Category: Blogging

Blog Birthday, Blog tips, Blogging, Ryan Gosling

Blog Birthday- 10 things I’ve learned on the Blog road…

Mona Alvarado Frazier
by semmerssuaq

Hello,

Today is my first blog birthday and I’m celebrating because I didn’t know if I’d stick with it but I did and I’m glad. The knowledge and camaraderie that I’ve gained has been so worth it and I thought I’d share what I’ve found along this blogging byway with you.

When I started I didn’t have a clue, except kind of how to set up the Blogger template and I stumbled through that for a couple of weeks. Many templates, designs, and gadgets later I believe I have the blogging formats down pat.

There are several things that I’ve learned from other bloggers this past year, but I’ll stick to ten. I’ve also learned a few things on my way to my Blog Birthday. But first the 10 things that make a great blog-IMHO.

Great blogs & bloggers:

  1. …love to share tips, photo’s, badges, great information, goodies and above all share resources to make your writing/blogging life easier. 
  2. …are mannerly, helpful, witty, snarky (in a good way), encouraging and share nicely. 
  3. …follow a schedule, even if it’s only once a week, they stick to it. When they’re going to be gone they let us know. We miss them when they’re away.
  4. …have creative, beautiful, colorful templates that don’t blink, flash, or are ‘overpimped.’ They don’t shout “buy my book,” everywhere on their site and pay ads don’t jump out at you. They use 12 font against an easy to read background. 
  5. …speak their truth without condemning others, are vulnerable, and authentic. They ‘mix’ it up.
  6. …make their categories/labels searchable and organized.
  7. …are usually 500-800 words long. If they’re longer they are broken up with bullets, numbers, italics, or photos/video’s.
  8. …use spell check.
  9. …are empathetic to ‘newbies’ and encourage us to focus on content, quality, and progress.
  10. … they make commenting and linking easy to do. They make their ‘follow’ button easy to find. 
And a few blog lessons I learned this past year:
  • Google and Wikipedia are my friends.
  • Keep writing, even when you don’t feel like it.
  • Keep learning about blogging.
  • Social media isn’t scary: Tweeted my first tweet last month.
  • It’s okay to have a fluid blog. I change backgrounds with the holidays and seasons.
  • Embrace slow and steady, not fast and furious.
  • You never know which posts will become popular, so keep posting.
  • Source your photos and when you can’t find the owner, say so.
  • Take a risk.
  • Blogging is ‘real’ writing.
How about you? Have you celebrated your blog birthday? Do you plan to? 
Now I must get to this card that just came in…
from troll.me

Wow, best card ever. 

Now, keep writing, keep sharing, be well.
Blogging, Disappointment, Manuscript rejection, Writing, Writing your Truth

Blogging out Disappointment

Mona Alvarado Frazier
google images
You ever have one of those days you just want to throw your hands up, flop on your bed and give up? Probably so. That’s life, especially the writing life. Combine that with the additional life of a single mom of three teens/young adults who still live with me, and it makes those ‘throw up your hands’ days multiply. 



Everyone has those days I know, but that rational thought is overwhelmed with the feelings of disappointment over a rejected manuscript. I know it’s not the end of the world but it impacts my writing world. And I’m surprised about my feelings too. Lord knows I’ve had disappointments before. I’ve been down this road before in other aspects of my life. 


This morning (the morning after) I didn’t want to do revisions or much of anything, so I posted that on Twitter, where I’m a newbie and joined as part of an online class. Glad I did because fellow writers know so much about disappointment and offered encouraging words. I texted a writing class friend and she was sad with me. I felt understood.


But two hours later I find myself blogging out the disappointment because I don’t know what else to do and writing is a way I get things out. I purge, on paper, and thus online. Sometimes we’re our own worse critic. Maybe because of perfectionism, want for control, need for approval, or whatever other psychological term fits. 


Maybe this is a time to reflect on why I choose to write: issues of social justice, letting young women know they don’t struggle alone, that obstacles are surmountable, that someone cares.


It dawns on me that the reason for my disappointment is because I think my work won’t get out there and my audience won’t hear me. That makes me sad. 


In the search for a photo on disappointment I found this quote:
We keep going back, stronger, not weaker, because we will not allow rejection to beat us down. It will only strengthen our resolve. To be successful there is no other way. – Earl G. Graves


Then I remember I don’t write for me, I write because I’m driven to write for something more. It’s not about me. Rejection is part of the path to success. I still have my truth, my goals, and I know I can do this.

I’m ready to take a deep breath and review the comments about the MS now. Thanks for listening.