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Showing posts with label Blogging. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Blogging. Show all posts

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Beat that Bloggers' Block!

This post is brought to you by AZ co-host Damyanti, from Amlokiblogs.
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April is long gone, and we've all moved on to new challenges.

One of the challenges I find on many A-Z participant blogs is bloggers' block--- after the burn-out of A-Z, many bloggers have found it difficult to get up and go again.

Here are a few ways to beat this:

1. Go blog-browsing: The more blogs you visit, whether via the Post A-Z Road Trip or otherwise, the more issues, problems, points of-view you'll come across. Some of them will trigger a response in you, and that could become your next blog post. Bonus: You'll have return-visits from the blogs you visited once your post is ready and published.

2. Dig up your old posts: That archive is good for something. You can re-post some of the posts you made long ago, which got you a good number of hits. Or, you could use them as an inspiration-- maybe you've learned more on the topic in the intervening period, or your point-of-view has changed. Bonus: When you link back to your own old posts, it helps search engines find you, giving you more hits.

3. Go wordless: A picture/ video really is worth a thousand words. You can also use them to jot down a few lines. 
Bonus: If you add titles and links to your pictures, this too would get picked up in a search-engine crawl.

4.  Avoid Whining: Sure, if you have a regular audience that loves you, you'll get a lot of mollycoddling when you make the occasional rant or whine. But tackling your block by repeatedly moaning about it would only turn off potential readers.
Bonus: When you avoid negatives, you make space for positives--- before you know it, you'll find your blogging vim back again.

5. Create Drafts: To quote yet another hackneyed proverb, prevention is better than cure. If you see an interesting picture, idea, issue--anything, in short, that could be of interest to your blog, copy it down in a blog draft. That way, when the lean times hit, you have a ready resource at hand to tide you over.
Bonus: When you have that many drafts sitting around, you might even be tempted to schedule posts in advance.

These are only a few tips to fight the dreaded block. I'm hoping the super-bloggers amongst you would add more advice in the comments. Now go beat that bloggers' block-- and get yourself a trigger finger instead!

Friday, May 18, 2012

Coming Soon...Friday Fun Time! Brought to You by Nicole


Lots of carefully alphabetized activities are in store for you all starting this month! Some of you are already familiar with me, either from my guest posts at Tossing It Out or by reading my blog, The Madlab Post. For those who may not have ever read my posts, however, here is a quick primer: I am a writer and filmmaker who sometimes publishes short movie reviews and helps other blog readers figure out whether they comment like Harry Potter or not. You can Get to Know more about me Here, if you’re really interested.

In the weeks to come, I will be hosting A to Z themed blog posts for your reading pleasure, every Friday. These posts will include word scramble games, detailed writing prompts to get you prepared for the next Blogging from A to Z Challenge and letter craft tutorials. Depending on the subject matter, each post will be a part of one of three series, unless otherwise noted. The Friday series includes:

Alphabet Soup - A word scramble game 

The Alphabet Remix - A to Z Challenge writing prompts 

Letter Play - Alphabet crafts, design and related DIY tips 

Now, answer me this...

What letters did YOU find the most difficult to blog about during this year’s 2012 A to Z Challenge? 

Happy blogging everyone!

NICOLE
The Madlab Post 
Home of the Monday Movie Meme!
@MadlabPost on Twitter

Saturday, February 25, 2012

#AtoZchallenge Fiction and Call for Writing Prompts

 All A to Z participants have  some or the other plan for how they're going to meet the challenge. Like last year, I'll be doing fiction, based on prompts left by commenters.
Since this year I'll have hosting duties, I hope to pre-schedule at least some of the posts. 
So I'm requesting you, our blogging audience, to challenge me with an interesting picture that you would like me to write on, and drop me story starters, each sentence/phrase beginning with a different letter (i.e. the first word of the starter must start with a different letter from A to Z).  Last year this brought me to A to Z Stories of Life and Death. I hope I write enough stories this year to do another collection.
You can drop me the prompts in the comments on this post. Of course, when I post each prompt during April, I'll link to you and explain why I chose it. You may also mail me the pictures and story prompts at atozstories at gmail dot com.You need not be participating in the A to Z Challenge to challenge me with either a story starter, or a picture, or both. The more the merrier! Last year I had asked for word prompts, and I got loads to choose from! This year, I'm taking it a step further.

As a sort of warm-up and illustration of what I hope to do, I'm pasting below a picture, a story starter( both randomly chosen) and the resulting story.

Story starter: I can no longer... 

Picture:


Story:

I can no longer fit in small corner spaces. 

