Postcards from the Funny Farm

My friends in this community sometimes ask me if I know any good ways of getting traffic. I try to do creative stuff, but sometimes the traditional things work best. Using forums to build traffic is one of those traditional ways. Of course there are several in my community that are doing just fine. Perhaps those readers could give us some further tips on this discussion.

I’ve read on several “big time” sites that forums are an excellent way to attract more readers to your blog or website. Up until recently, I had never put this one to the test. This is partly due to the fact that I haven’t had the time to experiment with it. I plan to do some “foruming” this evening so I wanted to let you know the results once I am finished. As I head out to try my hand at this endeavor I am thinking these guidelines might be helpful to someone out there who wants to try it:

1. When you choose a forum, choose the topics that follow your passions. ie; mental health, literature, psychology, self-improvement and blogging are a few interests of mine that I belong to forums on.
2. Put your url in your profile and signature or every forum you post at. This is obviously to your blog’s advantage. Theoretically, the ones who like what you have to say will click on your profile or signature and find your wonderfully suited blog. Ok, so I’m being a bit sarcastic. Nonetheless, it’s one way to get your url out there and it may even garner you some Google Juice.
3. Answer many threads before you leave. Some threads are closely monitored and some are not. Doing more will increase your chances of starting up a conversation or even friendship with people on the forum.
4. Subscribe to the threads you comment in. Like most blogs, forums have an option many times to subscribe by email or rss to the threads.
5. Do not get offended and do not say offensive things. This is self-explanatory to many, but to me it is a lesson I have had to learn the hard way many many times (mostly before I ever started blogging). Stay cool and let your words be the same when foruming.
6. Bookmark the front page of each forum and put them in a folder on your toolbar (Firefox) so they don’t become obtrustive. Since the folder causes them to cascade straight down, you can have more than you’ll ever need on your bookmarked toolbar (for help on how to do this, read this).
7. Flattery will get you EVERYWHERE. That may be an old fashioned notion, but go with it and see if it’s still true.
8. Keep your comments short but thoughtful. Don’t waste your great ideas and prose on a forum, use the ideas you get while there to write on your forum and link to the post! (Don’t do this too much or you may be considered a spammer and kicked out)
9. Once you are in, many forums allow you to post a link on your profile page or in the sisgnature, or both.  An example of these types of links can be found here (scroll down to my signature at the Jeep page.  The anchor texts inspiration and psychology are linked back to my blog).  This will help your backlink authority.
10. Once you create the link on your profile page, figure out what the permalink to your profile page is and socially bookmark it to as many as possible.  This will also help your backlink authority. Example of same Jeep profile page on Stumbleupon.

I hope these tips help. If you are new to forums and would like some help getting your feet wet, drop me a line and I’ll see if I can help. On the other hand, does anyone out there have any forums they enjoy and would recommend to this community? Enjoy foruming to build traffic.

Okay, so I covered the first two letters of value: “V” for visceral and “A” for aphoristic. Now the third: “L” for linkage! Link love is the #1 way to make friends and influence people (namely bloggers you link to on the web. After you’ve written your visceral post of around 200 words and given it a catchy and creative title, it is important before you press the “publish” button to add 3 deeplinks (links to other posts on your blog) and 3 linkloves (links to other blogs). This can become a standard practice and you will find it easy then. IT IS VERY CUMBERSOME AT FIRST. You need to try and automate the process however you can. It should be like brushing your teeth every morning. Just to give you some of my tips:

1. For backlinks I have a shortcut to my most popular posts page. I open it in a new tab and getting relevant backlinks that are my most popular is as easy as copy/paste. This helps with rank and authrity. It also links your best stuff for people who are interested in it. REMEMBER: The best way to include links is within the context of your writing. Just inserting them random looks like spam and worse than that, it turns off your readers. You can automatically insert links in your blog (I recommend for a 200 word post 3 backlinks and 3 linkloves) and have it enhance your content.
2. For linklove: I use WordPress. As I add new faves to my blogroll, I can go to Manage / links in the admin section an choose the “blank” window feature. Then when I want to get a link open to check out or copy, all I need to do is click. I try to consistently link to my favorite blogs and I notice they really appreciate it. ONE NOTE: Chelle reminded me that the anchor text that the url is assigned to is important to rank, so choose appropriate words. For example: I really like this guy, if guy is the anchor text, then they only get juice for the word guy. If I says: “This guy knows music!” Then you link more effectively to his site about pop culture, music, and being a D.J..

