Postcards from the Funny Farm

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I have a guest blog up at my new psych bloggy friend Laurel’s “Ninth Elegy.” She’s got a really peaceful, inspirational set of posts over there and I am honored she hosted my post. I’d be remiss to not mention that she recently did a guest post spot at Zen Habits. If you know how much I like that blog, you know why I respect that accomplishment immensely. But back to my guest blog: It’s a cognitive lesson in getting along with difficult neighbors. Give it a read and as always your comments are appreciated.

I met a really visionary blogger this past year named David Masters and he writes a blog called “Be Playful.” I’ve guest blogged there in the past and he just published one of mine there today on “Playing Through Difficult Times.” I know some people going through tough times and others in their bliss out looking for birthday invitations. It just depends what cards you’ve been dealt. David has shared there in the intro that he himself has been going through the not-so-fun task of moving. Maybe you are going through a difficult time right now. Maybe you know someone who’s lost their job or is just plain down. It may seem like the end of the world but remember that all experience is life experience. When you stop feeling pain you’re dead. I love the quote Woody Guthrie said: “Take life easy or take it hard but TAKE IT.” You can read all my favorite quotes here. My guest post at Be Playful is here.

How did I do in June of 2008?

Didn’t quite meet my goals in traffic and money, but publishing was a slam dunk. I think Social Media will save me in July.
Traffic
Goal: Traffic: 3,000 uniques
Actual: 2,554 uniques

I spent time playing and exploring ways “outside the box” to blog and you see the consequences here. At the same time, I feel my exploration was worth it. You’ll notice I now have all my top referring social media sites linked in my layout. I am investing more in them: ie; Chawlk, Blog Catalog, etc. We’ll see how that works for July’s numbers. I invite you to join my community at MyBlogLog and some of the other sites through the links at the top and in the sidebar. Networking is cool because the increased traffic works both ways!

Publishing
Goal: 3
Actual: 4

• Create Through Necessity a guest blog at Katelynjane’s Notebook.
• The Upside of Recession: Consciousness published at Blogcritics Magazine.
• Love Homework a guest blog at It Might be Love
• Playing through Diffucult Times a guest blog at Be Playful (Scheduled for an early July publishing)

Money
Goal: 200 bucks.
Actual: 115 bucks.

Due to not having PR, IZEA doesn’t give me the options I used to have as a PR4. This is very ironic since doing paid posts is likely why my PR was taken away, but I am not complaining. I feel like PR is going to change it’s ranking algorithm eventually and I intend to keep writing for hire when it makes sense. I’ll never publish what I consider a boring post. You have my word on that. And hey … 115 bucks is a lot of money! Incidentally, I just thought I’d throw in here that despite the recession, if you live in the area, the Boston jobs are flourishing. Thought I’d send the site out if anyone needs it.

Goals for July 2008 are:
Traffic: 2700 uniques
Publishing: 3
Money: 200 bucks

Final thought:

This month you will see me a lot in social media. I intend to use that more to try and meet my July goal of 2700 uniques. I think it is an untapped resource here at the Farm. I will report the results of this strategy next month. Maybe I’ll see you at the social media sites?

Thanks for following this series! Watch how I do in July 2008. -Damien

I’m published today in a post at the official FuelMyBlog Blog. The topic there is one you might do well to check out. It could be the cornerstone issue in the future of blogging. Here are some responses to that post on defining blog value over at the the FuelMyBlog Blog:

sylvied said: “You are totally right here we can rate our own blogs and add value to it.”

KevinD said: “I think a new wave of blogger is coming, the realists …”

Claire said: “I find this intriguing as my site visitor stats are actually quite low although feed subscribers stats are 6 times as high. As most of the requests are for text tag links, I’m assuming the attraction is ‘google juice’ rather than reaching my subscribers or readers …”

belinha said about my quote: “To define your own value is to declare independence from parent companies like Google that thrive by assigning value as they see it.”
Very good point!

These are great comments. Some really smart people hang out over there. If you want to know my self-made method for testing a blog’s value, check out my post (series of posts) called V.A.L.U.E.
It’s not perfect but it’s a start.

Now for your take on all this: Google thinks they know the value of a blog, and the world listens. Knowing how to measure your blog’s value can mean the difference between a shack and one of those Hilton Head rentals.What do you have to say about defining blog value?

