A Year without Posting

I knew that something was wrong. Something was missing. Something wasn't right. I tried to fix it, and failed. I decided I'd try again in a few days, when things slowed down. They haven't, I didn't. Finally in frustration I asked for help.

The response I got wasn't helpful at all. I tried to follow the instructions but to no avail. So I decided to try again: in a few days, when things slowed down. They haven't. They didn't. In frustration I asked for help again.

The problem was the same, the response was different. This time they removed the block and everything works.

Except of course that I discovered I haven't posted in over a year. A very good reason for that is that I stopped writing. Again. For a writer, that is not good. Mostly because that makes you not a writer.

My last post was 11 Jun 2014, 9 days past my self proclaimed year without wearing a tie. My last bit of writing was 11 Jun 2014. I even stopped keeping track of the airplane flights I was taking (I think I ended up spending close to 6 days in the air over the course of 16 months).

Is that about to change? Maybe, maybe not. I need things to slow down first.

Where'd Who Go?

Out of all the reading I've read on writing one thing is incredibly consistent: In order to write, you must read. Over the course of the last few months I have consistently blogged less and less. I have attributed this to increased duties at work, at home, worrying about how to fix this, that or the other. In reality, I haven't read much of anything. I haven't even listened to many books on tape (or CD or mp3). It isn't just that I haven't had many thoughts to blog about, I haven't worked on my work in progress much over the course of the last year. If you recall, that's the year that I set the goal of finishing my WIP, which I am awfully close to but I've been awfully close to that point since last year at this same exact time.

About a month ago I commented on the fact that the only television shows I watch any more (other than NFL football) are only 30 minutes long. This of course means there is 21 minutes of program and 9 minutes of commercials I fast forward through because I LONG ago got to the point where I could barely watch television without recording it on my TiVO (or now DVR). Yes, this does make some football games interminably long as well since more often than not I don't record them.

Along this same line, I picked up a Christmas gift of short stories a few days ago. I'm not very far into it when I did my other normal reading habit--reading more than one book at a time. So now, after a holiday I am listening to a book on tape, reading a book of short stories, reading a non-fiction book, and my brain instantly began stewing in the thoughts that abound and cause successful writers to warn prospective writers that they cannot write without reading.

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Snail Mail Email Finally

My blog has been quiet the last few weeks. Again this irony is not because I have had nothing to say but because I have simply not had time to say it. My split-personality life has been keeping me running in circles. This morning I am simply taking advantage of the fact that I am not sleeping well with lots on my mind. Just before my long break, I had a conversation with a fellow writer and blogger Jeff Goins. In addition to encouragement, help and ideas, he suggested a method I could use to distribute my novella. For many months I have intended to give away my work for subscribers to The Hole on the End of the Bible Belt. Now I finally can. If you click on the link at the bottom of the post you will be sent information on how to download a pdf file of If: An Allegory. There is also a similar link on the bottom of the post in the RSS feed. 

I am pleased to be able to provide this work for your reading pleasure and review. Comments are encouraged, and if you are interested afterwards, I have a second file composed of the hidden symbolism and metaphors in the work. 

Fiction writing authors have to blog differently than non-fiction authors. A fact that I have been coming to terms with and that Jeff helped hammer home. The next few weeks and months will bring some changes to the way I post here. The topic of Providence will remain, but the manner it is delivered will differ. I hope we both enjoy it more.

And thank you for subscribing. Your enjoyment and engagement are the desires I have of this blog.

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Subscriptions

It appears that I have overcome the technical difficulties that have plagued me since I decided I would give subscribers a copy of my novella as a thank you for subscribing. Accompanying this post should be a link to a private page that allows downloading of the pdf of If: An Allegory.

There would be more to this post if I wasn't trying to replace siding on my house before the rain arrives in a few hours. Instead, I'll re-post it later. Meanwhile, thanks for subscribing.