Linkage of external sites along with the 2 types listed above is the third letter in blog value. Coming up tomorrow: The mysterious “U.” Keep following these guidelines and who knows, maybe you’ll be lookin’ into those las vegas hotels

Yesterday I wrote about how Google PR and other ranking systems for blogs fall short of really selecting value. Let’s face the fact at the start though not everyone agrees on what is valuable in blogs. It is often the same sort of preference as between clip on earrings and studded. There are some things that are universal though. I wrote about an acronym v.a.l.u.e. and specifically the “V” in value for a blog. I chose the word “visceral” and targeted to a nice short 200 words because so many blogs are not.

While that was a very large point that needed over 400 words ;) the aspect today is not so needy of length: “aphoristic” for example, with a catchy title. An aphorism is a short quote or phrase.

Writing a blog is unlike writing a book. Readers rarely will “curl up with a good blog.” On the other hand, when they read a book they are more patient and allow more time for ideas to develop. SO, be careful to not fall into the trap of thinking you are a JK Rowling or Eckhart Tolle online. Even if you write that well, you have a different sort of audience that doesn’t want to hang out long.

Here are three tips on how to add value to your blog by being aphoristic:

1. Wait to create your title until you have written your 200 or so words in your post. 9 times out of 10 you will have a better title after you have the post.
2. As you write thing more in sound-bytes, or lines people could quote. I did that when I wrote: “Readers rarely will “curl up with a good blog.” On the other hand, when they read a book they are more patient and allow more time for ideas to develop.”
3. Use the blockquote function as much as possible without being over-the-top.

So now we’ve covered 2 aspects of a valuable blog: 1) visceral, and 2) aphorostic. Tomorrow I will talk about “L.” If the suspense is too much, again, I will tell you in an email for 25 bucks and I hope you appreciate sarcasm. Have a great Sunday out there making blogs of value.

Google PR is a joke. Bad blogs get high PR all the time. Let’s discuss value and how you can get it on your blog.

It seems the trend these days to get “quick fixes” to long term issues. For example, today I saw a popup ad that said colon cleanser could solve your weight loss woes. Is it possible? Maybe. As far as blogs go, the same amazing claims are out there for traffic and PR. I even asked my wife for a $25 program for my birthday Monday that claimed to improve backlinks. Thank God she said no. It was a momentary lapse of reason.

I’ve been at the task of improving Google PR for over a year now and not much has helped. The stuff that has been worth my time doing however has been stuff that increases the VALUE of my posts and blog. This stuff increases my traffic and decreases the bounce rate: SO … having said all that, I am starting a series to discuss the things that I have found useful in bringing more value to my blog. In the end, after Google PR is a distant memory (which it will become if it doesn’t reflect value) blogs of value will remain standing. I will examine a letter from the word VALUE in each post in this series. I’d encourage you to subscribe so you don’t miss anything. Let’s start with what you can do to create more value for your blog: V.A.L.U.E. V=visceral

1. Be visceral with a target of 200 words

If you are like me, you have to look up visceral to know what it truly means. I knew it meant to be “of feeling” but check out the other definitions:
Visceral \Vis”cer*al\, a. [Cf. F. visc['e]ral, LL. visceralis.]
1. (Anat.) Of, pertaining to, or affecting the viscera;
splanchnic.
[1913 Webster]

2. Fig.: Having deep sensibility. [R.] –Bp. Reynolds.
[1913 Webster]

3. proceeding from emotion or instinct rather than from
intellect; deeply emotional; — as, a visceral reaction.
[PJC]

