You Are Invited

Internet is a lonely place without Blogging; a fine art, science, also economics. Blogs are different to different people. Fine Art of Blogging asks you to share your views on what is a blog to you?

You are invited to contribute your thoughts in general. In particular, write how you blog? Why? How blogging matters in life and work? Success stories, motivations and inspirations. Answer these questions and more (add what you feel is important dimension) in a post and send in word document.

Read some of the writers bloggers (Every blogger is a writer. No?) who have already contributed and criteria for inviting bloggers to join Fine Art of Blogging.

Poetic Memoir

Princess Haiku
 

poetry, prose, photography, classical music, dance and book reviews, written in the tradition of a poetic memoir

I interpret a blog as a textual, auditory, visual or mixed-media communication written by a person(s) and published on the internet, for the purpose of exchanging, ideas, feelings, visuals, information, advice, companionship or friendship with others. Princess Haiku is a literary collage, with original poetry, prose, book, music and dance reviews, written in the tradition of a poetic memoir.

About a year ago, a friend set up my first blog on, My Space. I had no idea at that time, what a blog was and my space was put together with a do it yourself template in less than three minutes. “What is the title of your blog?” my friend asked. The words “Princess Haiku" flashed into my mind, as I enjoy the aesthetic simplicity of poetic forms such as haiku and tanka. Of course I wasn't thinking all this consciously and was just selecting template color, lay-out etc. Before I knew it my first blog was waiting for me. All I had to do was enter it with mind, heart and spirit.

The idea that Princess Haiku was a ghost appealed, because of the unlimited freedom of a spirit to travel and explore culture, history, time, place etc. I aspired for Princess Haiku to reflect the collective unconscious, for I wanted her to belong to everyone. In a world rife with conflict, aggression, ideology, hatred and greed, I wanted her to be everything that was beauty, goodness and grace. Art and music are universal languages and they are a good starting point for world peace. It is the task of the people of the world to do what governments cannot; find common human experience that allows for a dialectic of peace.

As my concept of “Princess Haiku” deepened, it became a journey into the world of fine arts, expressing universal concepts of beauty. The book, dance and music reviews on my space are for the most part original, although I sometimes reference the works of others. Additionally, I post my own haiku and prose musings.

When YouTube took off I was delighted for it allowed me to give readers an enhanced artistic experience. Instead of just reading about young musical geniuses such as Yundi Li, Lang, Lang or Helene Grimaud; they could hear and see them also. When I posted a review of the astonishing Cloud Gate Dance Theater, I was also able to post a YouTube clip from a recent performance.

In the beginning I was excited if I received any responses for any post. Now I am thinking about upgrading my stat counter. I think this a big thing for a small, literary blog whose discourse is dreams, rare flowers, classical music, fine arts, twilight and poetic musings of a ghost.

I never would have guessed that I would be gifted with internet friends from all over the globe. They have introduced me to many excellent poets, writers, dancers, thinkers, established and emerging virtuosi and artists. I see a world culture evolving as a result of informal sharing via the internet. I think that there is a particular value in reading reviews of various fine art forms, written by people who do not benefit financially from a particular opinion. How did a small poetic blog like mine attract an international readership? -Why, networking of course.

Registering in blog catalogs is a great way to get exposure. I registered in: Blog Top Sites, World Blog Connection, Superblog Directory, Blogs by Women, Top Blogs and others. I recently registered with MyBlogLog and am looking forward to becoming involved with this social network. Social networking I am told is the newest thing and a great way to connect with other bloggers.

An important and often overlooked factor in a successful blog is having a good profile. Daniel Thompson the Microtonal Composer, has a great article on writing profiles and can be found via World Blog Connection. I realized after I developed my profile that my blog was about “extreme beauty.” This wasn’t an accident; it evolved with a thorough evaluation of what my interests were and what my experience was. I won’t try to paraphrase Thompson; just read his article and take the time to read several profiles of successful blogs that you like.

Don’t overlook the human element for if you want to make blogger friends, you have to be one. I try to choose one blog a day and I carefully read several posts. Human relationships; even virtual ones are based on reciprocity. Once your own blog is doing well remember to “pay it backwards” and give backlinks and support to other neophytes. After all we are a world community.