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Frequency

The frequency of my blogging is intimately connected to what happenings I have going on in my life. Which is to be more expected, that when there is a lot going on I have more to write about or that when there isn't a lot going on I have time to write? The two are mutually exclusive and yet inexorably linked. I created this  blog at a point where I was very secure in my job, I knew what I was doing, what was expected of me, and what would be going on the next day, week, month, etc. Then four months into it things changed. Having revealed that I knew what was going on as well as demonstrating that I knew how to do more, it was clear that I was coasting. That's when challenges appear. I was offered an opportunity to move to a new office where they needed someone to do what I was doing, but also where there was a long-time employee who had been on the verge of retiring for 2 and a half years. This meant that I would have a chance to not only do my job, but to learn parts of his job so that when (if) he retires there would be not only an open position, but someone who knows how to fill that position.

This was not to say that I was sent here to take his job. Not to say that I was sent here so that when he retires his job would be mine. And not to say that I accepted the challenge so that I would get his job.

Of course those were the reasons, but no one could say that. I can't expect anyone to say that, and if anyone did I wouldn't believe them because they can't say that. Clear as mud?

The Catch-22 was bad enough, that when lots of things are going on there are lots of things to write about but no time to write or the converse that when nothing is going on there is nothing to write but plenty of time to do it in, but the reality of it is even harder. There's always something to do and I'm usually not in the right place to do it. My young bride is trying to raise two teens and a toddler while balancing the normal housework load, her job, plus repairs, not to mention the constant Mom's Taxi service she runs. I am constantly on the go between home, my other home, my office, my field office, trying to complete some online training needed for certifications I need in order to get up to the next level at work, trying to do what repairs I can at home when I'm there, at my Dad's when I'm there, and still needing to work on both my wife's van and my truck. Is it any wonder the blogging has fallen off in the last six months? Not to me.

Now, I do still have lots to say. I have lots of draft posts, some are even partly typed. When I do get (or force myself to find) time to write I notice an increase in site visits (as expected). I have even been able to do a few things I learned early on in my blogging to attract lots of additional attention to my blog. But the elusiveness of regularity is working against me in building the blog. I want my posts to be spot on powerful pieces of writing and would settle for sporadic. There is a blog I follow that is someone in Africa. Her posts are infrequent, yet when they appear they are powerful reminders. It is a matter of quality posts versus quantity of posts.

Blogging is supposed to be a conversation, a two-way street. I follow one blogger who doesn't allow comments. Another allows comments but neither sorts through the comments to take out the spam nor comments back that I've seen. A blogger I learned a lot from, and continue to learn from has a great mix of commenting, sorting comments, quantity and quality, plus I've found that by commenting on his site it can really drive up traffic to mine. At the risk of running a thought into the ground, or maybe just stretching it out, there is another blogger I have never met but enjoy reading with a good mix of those things that is quite enjoyable to read. Even he has a consistency to his posts that allow for the quality to come out from time to time.

The problem is that flashpan quality is achievable, but not likely. Steady production can achieve quality with quantity, but takes more than we sometimes have to offer. My point today wasn't to talk about blogging. Blogging is the vessel that describes the concept today. I may not have gotten the quality of post I wanted. I may have not gotten the quantity of posts I wanted. As long as I got the point across, this was a successful article.

I welcome comments, not only to this thought, but just to see if anyone's listening. ~

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Versatility

Last week a blogging cousin of mine nominated me for a Versatile Blogger Award. At first I thought it was flattering, then nice, then I read what it entailed. Answering questions about yourself and nominating others, if you weren't versatile before you were nominated, you will be afterwords. Of course, the award seems to be a self-multiplying award that can quickly spin into an out of hand number of awardees that are struggling to find bloggers that aren't already nominated. But that's the mathematician in me talking.  The first real question I asked myself was, am I a versatile blogger? I'm reminded of the quote, "To do two things at once is to do neither," by Publius Syrus. Too often I believe he was right on with his take on it. Just this evening I found myself writing a blog post, making potato salad for the ChristX lunch at work, cleaning the bathroom, getting one of my inboxes down from 409 unread to 124 emails, and doing laundry (for the record, I only cleaned the bathroom after I had peeled and cut up the potato salad parts). But the award doesn't necessarily stand for straight versatility, it is for versatility in blogging--a much more difficult sell.