4. dealing with coarse or base emotions; — as, a visceral
literary style. –[RHUD]
[PJC] (source)

Doesn’t that say it all for a valuable blog post? Write from a place of inspiration. That will vary from writer to writer, but many things never change. There is a new site out there dedicated to talking about writing and blogging called “Wriging.” Check that one out for sure. I chose 200 words as my target because shorter that that is often considered spam by the search engines and more than that often makes me click away. Let’s face it, who has time in their bloghop to read more than 200 words. Oh and guess what else? IT’S EASY TO WRITE 200 words! Everybody likes stuff that’s easy. Sometimes longer posts are okay when they contain excellent research. Andy Beard’s Niche Marketing is an excellent example of how long posts can be okay. USUALLY however, less is more folks. This one is, many apologies, 402 words (eek I am such a hypocrite). I hope you see my point.

Write 200 visceral words is the first part of adding value to a post/blog. Next time: “I”. If you can’t wait, send me an email, I will reveal it to you privately for $25 (LOL. j/k … maybe). Derek’s price will be slightly higher.

I asked myself a question today as I was preparing to go out into my Truman Show here at the Funny Farm here I call my life. The question was based half on Eckhart Tolle’s book, A New Earth and half on my own outlook on life. Blogs can be a great way to journal what is going on in your life while getting feedback as well.   Since I am turning 39 June 9th, I am tending towards the philosophical side. I know you may find it hard to believe that I love it but I do. Happiness is found there as well I am finding.

We are all in a proverbial “funny farm” I think and so there are two sides of life we need to address to succeed, get out, and to be happy: 1) The side of neurophilosophy, or our physical brains, and 2) the cognitive side. This “present” idea is a cognitive idea. (and what’s cool about it is you don’t even get charged a copay here, though you may want to subscribe via -or- .

Anyway, Eckhart’s book is all about being “conscious.” (See here for another post I wrote about him) If I could count the number of times he uses that word, I would say it’s probably more than any other word apart from “the.”

It’s an awesome word to keep in your head all day “conscious, conscious, conscious.” If you have ever been unconscious (as I many times am) in a room you know how much you can miss just pretending to be there. I strive to be conscious always but today that is not my word. Today I am present.

Present is the word on the way to consciousness. Like water spilling over from a river into the sea, consciousness usually merges with present. Remember the annoying, idiotic boy in grade school who after every person’s name was called for attendance with a resounding “here” had to shout “present!” You know, the one the teachers always ranted about. Well I am/was that kid and the only difference is now I am shouting “present” on my blog.  Here’s my simple goal today for being present.

Today I will be present by looking people in the eye

I will also say this mantra today every time I start to think I am becoming “absent:”

(YOUR NAME HERE), Present!!!

Here’s a question for you: maybe down the road we can get more deep, but for now: In what simple way can I move toward being present today? Here’s a picture of me a couple years ago fully present.  Can every moment be that way?  That is my goal.

Today I will be present by looking people in the eye.

In what way will you be present today?

Great blogs should be heralded. 9Rules.com does that. I’ve written a bit on 9Rules here in the past but I never really “got” what the thrust and vision of the company was … until now.

I recently asked Mike Rundle, co-founder of 9Rules, Chawlk.com and several exciting subsites, to answer some of my questions. After reading his answers and trying out Chawlk.com for months now I can tell you I think 9Rules.com is exciting, worth sharing, and absolutely something I endorse. See what you think as you read Mike’s insightful and engaging answers below.

Damien Riley: Hello Mike, if you don’t mind, I’d like to start with that from your perspective. What was your involvement in the beginning of 9Rules and what was the original 9Rules meant to be as a service?

Mike Rundle: Paul Scrivens and I have been friends and business partners since Winter 2003, originally founding one of the first blog-focused design and development firms in May 2004 (sold in March 2007.) At SXSW Interactive in Spring 2005, Paul had an idea about creating a spot that would aggregate great content from the multitude of blogs that were out there and allow bloggers to have a space to collaborate and work together. We invited about a dozen friends of ours to join the original 9rules, and they all happened to be designers, so for awhile we solely highlighted design content, but soon thereafter we branched out to business, technology, marketing, etc. Over the years the 9rules membership base has expanded and we’ve separated blogs out into individual “communities” for easier browsing. We’ve always hand-picked blogs to become members of 9rules and it’s been a great advantage for us and our readers as they know what they’re reading has met some difficult criteria.