“Having written all of these ponderous words, Princess Haiku realized that the moon was full and that it was time for her to collect fallen magnolia blossoms, to make a wreath for her new ghost whippet, Nimble of Thrace. –and disappeared.”

Chip's Tips

Sterling W. Camden

What is a blog to me? That was the very question I sought to answer by starting one, and maybe I won't have an answer until I finish it. Many times the so-called blogosphere has battled over the question of what constitutes a blog, with the outcome usually favoring a broad definition. Maybe something along the lines of "online periodic publishing". Whether it's personal, group, or corporate; whether it's monthly, daily, or hourly; whether it's presented in reverse chronological sequence or not -- if it's published online with periodic updates and preserved archives you can probably call it a blog.

That kind of loose terminology means that the purpose and content of blogs ranges widely. I personally run two blogs: Chip's Quips and Chip's Tips. I've had Chip's Tips on the web since June 2001. The original version didn't use "blogging software", it used an XML-based CMS of my own design. But by the definition given above, it was a blog. I've always used it to publish programming tips, tricks, and examples for various languages and platforms. Within the last year, I also started publishing self-contained, consumable widgets and other simple applications, but I don't plan to expand the focus of the site beyond that scope. As a result, since converting to WordPress it has become one of Google's darlings when it comes to searching for coding hacks.

Chip's Quips, which I started in January 2006, is where I blog about everything else. It's truly a personal blog, and my primary benefit from writing it has been getting to know myself better. I've often blogged on the subject of getting real, and I think of myself as a sort of geeky Pinocchio trying his best to become a real boy.Naturally, the first step in that direction is to force myself to be brutally honest. Coming clean in front of everyone on the Internet can be a scary experience, but liberating at the same time.

As others of your contributors have noted, blogs build online communities. I enjoy exchanging comments and posts with readers, and my readers so far have been about the best bunch of online people I've ever virtually met. Even when the topic got fairly heated, they've always been polite. I'm a big believer in freedom of expression, so even if a commenter got nasty I would probably leave it up and respond to it instead. I believe that negative comments say more about the commenter than about the person they target.

Blogging helps me to think things through better, by forcing me to write them out in a way that I think will be understood by others.

Blogging gives me a voice and an online identity. It strokes my ego. My blog is my own little piece of Webturf, and I am the main attraction.

How do I blog? If an idea hits me, I start writing. It doesn't have to be well-formed, that will happen as I'm writing or after, upon revision. I'm often amazed at how well things come together as long as you just keep going. It's when you stop to consider what you're doing that the ideas grow stale. Just write. Then go back and revise, drawing connections that you just barely missed on the first draft. Add some humor where you missed the opportunity. Link to people.

Link to people. The only cost of a Google-juice gift is the time and text it takes to create a link. Usually it will come back to you -- with trackback/pingback, that can happen automatically. It's a great way to build good will and promote yourself and others at the same time. That said, I try to only link to sites that I really find interesting, because I also want to build trust in my readers that the effort of following my links will not be wasted.

The high points of my blogging career? When someone that I read and admire tells me that they like what I have to say, or when I get linked from thought-provoking posts.

Masroor Gilani's window on Pakistan

Masroor Gilani

In early 2008, a friend in Karachi asked me to start my own website or blog. He said that since I was a journalist, I could write more often and make an interesting weblog.

So when I came back, I got a domain and started experimenting through self-learning. It was fun both writing and learning html. Then a friend suggested me to go for Drupal or WordPress and finally I settled with WordPress and fell in love with it.

Putting down my thoughts and experience on the blog gives me immense satisfaction and pleasure when someone comments on my posts.

It is good to see the graph of visitors going up and it always gives a fresh impetus to create more interesting content.

I have written posts on a diverse range of topics. My experiences with electronics, gadgets, photography, travel, work, politics, fashion, food and many many more things are available with mostly original photos.

Recently I have started recording my experiences of house construction. It makes an interesting reading. I have not yet come across any blog post through my Google searches on such a topic. This will serve as a guide to aspirant house builders.

My blog contains unique and rare photos or Pakistani tribal areas and aerial shots from helicopters. It is heartening to see years of work being available to millions of Internet users across the globe. Writing and improving the blog has become part of life now, rather an addiction.