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So, am I a versatile blogger? Just being able to meet the rules of this award could show that I am or am not. The rules are to nominate 15 fellow bloggers, inform the bloggers of their nomination, share 7 random things about yourself, thank the blogger who nominated you, and add the Versatile Blog Award picture on your blog post.

 Well, thank you, Edee. I really do appreciate the nod, even though I'm pretty sure my blog is one-tracked, at least to my way of thinking.

 As for random things, I think I'll share information that floats around in my head that you can get from me at any point on any day. Why is this random? I know that the last war fought with blue uniforms issued to American troops was the Spanish-American War. I know that the last man to walk on the moon was Eugene Cernan. I know that the day after Christmas is Boxing Day even though it isn't "celebrated" in the United States. I have also had to explain Kwanza to some American-Africans.

I once purchased tires of a different size for my truck. On the way home I calculated the difference in the height of my truck to be 0.4 inches by converting the tire size (first number is the distance from bead to bead, second number is percent of tire in sidewall) from metric to standard. When I arrived home I googled tire sizes and had my computer tell me the difference in height was 0.35 inches. Not bad calculating in my head (I am SOOOOO an engineer). By my count that is six random facts that are just floating around in my head.

One more random piece of information in my head is the fact that I know more about the War Between the States then anyone who doesn't precede their name with Doctor or call themselves a professor (and perhaps as much as many of them). If you ever doubt the accuracy of that statement ask me a question sometime. With my current work location being such that I have begun to tell people I'm from the Mississippi Territory (living in Alabama, working in Mississippi and residing in both places, often simultaneously) I am also quick to point out that prior to the war there were more millionaires living in the State of Mississippi than any other State in the Union. This was an inflated number, as many Louisiana plantation owners lived in Mississippi because they could build their houses on the bluffs and look over their property in Louisiana where the river flooded.

Now, enough about random facts about me (or running through my brain), on to the versatile blogs I follow.

  • As for other bloggers, I follow 50 now, though I was stuck at 42 for a while. Using a RSS Reader is great, and I can thank Michael Hyatt for showing me that. I have learned a lot about blogging from Michael Hyatt, to whom a great deal of thanks should be given. He has also led me to many of the bloggers I follow.
  • One of the most versatile bloggers I follow is Jon Stople. His Stretched blog has been a source of posts for me in addition to just liking what he posts about.  
  • Another of my favorite blogs is Mike Duran's deCOMPOSE. I often feel that the two of us have a lot in common, though he's a former pastor and a published author. His posts not only answer unasked questions I have, he tends to answer my unasked questions not long after I think of them. His Winterland novella is incredible.
  • Jeff Goins also has a blog I am an avid reader of. His Manifesto is a must read, after which it may well become a mantra as it did for me. He also is a friendly, helpful, mentor though like Michael Hyatt (through whom I "met" Jeff) may not know it. Like Mike Duran, he too answers questions I am pondering without asking from time to time.
  • I'm not sure if I stumbled on Mike Duran from Rachelle Gardner's blog, or from the WordServe Water Cooler but both are blogs I don't miss a post on. I have read Rachelle's blog so long that I have to fight the urge to submit my writing to her because she doesn't agent the genre I write. It's easy to fight that urge because she constantly reminds readers when she blogs on agents how important it is to know what the agent covers and doesn't.
  • Joe Bunting (and his Grammaticus Liz) has a website worth reading as well. In fact, I didn't link to his blog, but rather to a post that seemed appropriate as I blog during the midst of National Holiday Month. Joe and Liz are incredible sources of information.
  • Leah Adams's The Point blog is one I follow closely as well. I suspect that her target audience is really females, but she doesn't mind (and never blogs directly only to females) male readers.
  • In addition to giving me a difficult, long post to write for this "award" Edee turned me on to both BrainRants and Boggleton Drive. The later is not versatile at all, sticking strictly to the topic of grammar in the humourous form of cartoons. The former, however, is all over the board while posting about the day-to-day life of serving in the Army. It is always another fine day to be in the Army, and BrainRants shows it.
  • I believe the point of this "award" is to get people to post about it, but there are a few blogs that I am certain that won't. One is John Archibald. For one reason, his blog is the original blog, a newspaper column. He is the sole saving grace of the Birmingham News, especially since Tom Scarritt dumped Prince Valiant (he kept the Phantom, what the heck?). I never miss a chance to compliment John or to dump on Tom.
  • Another that won't post won't matter. It is a private blog amongst my cousins, sister and I. The cousin that nominated me created the ByrdPress blog so that the four of us would have a spot to share our writings with one another. Mama Byrd instilled in us the desire to be grammatically correct, and Edee was the first to spot that she, Tara, Regina, and I all have similar tones in our writing. This blog, while private, is probably the most versatile blog I follow.
  • Another that won't post about the Versatility Award is Officials Say the Darndest Things. By definition it cannot post on the award (since they only post dumb things officials say) and yet they are the most versatile quoting everyone from the President to Governors to City Council Members.
  •  What engineer doesn't follow Scott Adams? This is a versatile blogger. He writes Dilbert, Dilbert books, is looking to start a new company, and is running a campaign for President. Plus he is highly entertaining to boot.
  • Though he posts infrequently here of late, BSchebs's Course Adjustments is a versatile blog. He has an obsession with Walt Disney World, but that isn't all he posts on. I haven't heard much from him lately, but life in Iowa has to be full of non-stop fun, right?