Damien Riley: My understanding is that 9Rules started out as a promotion of member blogs and nothing else. Is that a correct understanding?

Mike Rundle: We promoted member blogs, but the big service we provide is the ability to reach out to great thinkers on the Web and have a common bond as a 9rules member. Many of our members are respected artists, teachers, entrepreneurs, investors, and because of this it puts you directly in touch with some of the best minds on the Web. If a member has a question or is in need of some feedback, there’s certainly no shortage of that in our private 9rules member forum.

Damien Riley: What was the intention of adding “Notes” and “Clips” and making 9Rules look much more like a social network?

Mike Rundle: The addition of Notes, Clips, and other social features were a way to get 9rules readers more connected with each other, similar to how our 9rules members are connected. A strong community of members and readers already existed around 9rules, so the addition of social features to the site was just a way to try and foster the community. We added Notes to 9rules long before social sites like Twitter and Facebook took off, so we never really had the intention of making 9rules look or act like a certain site, we just wanted to provide a way to get people more involved with the site and with each other.

Damien Riley: Recently, about 3 months ago, I joined 9Rules for the facet called “Notes.” My hope was to drive some readers to my site. Was this social network style a move away from the old 9Rules?

Mike Rundle: It certainly was a big departure from the “old style” 9rules that readers were used to, but it was an important evolutionary step for us. After seeing how people have used Notes and Clips over the past 2 years, we’re able to apply that knowledge to Chawlk and the other subsites and hit the ground running with them.

Damien Riley: I’ve been reading a lot, particularly from Scrivs, that this move is as a direct result of what former 9Rules folks have requested. How much of those suggestions influenced the decision and how much of your own vision played a part.

Mike Rundle: People have different reactions to change, and there will always be a fence separating the opinions of one group from another. Many 9rules members and readers think that the split of 9rules from the social features was a great move, but many of those same people thought that the addition of Notes and Clips to 9rules was also a great move. In the end it came down to what would best allow us to move ahead with our plans for the future, and the split allowed us to do that in the best way possible. People who love just having member content at 9rules are happy, and if they want to get involved more with like- minded people, they can head to Chawlk or to one of our subsites. We’re always interested in hearing what our members and readers think.

Damien Riley: Now that 9Rules is being restored to its original format and the Notes etc. will be relegated to Chawlk, what is the vision for both services?

Mike Rundle: 9rules is pure content from great, hand-selected blogs. We recently finished a membership round (our 6th since we started 9rules) and it’s great to be adding new members again, especially to a new site that highlights them and nothing else. 9rules.com is the place to find interesting content written by people who have a proven track record for producing interesting content, and we’re extremely proud of each and every 9rules member because they are a reflection of the quality and ideals that 9rules has stood for since we started. The current group of new members is definitely no exception, and I’m honestly envious of all their writing abilities. We really have a great bunch in this new group.

Chawlk.com is the portal that pulls in all the content from our 9 subsites and it’s mainly there for the hardcore readers that want everything. Our subsites are where people are really going to want to be if they’re looking for great discussion and interesting links on a specific topic. Over time our goal is for each subsite to have its own persona, features, and community, and be more than just “one of the subsites”. We just launched Chawlk and the subsites so right now their designs are only a bit different, but we’ll be revisiting each as time goes on.

Damien Riley: I won’t pry too much, but how does 9Rules determine if a blog should be granted membership or not.