Related: Pakistan slide show

Just Thinkin'

Kirk M Blanchard

What is blogging to me? Heh, I’ve been trying to figure that one out since I started and over a year and a half I’m still trying. Perhaps it’s due to the fact that I only have a single, personal blog where the subject matter ranges from one thing to another and back again. It never settles down into one groove…just like it’s author.

Ah yes, that would be me now wouldn’t it? Alright, here we go…

There were three reasons that I started blogging. The first is simple enough...I love to write. The second reason had to do with my past career and hobby which was computer technology. From the late 70’s to the middle 90’s you might say that I (and others of course) rode the crest of the wave that eventually become the home computer and the OS’s that came with them. I won’t get into detail here but it was a fascinating time and a fascinating field to be in. And like all new technology, things evened out eventually, standards were achieved and to put it bluntly…it ended up becoming fairly boring when the PC and associated equipment thereof became a tool to use rather than something to improve upon and add to.

So what does the above have to do with blogging? You’d have to be me to really understand why but suffice it to say that after several years of being bored with my favorite interest, here finally, was something new, fascinating and evolving and it involved great ideas like writing, community and conversation. It grabbed my interest and wouldn’t let go and now at this point in time, neither could I. I couldn’t really envision not having this avenue that satisfies so many of my interests at once.

Oh yeah, and the third reason; DSL! If you don’t have DSL you don’t blog. We finally got DSL up in my neck of the woods and shortly thereafter, I was blogging.

And this is what a blog has come to mean to me personally:

A blog is a vehicle that allows a person to place part of who they are out into the virtual world that the Internet has become. And this virtual world is just as real as the physical one where each blog can be likened to a house or business or library to name a few, in a neighborhood where folks can drop by at any time to pass the time of day and/or listen to what you might have to say. To me a blog is a conversation amongst the folks of a community that has no rules or boundaries, no law enforcement of any kind yet is a much more kind, compassionate and self disciplined group of people than what one may find in anywhere in the physical world. And each community that surrounds a group of blogs resembles a small town in more ways than one. Yet the physical and the virtual is all part of the same thing---the same people are involved and that’s something that I find quite tolerable.

I love it.

The above is something I could on and on about but in the interest of keeping control of my rather wordy self…

I don’t monetize the blog in any way that involves advertising. The only possible avenue of making a bit of pocket change now and then is a couple affiliate links in my sidebar and even then I’m not really expecting anything from it. This personal blog of mine is for my own use and satisfaction and not something I feel should be turned into a revenue generating device. Besides…that would mean I would have to post on a regular basis and that takes all the fun out of it. If I ever attempt a “niche” style blog, then’s the time when I would have to get serious about monetization but until that happens, it’s just pure enjoyment.

One thing I do get serious about is SEO and it’s something where I will always have to “do my homework”. SEO is not a “set it and forget it” type of thing these days while the search engines are constantly fiddling with their algorithms and what the “powers that be” in the world of search engines consider to be important as far as page ranking goes. Even now I’m having to change the way I’ve handled SEO in the backend of the blog due to those very changes but I don’t really mind all that much. It exercises the few brain cells I have left. It keeps them healthy and all that.

So for one and a half years I’ve attempted to start a conversation with the entire world and I’m happy to say that the entire world hasn’t beat a path to my door since that would mean a whole lot more conversations than I could handle at once. I’ve been very content and pleased with the small circle of friends and acquaintances that have revolved around our respective blogs and lately the MyBlogLog community that I joined several weeks ago. Unless the world as we know it falls into a black hole or civilization goes down the tubes, you’ll find me out there writing and posting away just for the pure enjoyment of it.

Carol’s view of “It”

Carol

For me a Blog is a place to write and share my thoughts and feelings on different issues.Personally, I Blog about matters that are important to me. I use my Blog as a place to vent my anger and frustrations about the War in Iraq and the way that our Government uses and misuses power

.

I write as a way to communicate with others and I also use it as a way to help me keep myself focused on what is important to me and to remind me that I am not alone in my views. 

Having a Blog is a responsibility and I am accountable to my readers in keeping the information credible and relevant. I don’t think that having a Blog is a license to just vent.

Blogging is a way to bring people together and a way to share a little time with people I would otherwise never have the opportunity to meet. It is a way to make the world seem a little smaller and a way to have some social connection if you are like me and somewhat isolated.