So, that's my 15 versatile blogs. I enjoy something different from each of them. There are others I follow but they aren't as versatile, simply entertaining and/or informative. Such as Dr. Thweatt's blog, though he does from time to time throw out an off topic family story that's pretty amazing. Mostly I think of his blog as a guilty pleasure that allows me to revel in his incredible skills outside of church.

I suppose I'm backing out of the rules by not emailing directly the authors to tell of their nomination, but I'm expecting that they'll see this as a pingback link to their blogs and either comply with the award rules or not. Again, I thank Edee for nominating me, and hope that I have propagated the award just enough but not too much. Now back to our regularly scheduled holiday (and blog) schedule.

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Uncertainty

One of the blogs I follow is a guy named Jonathan Fields who just released a book entitled Uncertainty. For its release he had an online party. This post is a recap of that party, but one thing he did was had a contest for people to show ways they lived through Uncertainty in their own lives. The winning video was by a lady named Wendy Thomas, that I have attempted to attach here. I don't know Fields or Thomas, but I don't want to know anyone who isn't touched by this video. All I can say is Wow!  

In case the feed didn't work, here's a link to the original blog post: http://bit.ly/nZudfN ~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Update on my 5k to Couch Potato Post

I had a medical surveillance review this morning as a part of my HAZMAT training for a project I'm working on. Among the battery of tests they completed one included my blood pressure (107/67) and heart rate (53) which they told me was low. I asked if my lack of exercise program was working and the doctor told me, "Absolutely." He also said that if I exercised it might skyrocket to 150 or something, so I told him I'd be on the safe side and stay on the couch.