My body lurches as I run up the stairs, my joints have not been oiled in years, and my feet make thumping noises in tune with my overwrought heart. My breath wheezes, and I'm sure you can hear it from downstairs, where you count up to hundred, your face to the wall. I try hiding behind a cupboard, but my belly and my behind jiggle this way and that, and I know you would spot one or the other. I try hiding under the bed, but can only go in as far as my shoulder. I sneak behind the curtains, but they billow around me, calling to you. 

In the end, I stand amongst the clothes hanging in the changing room. As I hear the patter of your feet, your squealed warnings, and whispered threats, I squeeze my eyes tight shut and breathe the paint on the wall, rubbing the softness of my old cotton dress between my thumbs.

I think of yesterday, when you could have fit anywhere at all, but instead chose to hide your face against the wall. 'How can you see me Granny,' you said when I got you, your pigtails flying, your eyes trembling with unshed tears, 'when I can see nothing at all?'

I'll let you teach me, I decide, as I relax my grip on my dress. You walk past me in my search. 

Between you and me there's only the cloak of a few years, a hundred wrinkles, and a few dozen pounds. Wearing these, I hide from you in plain sight, and as it turns out, from my self.
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By Damyanti Biswas, co-host #atozchallenge

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Pre-March Sign-up Blast for #atozchallenge


We're trying to hit 1000 sign-ups by March 1st, which is next Thursday.  Please make an announcement on your blog to encourage your readers to join us in the A to Z Challenge.   If you have any special connection to bloggers who haven't signed up yet, send them an email to let them in on the April fun and ask them if they'd like to be a part of it.  This week we're counting on all of you to boost the numbers.   Can you help?

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Keep Track of #atozchallenge via The #atozchallenge Daily!

Last April, the A to Z challenge had about 1300 participants.This year, more than 600 bloggers
 have already signed up . Who knows how long the list would grow by the third of April?
 
I have to admit I was a little lost last year--so many blogs to visit, so little time! Plus, I had my 
own posts to think of, which according to my leave-everything-till-the-last-minute personality, 
I had left unscheduled, writing each day as it came. By the time I came to the list, I was 
horrified. Which link had I visited last? Then, when I clicked on a link, it sometimes turned out
 the blogger hadn't posted in a week. Which pissed me off, of course. 

This is when I discovered the #atozchallenge tag which our host Lee helpfully added to all his
 comments. I went on Twitter and discovered fresh A-Z posts by bloggers on this hashtag. No 
worrying over whether the link was valid, and I also got to make new Twitter buddies, and 
agonize with them about the number of posts to be written or visited! (For explanation of hashtag 
for those new to Twitter go here.)

So I basically went and created Twitter newspaper, The #atozchallenge Daily, one which 
automatically collects all the links posted with the  #atozchallenge tag. Even if you're not 
on twitter, all you have to do is bookmark this newspaper. Opening it everyday is a 
great way of finding links to fresh A to Z posts. You'll also find it embedded here in 
this blog, on the sidebar to the right! Embedding it on your own blog is as easy as clicking on 
this link, clicking on the "Embed" tab to the right on the page that opens, and copying the
resultant code into your blog.

If you are on Twitter, you can follow us for updates on @AprilA2Z, and use #atozchallenge 
for any posts you make about A to Z, now, or during the challenge in April. This would make 
it very easy for us and others to find you---adding tons of exposure to your blog. Also, we can
 be twitter buddies and obsess over A to Z building up to the challenge, and also when it 
begins to make us dizzy with all the comment love and discussions!
 
Of the host team, (besides the main @AprilA2Z) you could follow these folks on Twitter :
 

Alex J. Cavanaugh :                                              @AlexJCavanaugh
Stephen Tremp at Breakthrough Blogs :            @StephenTremp
Matthew MacNish at The QQQE  :                       @MatthewMacNish
Jeremy Hawkins at Retro-Zombie:                      @iZombieJMH
DL Hammons at Cruising Altitude :                    @DL_H
Shannon Lawrence at The Warrior Muse :         @thewarriormuse
Elizabeth Mueller :                                                @ElizbethMueller
Karen Gowen at Coming Down the Mountain : @KarenGowen
Damyanti (that is, moi) at Amlokiblogs:               @damyantig
So if you're on Twitter, follow @AprilA2Z and let us know you're participating--and spread the word via the #atozchallenge 
The more we are, the louder the noise we'll make, the more the people we'll make friends with, and the more fun we'll have. (Not to mention additional twitter and blog follows!)

If you don't like Twitter, keep your finger on the pulse by bookmarking The #atozchallenge Daily...either way, have fun and win new fans this April by participating in the A to Z Challenge!


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Damyanti Biswas, co host of the #atozchallenge.