Worth 1,000 Words, But Only One Is Needed

Posted on February 12, 2009 by Jason

There are some things that you know aren’t really funny, but you can’t help laughing anyway.

Purple Prose

Posted on May 22, 2008 by Jason

or

Never Read Penny Arcade Before Blogging

I should take my own advice. It was innocent, I swear. I’d intended to write up a simple post about the work I was putting into the new layout on FanaticSpace. One detour to Penny Arcade later and you have prose so purple that it speeds past the visible spectrum and becomes ultra-violet.

Ultra Violets from the Tycho Brahe Botanical Word Garden

Please don’t misunderstand, it was intentional. I’d decided to try my hand at the sort of ornamental rambling that is done so well on PA. Looking back I suppose that’s like saying “That thar Louis tha XIV furniture sore is purdy, I think I’ll make some. Hey, what’s a xiv?”, after which there is the unfortunate, yet inevitable, incident with a table saw. It takes practice to learn the skills required to craft something of that caliber.

It was fun though. Because of the joy I derived from trying to intentionally write something flowery enough to compare to the Tycho Brahe Botanical Word Garden, I’d like to ask you to try it too. The idea is easy enough. Take a simple post, one that could be done in about a paragraph, and try to stretch it out by using inordinately descriptive language. If you’re unsure of how to go about it, just read a few posts at Penny Arcade.

A lot of the blogs on the art of blogging, the meta-blogs, advise people to keep things simple. Short bits of text and easy to understand word choices. This is the opposite. Stretch your mind and your vocabulary and go crazy.

I’m sure you’ll have as much fun as I did.

If you decide to do this please leave a ping, a trackback or a comment here. I’d love to see the posts.

Personal Blogs Take A Backseat

Posted on May 21, 2008 by Jason

It’s true, and you know it. I’m sure you can feel it deep in your bones. This is a Truth that can loosen both fillings and bowels with it’s powerful resonance. Only those so deeply entrenched in their blogs backend that they can never see the light of day again could even begin to form an argument against it.

Why do I confront the primitive human intellect with this statement? Could it be an attempt to shake the foundations of the Internet with an idea so jarring that even those poor souls imprisoned by LiveJournal may be forced to acknowledge that this is so? Alas, this is not the case at hand.

I’ve been busy. I’ve been toiling at tweakery.

Obviously I can’t spare even a moment to post in a personal blog when attempting to tame such a hell-beast. The powerful forces channeled and sculpted into multitudes of delicate crenellations which can strike down the unwary with their awe-inspiring beauty cannot be taken lightly. To do so would only hasten the inevitable arrival of oblivion’s sweet embrace.

As much as I have longed for that peaceful touch in the past, I must continue with my labors.

Climbing and Getting Nowhere

Posted on January 22, 2008 by Jason

Hangin' Out

Feel like you’re struggling to move upward? Can’t seem to make progress no matter how hard you work? Afraid that if you don’t keep pushing your limits you’ll fall?

Blogging can make you feel that way sometimes. Things are moving along, traffic is growing and things are looking good. Then it happens. Traffic stalls, or worse it drops, and you find yourself working harder just to stay in the same place.

I started feeling this way not too long ago, so I started thinking about what I could do about it. Here are a few of my ideas.

Mix Things Up

Try something new to relieve the tedium. Don’t stress out trying to think of something new, that would defeat the purpose. There are tons of ideas out there for the taking. Just remember to do something fun. Here are a couple to get you started.

Parody. Write a tongue in cheek post about something that bugs you. I did a post like that about money making blogs. Some of them have decent advice, but a lot of them look like this.

Fiction. If you do a lot of writing about news and events, try making something up. Just let your readers know that it’s not real. For instance, if you write about celebrity news, do a post about celebrity news stories ten years from now. Have fun with it. A blog post titled "Britney Spears’ Trailer Destroyed by Tornado" would be a lot of fun to write.

Think About How You Work

Take a little time to take a look at how you work on your blog. A lot of us focus on the readers and forget to think about ourselves. I’m not saying you should ignore the people reading your blog. I’m just saying that sometimes it’s easy to get a little too focused on something. Ask yourself a few questions.

What do you enjoy about blogging?

What’s the hardest part for you?

What do you spend the most time doing?

What do you avoid doing?

Taking the time to answer some questions like this could help you identify your strengths and weaknesses as a blogger. Knowing is half the battle.

Look Back to Move Forward

Take a look back at what you’ve done on your blog. You might be surprised by how far you’ve come. It’s easy to miss the big picture when you’re focused on the details. Writing a post about your blog can help you get a better understanding of it.

Not too long ago AnimeFansOnline.com turned 8 months old. I wrote a post that went through, month by month, and highlighted posts that I enjoyed. I was amazed by how much I’d learned about blogging in 8 months. I also spotted a couple of problems that I need to work on. I got 3 great things from that 1 post.

A post to help new readers find some of the older articles.

A good idea about what needs improving.

Encouragement to continue blogging.

Top o' The World Ma!

Have Fun

If you don’t enjoy what you’re doing, you’ll burn out long before you reach the summit.

What about you? Have anything that helps you keep going? Leave a comment and let us know. We could all use the help.

JasonWigley.com

The (underused) personal blog of Jason Wigley.