Snail Mail Email Coming Soon

Some time ago I finished writing and editing my first work of literary fiction. It is an allegory of the book of Jonah which shows Jonah as the antagonist rather than the protagonist. If you doubt my view, re-read the book. At 4 chapters it's much shorter than my allegory, but in the end Jonah leaves the city and goes to a hill to watch it get destroyed. He didn't change, he only went because he had to. Of course, I digress. One feature of my novella length story is that I started each chapter with quotes. They were quotes that either guided my writing or were appropriate when I found them afterwords. I even had one (Simply stated it is sagacious to eschew obfuscation) for the file full of the notes on the symbolism and metaphors I included in the work. The first quote I started with was one I later ended up deleting, but since it was first, Microsoft Word chose it for the file name. At some point, I began to think of the work as If, the first word of the quote. For some reason I've always thought the quote, from Lewis Carroll, was a relatively unknown quote, "If you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there." Again, the appropriateness of the quote to the work is apparent. Today I was in a conversation where someone used the quote, albeit without referencing the original speaker, and it took me by surprise. I mean, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to have found the quote, but this guy, who has been working on shuttle engines since the late 70s, used it as matter-of-factly as I do. The reason his use of the quote stuck out is that I have been working on preparing "If" for distribution.

The finishing touches have been put on "If: An Allegory of Jonah" and I am about to offer it for subscribers of my blog in an e-book format. This is one of the reasons I transitioned my blog to a self-hosted blog. After 2 months of fiddling and fighting, I finally have the email subscriptions working. The only thing I don't have is a way for my webpage to send it out automatically.

If anyone has a clue how to have my email subscription service automatically send an e-book drop me a line. Otherwise, I'll make an announcement soon and check my subscription base each day to send them manually. 

Meanwhile, several other unrelated items have popped up in the last few days.

Last week I wrote about some dueling divorce billboards on opposite sides of the interstate. This week I noticed that the $200 divorce billboard is gone (leaving only the $199) but in its place is an ad for a 24 hour X Rated Adult Superstore. So cheap divorces and sex toys? Welcome to Montgomery.

On another blog I follow someone posited the question of which came first, the chicken or the egg. I should have mentioned this with my odd story post, but the Bible is quite clear on this matter. The chicken came first, see Genesis 1:20, where he made all the birds; then see verse 22 where he told them to multiply.

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5K to Couch Potato

I keep hearing people talk about a "Couch Potato to 5K" Program where over 10 or 12 weeks they go from sitting on the couch to running in a 5k Race. The thing is, I keep thinking, "It's only 5 kilometers!" My complete thought is that I could go out and run 5 kilometers without the extensive training program. Since my sister has undergone one of these programs, I thought I'd ask her what a normal time was. She told me a decent time was 44 minutes. Not sure why it's 44 instead of 45, but that's the number I got from the conversation with her. So my idea was to run 3.1 miles in under 44 minutes. I walked around a spot in a local park and noticed that it was 0.6 miles so I had my course laid out--five laps of the park path.

As a "test" I went out and walked a mile then ran a mile (3 laps) and did it in 24 minutes, so I knew I could do it. Wednesday night I got a very late start, but went out and started my 5k to Couch Potato Program. At the 3 kilometer mark I fell down with a massive coronary.

No, just kidding after all it was only 5 kilometers. No coronaries, no cramps, no problems at all. I did the 5 kilometers in 37:38 without any training leading up to the event. Now before you start to do the same thing, I did spend six years and four months in the Army where 5 days a week we ran anywhere from 1 to 12 miles every day. That was over 12 years ago, and I have exercised extremely sporadically since then. If I lumped all of the exercise together for the last 13 years I may have 3 months worth of it, but I certainly know how to stretch first and the importance of warming up.  I don't exercise more often because of what happened the last year I was in. I couldn't run because of feet pain. After getting out I became a disabled vet because of my feet. Running hurts, walking hurts, standing hurts, but I tend to ignore it most of the time.

It ain't all candy canes and Christmas cards though. When I got done I shortened my cool down period and drove about 10 miles. When I got out my legs got very tight. They're still tight. Lucky for me, the next step of my program is to go back to being a couch potato. Currently I'm blogging and watching David Letterman.

Of course the point of the CP to 5K program isn't just to run 5 klicks, it's to get you used to exercising and into a pattern of working out. My system doesn't do that. Remember, don't take your health care or exercise advice from someone on the internet. Especially if that someone is me.