Mike Rundle: Not prying at all! The first thing people want to know when they visit 9rules is what the membership criteria is, and fortunately our partner Tyme has been writing a great series on just what we look for when evaluating sites for membership. We have an entire category in our blog dedicated to “Site Tips”: blog.9rules.com/category/site-tips/ The general overview is we want blogs that are focused on one particular topic area and write great original content on a consistent basis. We evaluate sites by reading many articles from their blog, not just the recent ones, so sites that are only a few months old should wait until they have some more posts under their belt before submitting. We only accept submissions for 24 hours a few times per year, and our next submission round is on August 6, 2008. Your readers can find out more about joining 9rules here: 9rules.com/aboout/join/

Damien Riley: There are so many social networks out there. What does 9Rules offer the decent blogger out there looking to add quality to his/her blog and posts?

Mike Rundle: Our new subsite Wriging.com (writing + blogging) is dedicated to making you a better blogger so I’d highly recommend your readers check it out and subscribe if they’re interested in that topic and want to join a community of other bloggers.

If you’re looking to see how some great blogs operate, I’d definitely start by checking out our Members page (9rules.com/members/) and subscribing to some blogs that hit your interests.

Damien Riley: Finally, what is your hope that people will get out of 9Rules. What would you personally like to get thank you emails about ;)

Mike Rundle: I love when people find great, new blogs at 9rules that they’ve never seen before. We really take pride in being democratic about how gets into 9rules — it’s not about your traffic or RSS readers, it’s just about your writing. Because of this we usually highlight a lot of great, lesser-known blogs that end up becoming big hits once they get more people visiting their site. Personally I like finding great blogs before everyone else discovers them, and then helping them achieve some success.

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Thanks to Mike for being accessible and offering this great interview about 9Rules.com. In my opinion, it is a site to get involved in and keep ones eye on. This site and its subsites are not like fake silk flowers as so many internet businesses are nowadays, it’s the real deal.

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1. Understand the difference between Wordpress.org and Wordpress.com

.com is a free blog service like blogger, Yahoo! 360, or Livejournal (there are many many more). You have very limited control over the files apart from the post content. Furthermore, most ad campaigns will not pay out to free hosted blogs such as these. These are free but they have many limitations.

.org is a self hosted set of templates that you install yourself on your own server. You have complete control over all the files that make up your blog. If this tutorial fails to help you 100%, try the support at Wordpress.org They have a lot of material and recommendations there. Most blogs with large readerships and who are making money have this type of a blog platform.

This walk-though is for a self hosted Wordpress.org install

2. Start an account with a hosting service like Topclasshost.com

You need to get the credit card out for this. There is no free lunch when it comes to serious blogging … well, not at first anyway ;) NOTE: there are many other recommended hosting services at Wordpress.org I like Topclasshost because it’s cheap, they have excellent customer service and you can install unlimited Wordpress blogs in a couple clicks through “Fantastico” in the control panel.

3. Download FileZilla (free) from filezilla-project.org/

4. Enter your ftp information that the host emailed to you into File-Zilla. Connect to make sure it works.

5. Go to your control panel, usually located at domainname/cpanel and select “Fantastico.”

6. Select from the blog choices “Wordpress” and go through the steps to install your own ass-kicking Wordpress.org self-hosted blog!

Voila! Congratulations … You’re done.

Of course, after that there is still a ton to do along your journey but that’s where the fun begins. Mine began in December of 2006 and what a ride it’s been! There is so much “accessorizing” and optimizing to do at this point.

For example, you can install themes by finding them online, downloading, and dragging them into Filezilla into your Wordpress folder wp-content/themes and for plugins wp-content/plugins

At this point, you need to bookmark Wordpress.org as you are learning all the “tricks of the trade.” They have an amazing forum there for help. Of course, you may always email me for support. The Wordpress blog platform exists because of people willing to help others. I’m always eager to help my readers because so many have helped me. Even if you don’t need help, please leave me a comment letting me know if you have questions and if you found this walk-through useful.

Have fun.

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NOTE TO THOSE WITH NOT MUCH TIME to wade through all this : For a very reasonable one-time fee, I will set you up your own blog and get it the way you want it. Of course all plugins and settings will be seo optimized and I can also add custom graphics to the job as well. My wife and I have a small graphics company. I also give “Wordpress” lessons. Let’s chat.

