way too much going on. Many days I don't even check it.

BTW what is your link rules?
I'm not going to say I deserve a link, but I know I sent some readers your way when you first started.

3:03 PM  
Blogger The Guy Who Writes This said...

The Mom blog isn't a funny blog, though it can be. I enjoy how open she is with her feelings and frustrations.Sometimes her phrasing makes me smile. I can only describe it as a texture thing like with food. Sometimes two foods will taste the same, but it's the texture that will make one better than another. I enjoy the texture of her writing.

As for a link, I was thinking about doing away with them. I have a link to the forum associated with this blog, and one to ORBLOGS for people who want to see other Oregon Blogs. The other is Syd's blog, and she get her hits from people checking out her profile when she replies here, as you will get some hits from people checking out your reply.

When I started the blog I figured I'd put up a link if 1. I read every entry in the blog and 2. If the content was close to my mind set. I didn't want to get into like-kind trading.

There was another local bloggist who foolishly linked my blog before reading my archives, in which were some articles that weren't too complimentary to something they held dear to them.
So rather than make a blind endorcement I'd rather do my homework, and the busier I get the less time I have for homework.

I will state that you do have a thought provoking blog that I hope people who have an interest in debating serious events and concepts will join in.

Thanks for checking in, and I may do an article on golf for you someday.

3:51 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I am not a fan of mom of three although I semi-regularly read her blog. I find it amusing that someone can say he/she is a buddist and yet display so much anger and hostility. Perhaps that is the type of thing that draws me back.

8:49 AM  
Blogger The Guy Who Writes This said...

Yep, I was that way too when I was a Buddist, but then I went back to red meat and I chilled out almost immediately ; )

9:01 AM  
Blogger Undercover Mother said...

I treasure your comments. Not even
Slave Hubby has said such nice things. I apologize for taking so long to get back, but we have moved from 16th to an alphabet street (no slope!) and moving has been kicking my ass. But I'm back and this was just the nicest thing! Muchas gracias!

1:02 AM  
Blogger Undercover Mother said...

BTW: I am a Buddhist totally on a path to learning. I'm so far from Enlightenment that I can't even get there by plane. And I really enjoy dissecting things, logic, with a dash of my hot Scottish temper. I also practice Native American medicine, which, truthfully, is more suited to me. But, when I moved to Astoria my lodge community dried up.

In other words, the Dalai Lama won't be coming to my house to make a sand mandala anytime soon.

1:07 AM  
Blogger The Guy Who Writes This said...

Enlightenment isn't all it's cracked up to be. It's kind of like living from orgasm to orgasm. Yeah it feels good, but it's the persuit that has value.

A letter street? Jeffers Gardens?

5:57 AM  

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