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Naptime

No surprise, I follow lots of blogs. About 42 to be precise (yes, it is literally 42, not a rounded off number to match my favorite 2 digit number). It isn't a huge number. There are people I follow who follow lots more, but I find it interesting that occasionally I find a pattern in the posts. Perhaps it is because I tend to find one blog from the other blog, maybe there's something in the air, oftentimes I find myself waxing eloquent about the same subjects albeit not always in blog form.

And for those who don't know me, yeah, I talk that way, too. I'm not putting on airs on my blog, it is all, 100%, unfiltered me. I get in moods, my writing gets into moods, here's a new one.

Several blogs I've been reading have been beating around the bush to say, "Quit writing and write!" To be fair, they aren't beating around the bush, I'm just getting to the heart of it. There's no time to pretty it up, cut to the quick now.

So the thing is, I started blogging and following blogs to learn how to be a better writer, to build my platform so that when I finish my current work in progress I can go to an agent or publisher and say, "Look at me, I have a ready-made audience small though it is." So when these blogs I follow seem to get a theme (to me) of quit following blogs and worrying about what's in your social media, just write, it makes me think that I haven't written nearly as much on my novel as I have on my blog since I started blogging. So, they have a point.

It is a Catch-22 though. I've noticed that when I blog and join the conversation on other blogs it drives up the traffic on my blog. I have now tried posting and not commenting on other blogs, posting and commenting on other blogs, commenting without posting. What little I know, I know; it takes both. But I have to do something for me. I have to write, for me.

I'm not going far, or for long. I tried to put a few posts in the queue before I stopped. I know I promised another Favorite Arthur post (if you missed the pun, you missed the first post) as well as the next installment of Flawed Thoughts. Ultimately though, those things will come after I've done something for me. It won't be long before I'm back, you may not realize I left.

I need 2 things from you, though. First off, I need to know what you want when I blog again. Leave me a comment or drop me an email. Second, and most important, I need the bloggers I follow to not post any particularly juicy posts that I have to read until my return. And failing the second, just do the first.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~ Update: Fixed another comma splice (where do they come from), added a ), and I also now follow another blog, but if you don't count my own I"m still just at 42.

Multi-Tasking Nothing

Publilius Syrus, a Latin maxim writer once said that, "To do two things at once is to do neither." Now I'm not sure what influences or draws on attention existed when he wrote that statement, but it's a pretty good bet that he didn't have to contend with the television, telephone, social media, the internet, or even Angry Birds. He didn't even have a radio in his chariot to distract him from going down the road. How often nowadays do we feel like we can do more than one thing at a time?

In many places in the bible and normal Christian discussions we are told we should pray without ceasing, in itself a task. I have tried and found it to be quite hard, opting instead for the praying pretty much constantly, with breaks for other activities. On my most recent long drive I found myself pondering, "Can I pray while I text and drive?" Probably not the right mix of activities, but it was a good thought.

Over the last few weeks my blogging, as well as my participation in other blogs has fallen off substantially. This is due to my recent transition. Things should pick back up as some normalcy returns. While, new thoughts for posts are reverberating in my head screaming to come out,  my site traffic has fallen off and it makes it look like I have hit the blog wall. Meanwhile I wonder, if I assure you that has not happened while typing, does that negate Publius Syrus' saying or did he have a deeper meaning?

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Best of July

July was a strange month for the blog. In the middle of the month I transitioned from the original WordPress hosted blog to this self-hosted blog, which made for some interesting problems. Some of the posts were posted on both blogs so counting the views were difficult. I had previously stated on another blog that my most viewed post was Moving. This seemed appropriate anyway because of the topic, however, Moving was tied with Cut it Short and beaten by Pretentious Initials. Rounding out the top five were Blast Waves and Paying More for Having to Do More.  In Pretentious Initials I compare the grace of God to licensure by the state as an engineer. Blast Waves is an update on my friend's grandson who recently lost his legs in Afghanistan.

While Moving is tied for second most visits, it is the reason for my slowdown of postings. I have been trying to arrange things in advance of my pending move and it has really taken a good deal of time, particularly because of the short notice to make the decisions and the move itself.