Blogging right can mean the difference between beer pong tables and a million bucks.

One of my favorite songs is the Beatles: “Let it Be.”

When I find myself in times of trouble …
Speaking words of wisdom let it be.

We live in the most “multi-tasking” and multi-demanding society in history. The human mind wasn’t created and hasn’t evolved to handle all the stress and demands in a given day. Give yourself that reminder when you miss a deadline or forget to do something. That feeling when you ears feel hot from your sudden blood pressure rising, just remember that is a normal reaction to an overly complicated and fast paced world. Remember the stuff you did accomplish, chances are those outnumber the failures. The wealthy man goes out and buys a condo hotel, the moderately wealthy rents one, and the poor try to reach peace some other way. In the final analysis however, all walks of man can cope with stress the same way: by setting priorities in direction of goals. Here’s how:

If something in front of you is causing you stress, put it over to the “sidebar.” How many people actually read sidebars when they visit blogs? All those widgets in mine could represent the stuff I don’t find as the most pressing needs. The worries in your life can sit over in your “life sidebar” until you have to address them. I am not talking about procrastination, while they are there you can think about them, even takes steps toward dealing with them. ou should not, however, let them stress you out when you have plenty of stuff you need to address on the front page of your life. Pretty soon, the main page will be archives … the sidebar won’t go anywhere and neither will those far off pressing worries of your life! Question for you: When the heat is on and you are stressing, are you able to put it all aside?

Quick announcement folks: I’ve started a weekly newsletter where you’ll get all the posts of a week delivered to your email and you set the options. I think this is a great read once a week, see what you think!

-Damien

Subscribe to Postcards from the Funny Farm by email.

You know it isn’t often I run across a blog and instantly become a fan. That’s how it was for me a few months ago when I found It Might be Love. Of course I am a hopeless romantic so this blog appealed to me right away. It’s an unobtrusive, unassuming blog that has a post every day on the issue of love in our lives. With so many blogs focused solely on material things or building traffic, it is refreshing to find one that is a niche blog about something so visceral and universal as love! Michelle Stein is the owner and main author of this blog. So far I have enjoyed reading her blog and writing there as a guestblogger. I asked her for an interview last week and was so pleased when she accepted! The 10 question and answers are below.  I hope you enjoy it and visit her blog.  My words are italicized:

Q1: Hi Michelle, thanks for letting me interview you I think your blog is great. How did you come up with the niche and/or idea of a love blog?
I didn’t really have a plan when I bought the domain name. I was plugging in random website names to see what was available and “it might be love” was a phrase that entered my mind for some reason. The more I thought about it the more I liked it - because what is love anyway? Does anyone really know? Love can be so many things for so many different people. Everything else sort of just took off from there.

Q2: Do you hold any degrees or special training to talk about love online? If not, what is it about you that makes your contribution special?
I am glad you asked this question because I would not want anyone to ever think I’m an expert when I’m not. I don’t have any formal training or degrees in psychology, which suits me just fine. I have adopted the “Good Will Hunting” philosophy of learning, meaning you can learn anything you want to know for “”a buck fifty in late fees from the library”.

I think that is what makes It Might Be Love so unique…I’m just a “real person”…sharing what I’ve experienced and learned along the way. There is no one-size-fits-all textbook definition of love. While I genuinely respect the “experts” I think you can only understand love through your experiences. I believe we are all capable of learning more about love and teaching what we learn to others.

Q3: Do you draw from your personal experiences a lot or others?
I would say 90% of the things I write about are from my own personal experiences. The other 10% comes from various people I’ve met and the situations they’ve been in or the things they have taught me. I hopefully have a lot more in life to experience and learn, so I don’t think I’ll ever run out of things to talk about!

Q4: Would you say love takes work or are you one who sees “the one” scenario as the secret to bliss 24/7?
I think you need to be able to find “the one” you can work with. We get caught up in the idea of meeting “the one” so we are often fooled by things like romance or compatibility. I know I thought I met “the one” long before I actually met “the real one”. Staying together in my opinion is all about how well you work together, problem solve, communicate, and how much trust and respect you have for each other.