I enjoy hearing from my reader’s through their comments and many times I have been given new perspectives on certain topics which helps me to look at some issues from different points of view which makes my Blog a constant learning experience for me.

Basically I write for me as a way to keep me sane in a world that sometimes feels like it has gone insane.

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Add Signature to Blogger Blog

You might want to add a custom automatic signature below each of your blog posts. This would be more useful if you are running a Team Blog with multiple authors. You can use unique signatures for each author. The same can be done on a single author blog also, like my signature in this post.

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Daddy Papersurfer - Old Git

Daddy Papersurfer

Anyone reading this won’t know me from Adam. I’m the one wearing a small fig leaf. Adam is completely naked.

The fig leaf is my avatar - a lovely word, look it up in a dictionary. It’s like the shy actor who, when he dons his costume, can perform in public.

My son started writing a blog and being a complete pain in the arse, I nagged him into letting me do a guest blog. I had heard of blogging but had never read one and I didn’t want to be left out. That was 28th February 2007.

By the 10th of April he had had enough of the cuckoo in his nest and he very kindly set me up with my own blog.

My first appeared on the 16th of April and I’ve posted something everyday since. A blog can be used to vent, relieve and assess [and loads of other things as well, but I’m trying to finish this before lunch!].

The angst ridden teenager who writes in her padlocked pink diary about her latest crush and would actually like her secret lover to find it, read it and be overwhelmed with a reciprocating passion:

The bereaved who cry themselves to sleep every night and need a ‘screaming tree’: The young mum bored out of her mind by the mundane tasks that are essential: All these are out there and loads more; usually protected by an avatar. You can write about anything.

I hadn’t written for 35 years, other than pleading letters to the bank manager, since my thesis for my post-graduate teaching qualification.

I have re-discovered that writing is fun. Help (A little. Lo, TG Ed.)) is needed from the terrible Goddess: If you want to find out a little bit about who she is, you’ll have to read my blog [see WHO’S WHO in the right hand sidebar] My spelling, punctuation and syntax are sinful. As in all things for the past 40 years, the TG gets me out of trouble and makes sure I’m wearing clean underwear and haven’t dribbled down my T-shirt. . (Crumbs, Peabrain, steady on! Lo, TG Ed.) A problem that is getting worse by the way… that and being easily distracted.

What is fascinating is the number of contacts you make all around the world. As any blogger knows, one of the greatest pleasures is receiving comments. From the ones that have obviously been left in a hurry to the ones that make you crack up with laughter.

It is very re-assuring to see how different people are and at the same time to see the common ground that is shared.

The Blogosphere is a huge world that’s worth dipping your toe in.

And now as Daddy Papersurfer would say “Are there any toasted tea cakes left?
There are? Oh that’s a shame, I don’t really like them”.

The Devil’s in the detail and I believe that I’m handing over all my rights to this blog by responding to this invitation. Normally I would have refused but Diogenes is such a good avatar and Quasi Fictional is such a clever name for a blog that I couldn’t resist.

Previous Posts: Liz Strauss, Aliza Sherman Risdahl, Mihaela Lica, Sterling W. Camden, Peg Haustetter, Steli Efti, Vicky Stringer, EXSENO, Axinia, Daniel S, Turo Jantunen, Alina Popescu, Dine Racoma, Chris Garrett, annamanila, Wifely Steps, Rolly, MrsPartyGirl, Ghee, Gitr Kargath, Richard Miles, Robyn McMaster, Elizabeth, Zep Hopper, Ellen Weber, Anita Bruzzese, Auntie Hattie, Bob Glaza, Isabella Mori, Paula Neal Mooney, Albert Pascual, Margot Potter, Ian Smith, Jean Yates, Christina Cedeno, Ayelet Noff (Blonde), Kristine, Kirsten Harrell, Lisa Gates, Evi Christodoulou, Peincess Haiku, Kent Newsome, David Johnson, Danica Radovanovic, Ev Nucci, David Johnson, Danica Radovanovic, Feng Brum, Janette Toral, Silviana Prioteasa, Pallab De, Jeanne Dininni, Laura Spencer, Maria Celina Gallo, Melanie, Damria Senne, Tammy Lenski, Enigma, Lizza, Pisces Iscariot, Maria Palma, Carol, Gayla McCord, Starr, Marc Faletti, Callie, CAPaige aka CapCity, Claire Carroll, Sylvia Hubbard, Allison Dickson, Bill C, Maryanne Moll, Papi Monkey, Lillie Ammann, Chad Perrin, Polliwog, Joseph Bernard, Roberta Ferguson, Julie R. Custodio-Fuertes, Lynda Winsor, Ilker Yoldas and Fracas

Wild fabrications and outright lies

Renal Failure

Dr. Julian Bashir: Of all the stories you told me, which ones were true and which ones weren't?
Elim Garak: My dear Doctor, they're all true...
Dr. Julian Bashir: Even the lies?