Cut it Short is the ironically named piece that was a bit of a rant. However, it did contain some aspects that were not only symbolic of other issues, but provides an insight into the dealings and happenings in my church that some have found eerily familiar. While the next day's post, Redundant Repetition, did not make the list, it was a shorter, cut to the chase explanation of the same situation.

Another post that didn't make the top five but that I was particularly pleased with was Listen To Me. I had very little to do with this one, because the main point of that post is my daughter's singing in a band made of classmates called The Frequently. They are very talented 12 year olds.

I hope you enjoyed last month's posts, and despite a very slow start to this month, there is much to look forward to for August, including the next edition of Flawed Thoughts Part 1 and another post on my favorite authors. Also, I encourage everyone who can to come to Pell City on 13 August for Ignite 2011, it will be another spectacular day of music, food and fun all for free.

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Walt Whitman used to use the tilde (~) a lot, so now whenever I use one I think Walt's in my tilde.

Productive Unproductivity

Last week I read a post that has slowed me down. It was called The Unproductive Writer's Guide to Success by Michael Hyatt. The point was that one really good post is more important than five bad blog posts. One reason I am blogging is from Michael Hyatt's suggestions. He has an incredible blog full of information and is constantly providing ideas worth following. He uses the Disqus system for comments, which is why I do. One thing that Disqus does is keep you up to date on the other comments made. Somehow my settings got changed so instead of just replies to m comments it sends an email every time someone comments (this is a bit frustrating but more so because I can't seem to change the settings to send people to this blog instead of my old blog site). As a result I have had my Inbox blowing up since he posted it several days ago.

An interesting phenomenon has been occurring with the comments. It is one I have seen before. Six years ago I was a participant in a local leadership development program, and the first meeting included a personality assessment. Normally when I do these I can gather what the questions are aiming to determine and steer it to skew the results. This time is probably the most accurate test I have ever taken because I was filling it out simultaneous with trying to contact friends and family setting up a trip to extract my family from the post-Katrina mess that Biloxi had become. As you can imagine the test was low on the priority list and as a result-there was no question analysis just answers. Again an oddity appeared in that the results matched the normal response I get which is that three categories are tied in the end.

The first night of the program a speaker came in to discuss the results of the testing for us, and he stereotypically gave examples for each of the four categories. Then he proceeded to ask us how different personality types would respond in certain situations. Once the ice was broken and everyone started talking, the responses became predictably stereotypical as well.

The start of comments for Mr. Hyatt's blog seemed well scattered between the "this doesn't apply to me" and the "that makes me feel better" ranges. Increasingly though the comments center more on people feeling better for not posting more often. Kind of a validation of their lack of productivity. Perhaps it is not so odd because those that disagreed with the post's content didn't bother to read the comments.

It has slowed me down in my own posting because it has made me think, am I worrying more about having something to post than I am on the quality of the post? In thinking about this I have gone back and looked at some of the posts. There are several posts I am more proud of, as well as several I believe I did rush out the door. Over the next few days I will slow my output down, mostly because I plan on re-vamping the site. There are a few bugs I have yet to work out with the website. This is an area where I valued doing something over doing something well, and for that I apologize. I will shortly posts on my biggest and best posts of last month as well as getting back to the thoughts and musings on Providence. Thank you for your patience.

 

 

Paying More for Having to Do More

Recently I shifted my blog from a WordPress hosted blog to a self-hosted WordPress blog. I like the format of the WP interface, as well as the features, but there were some items that just didn't work on a WP hosted site. Among them are Google Analytics and Disqus. I'm still not sure I'm using Google Analytics to the full power. In fact, it actually was a bit disenheartening when I compared the numbers directly to the WP Site Stats. The latter showed webpage hits totalled, the former shows exactly how many visitors in addition to how many pages were viewed. The number of pages viewed was shown as visits on the WP site, making me think I had more visitors.