Q5: How old is the blog and how is it going in your opinion? Why do you say that?
I’ve had the site for almost 2 years - but the site you see today has only been the way it is since this March after I accidentally deleted everything that was on there before! I decided to start over completely from scratch and switched over to Wordpress. I think it’s better now than ever – and now I have an automatic back-up system for my database in place! Traffic is steadily increasing each week and I’ve received nothing but positive feedback. I’m hoping to launch a couple of contests and freebie promotions in the upcoming months so I’m excited about that as well!

Q6: That’s awesome, we will be watching for those for sure and I hope you don’t mind if i promote them on Postcards from the Funny Farm, I think your blog is GREAT! Okay, now for a personal question: What is your current relationship status and how did the two of you meet?

I am married to quite possibly the funniest guy in the world. When we got married he had me laughing so hard they actually said to me “Honey, you know this is serious, don’t you?”

I initially met my husband because he needed a Sharpie marker at the place we both worked. Nobody seemed to have one until he finally came across me. I was very skeptical about letting him borrow my marker, but he brought it back to me as promised, which really impressed me! We soon became friends and before long it only seemed natural for us to start dating.

Q7: Since it is somewhat of a how-to blog, can you tell us the secrets of a great love relationship?
A few weeks ago I wrote an article for Associated Content called the 5 C’s of a Happy Relationships wherein I wrote that happy relationships need these 5 things: Communication, Caring, Consideration, Courage, and Creativity. While I wouldn’t call that the “secret” I do think if you can learn to understand and apply those principles in your current or next relationship it’s a very good place to start towards having a happy and healthy relationship.

Q8: What is your biggest love about blogging?
The thing I like most about blogging is that I can write to my heart’s content and share what I wrote with the rest of the world if they want to read it. We always think we’re too insignificant to make a difference in anyone’s life. But if just one person finds something I write to be inspiring or enjoyable than I consider it “mission accomplished.”

Q9: What is your biggest pet peeve of blogging?
It used to be spam but since I activated Askimet I haven’t had too many problems with that lately. So I guess now it would have to be the technical side of the blog - writing html and php and getting pictures to display correctly. There have been times it takes me 4 or 5 tries to get something to look the way I want it to!

Q10: If you could give us “lovers” out there one piece of advice, apart from subscribing to your RSS and reading your blog every day, of something we can do to make our love relationship better, what would it be?
Well I definitely like the subscribe idea! One thing I think most people could do rather easily is to start giving your partner just one little thing every day. It doesn’t have to be a huge thing. It can be a hug, a joke, a half an hour of your uninterrupted attention, an offer to wash the dishes, a phone call just to say “Hi”. It doesn’t matter what you give them, just the fact that you gave them anything. I honestly believe the more you give to your relationship, the more you will get back out of it.

Thank you so much for the interview Damien! I really enjoyed answering your questions!

You are very welcome Michelle, I enjoyed asking them :) If you, my readers, are interested in reading Michelle’s blog, I highly encourage you! Here is the url: itmightbelove.com/

You know it’s fitting that today when I went looking for a Twain photo I found one that was under a “reusable media” license. That is kind of a metaphor for what my 9 Authors, 9 Aspects of Powerful Writing guest post is about over at Confident Writing. One commenter there, Jim Murdoch, says eloquently:

“The whole idea behind the word ‘novel’ is that it should be new and so, if we can’t think of anything brand new, we need to spruce up something old to make it feel new, to reinvigorate it with power.”

This is an exciting response to what I tried to get across in the article. Thanks to Jim for being the first to comment and also to Joanna for letting me do a guest blog for Confident Writing. I truly admire the niche and the community there. It’s an excellent place to get help and positive words about your writing.

In my article you’ll read the “secrets” of 9 classic great authors of America! These aspects of writing can revolutionize your blog article, or any other writing task for that matter.

If you are interested in reading my guest post, the url is below:

confidentwriting.com/2008/04/10-authors-and.html