Elim Garak: Especially the lies.

--- Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, "The Wire."

As you’ve undoubtedly noticed, Renal Failure is not your typical blog. Whereas most bloggers will write about what has happened in their lives or will straightforwardly give their views and opinions on whatever subject they feel like it, Renal Failure brings you wild fabrications and outright lies obscuring small hidden pieces of truth. If Renal Failure was an animal, it would be a cerebus, and its heads would be named satire, irony, and comedy. But it would say “Sandra” on its collar.

"So what I told you was true... from a certain point of view."

--- Obi-Wan Kenobi, Return of the Jedi

Renal Failure is a writing experiment that I started to get back to actually writing something. Now I use it to keep my mind sharp and frosty. Sort of going to a creative gym, where instead of weight machines and treadmills it’s formulating a blog post everyday about something I read or playing around with a half-baked idea in my head. So I guess that explains why I blog and how I blog in one swoop.

I’m not sure Renal Failure lends itself to creating a community. Tech bloggers tend to draw in the tech crowd. Blogs about living with abuse tend to draw in others going through the same thing. I write about drinking with a half-cyborg cat and a ninja. The only community I guess I could cultivate would be people who really like to laugh at absurdly funny things on a daily basis. And the best way to do that is I guess is just to keep writing absurdly funny stuff. I don’t get many comments, mainly because Renal Failure is a hard blog to comment on, or so I’ve been told. But I’m very thankful for the ones I get, because feedback is my heroin. And when I don’t get comments in a while, I see that dead baby crawling on the ceiling…

“The bullshitter is faking things. But this does not mean that he necessarily gets them wrong.”

--- Harry G. Frankfurt, from his book “On Bullshit.”

With so many blogs out there it’s my opinion that you really need to offer something really different to be truly interesting. Can you bring a unique viewpoint to something, or are you just typing stuff that can be found in thirty other places? Can you bring something new to the table? Is there another angle you can use to look at something? And I think a blog featuring stories about a paraplegic superhero and a lonely NSA agent tapping my phone does just that. Not all of us can be profound on a regular basis. Not all of us have interesting life experiences that can translate well into a written story suitable for sharing with the world. That doesn’t mean you don’t have anything to contribute, it’s just that you have to find something different to contribute or a different way of contributing.

Who I am isn’t important. If you look closely, you’ll see I’m never referred to by a name in any of my posts, or even in the About section. That’s on purpose because Renal Failure isn’t about me as a person; it’s about what I write. It is a writing experiment after all. That’s what I want the focus to be on (well, that and everything I write is a lie anyway, so would you even believe that’s my real name up there anyway? Probably not). Too often blogs become more personality-driven than content-driven, and it becomes more about the person writing the blog than what they’re actually writing. It doesn’t happen on purpose, it just develops over time. So this is my fail-safe against that.

If that last paragraph sounded very humble, it was only to lull you into this next point: Renal Failure can be very vicious at times. I did a three-part posting about Forensic Vagina Specialists in El Salvador. One of the earliest posts was about Bernie the half-cyborg cat getting his human wife a coupon for a hymenoplasty. Renal Failure varies from light-hearted silly stuff to cringe-inducing “that’s-so-horrible-that’s why-I’m-laughing-at-it” humor and everything in between. Sometimes going into unsafe territory can be very revealing and educational, other times it’s just plain fun. There is something undeniably fun about just not caring and going full-bore with something maybe offensive or potentially gross or that possibly will piss people off on purpose. Not that I do it all the time, but it’s fun every now and again and more people should try it.

I think there would be something wrong with the world if I got paid to do Renal Failure. Not that I would complain if I did get paid, but I would first say to the guy wanting to pay me “Really?” and then takes his money.

Now the question is… is everything you just read a lie?