Disqus is something that I have used on other blogs for the comments. I like the way that it tracks who says things and keeps the subsequent comments linked to the first comment. No one has provided any feedback on it, so if you have a thought about it feel free to share it on Disqus at the end of the blog.

There are still a few things missing from this website. One is the feature to subscribe my email. I'm not sure I have it properly registering the FeedBurner hits for feed subscribers either. This was another important aspect considered in my move because I am preparing an e-book version of my novella for distribution to subscribers. I intend to send it to those already subscribed as well as to those who subscribe in the future.

One thing I miss from my WordPress hosted blog is that my self-hosted WP blog does not suggest tags or photos for the posts. This has been particularly difficult for me, and several times I have either posted without tags and photos or had to go back later and add them. I try to post from my iPhone, but it really doesn't work well to edit a post from there.

The thing I believe I miss the most dearly is that it does not automatically share the post when scheduled. I can schedule the post, but then have to go and share it manually.

One other thing that has me scratching my head is the number of viewers I still get on my old blog site. I have twice posted on there about the new site and even tried to encourage them to visit here because the content is newer and up to date. Really not sure what else I can do to get them here instead of there.

Maybe I'm making a mountain out of a molehill, but it just seems to me that someone else has had these issues and overcome them. So, here's my question: Does anyone have an easy answer to my problems? I would think that there should be a plug-in for one or two (or all) of these matters.

Can you suggest something or help me with these issues? Add your voice to the discussion below.

 

 

Best of the Month for June

Each week I think I'll get ahead with a post or two, saving them for later days in the week. With few exceptions, I just post when done. This especially occurs on the weekends. Sometimes the ideas come, but for the most part when I get started I hammer them out to the end and post. Makes it real hard to get ahead in my blogging. I started this blog three months ago, but only had a week or so in the first month. In May I posted more often, but not with a good deal of regularity. June, however, was a month of regular posts. Originally I had planned on posting about my favorite posts of the last month on the last day of the month and the most popular posts based on views on the first of the month, but the news that led to the post of 28 June, Blast from Afar, preempted my plans. So instead, this will be a post for both. the ones I'm the proudest of, the ones that if you were only going to read one (or two) I would want you to read.

Freedom stands out in my mind as a post I am most proud of. In fact, I was secretly rooting for it to be the number one read post. Ticket to Where is another I'm fond of, though I think it needs some tweaking still. If I can get it where I really like I intend to add it as a page, it just seems to have the topic I'm hoping for on this blog. While I love just about every post I made I decided to only select three favorites, the coveted last one picked is Blast from Afar. It's the message included in it that I hope others see, read and dwell on later.

The post I am most disappointed in is yesterday's Author C. Clarke post. Yes, it was a pun I deliberately did; no, it was not particularly funny, but Arthur's dead he can't complain. This is disappointing, but not surprising as it was more content for me than for my readers. Perhaps as my skills and audience grow it will be read more to see where I'm coming from. 

Overall, the website that sent the most people to my blog was Michael Hyatt's Intentional Leadership which to me seems very appropriate as he was the main stimulus for me creating this blog in the first place. I continue to monitor the increase in my traffic based on my comments to his posts. Second most was a new friend and new blogger Brent's Course Adjustments I can't remember Brent's last name. We "met" on Michael's website and are sharing in the eye-opening experience of beginning blogging.

Judas was a Judas Before Judas Meant Judas was a surprise hit to me. Partially because it got stuck in my WordPress app on my iPhone and I accidentally reposted it later in the month. It came in at number 4 right behind Abnormally Normal, they were both about 25% fewer hits than the top two Freedom and Blog Like a Boat. Blog like a Boat also came in with the most comments for the most, followed by Specks and Beams. Overall, 61% of my views were in the month of June, so I'm progressing nicely in that regard.

Rest assured, I will overanalyze the stats and come to some conclusion about why each was what it was. All will be done in an attempt to improve the posts and this blog. Thanks for reading, and I hope you'll be back.