Katelynjane has been a good friend to this blog since I met her through “Entrecard” (at least I think that was where? There are so many social networks one frequents as a blogger). Anyway, she has a nice mix of content there under the overall umbrella theme of creativity. When she invited me to spill my guts on the subject over there, I gladly took her up on it. Check out my guest blog over there and do me a favor and show some love with a comment and a Stumble. Creativity is truly every bloggers most valuable currency. Watch this young blog closely folks, I think very good things are in store! See you over there!

(postscript: I remember when I first started blogging, it seems ike yesterday. Where does the time go? One day you are filling out Halloween invitations, and thext it’s hot summer!)

(I’ve disabled comments on this introduction post)

Making something new for dinner can become a good vibe bringing the whole family together. Sarah and I got a little crazy tonight and prepared fondue. It was delicious. I published the recipe and more details of the event in a guest blog over at In Good Taste. If you’d like to read it you can get there through the url below:

ingoodtaste.wordpress.com/2008/05/11/parmesan-fond...

I wish I had the budget to buy you all MP3 players. may7be someday …

Thanks to the guest bloggers listed below who posted in my stead the past week:

A Question of Preparation by Marcia
Stop The Criticism, Inspire Your Children by Derek Semmler
Have You Been Inspired Lately? by Katelyn
You don’t have to… by Chelle
Home Sweet Home by Jessica the Rock Chick

It was a much need vacation from blogging and I thoroughly enjoyed the guest bloggers. Updates include a new spiffy domain name, postcardsfromthefunnyfarm.com, a theme haircut, and some exciting post and series ideas for the summer on inspiration and psychology. Thanks for reading. Are you ready for a crazy summer at the Funny Farm?

I reveal the details of my recent grocery store lapse of reason over at BEPLAYFUL.ORG Thank yous go out to David for offering me the guest spot.  Hopefully no one gets offended, make sure you read the WHOLE article before you judge the driver.  This is one post perfectly suited to a blog called “Be Playful.”  If you would like to read it, the url is below:

beplayful.org/from-age-38-to-8-in-thirty-seconds/

Katelynn is a writer I ran across recently with a real hunger to write and connect through her writing. She has a very upbeat tone in all her posts and I was lucky to get her to guestblog at Postcards today. There is more 411 on her in the footer of this post. Enjoy her thoughtful and talented contribution!

Damien contacted me a few days ago and asked if I would be interested in doing a guest blog for him. He said he preferred the topic to be about inspiration or psychology. Since I know nothing about psychology I decided to go with inspiration (:

Because I write, not only on my blog but other writing outlets as well, inspiration is huge to me. Sometimes it’s hard to look around and feel inspired because we see our surroundings constantly. Everyday, there’s the same neighbors, same work place, same family, same habits. But if we look a little bit deeper, there’s always something there waiting for us, ready to jump out and surprise us.

One evening I was sitting down chatting to my dad, drinking a cup of tea and just enjoying the comforts of my family. My dad is from England, he came to Canada when he was 29 and decided to stay once he met my mom. I am extremely proud of my British heritage, possibly because of the novelty of it, but also because of the history. Taking a sip of his tea, dad started to tell me a story I hadn’t heard before.

A great aunt of mine had moved to Ireland with her family way back when. In this point in time the IRA were openly threatening and taking the lives of their opposition. Their influence was a constant worry for the Irish communities.

My aunt had been invited to a dance, her chauffeur, Teddy, drove the car to the entrance, helped her into the back seat and closed the door behind her. The manor where the evening was taking place was quite aways from my aunts estate and as they drove along the country roads, the sun set on the hills; it was a beautiful fall evening.

Turning a corner they came across a site I’m sure my aunt never forgot. A confrontation had occurred between the IRA and several other men. The men had been shot and left for dead along the roadside. Ordering her driver to stop, my aunt, not caring about her beautiful clothes, jumped out of the car and ran to the side of one of the men, his chest bloody and eyes distant. There was no pulse. Teddy called for her to come back, he warned that the IRA members might still be near and she would be in danger. She didn’t care, the went from one man to the next, checking for signs of life. Unfortunately, these are all the details I know of the story even though I have asked more family for details.

See what I mean about being inspired? Just when you think your family is normal and boring!

As bloggers it seems we’re constantly encouraged to join something, do something, or go somewhere interesting so we’ll have another topic to write about…and obviously there’s nothing wrong with that. But what about just sitting there, having a cup of tea with a relative, and finding out more of where you came from? If you’re even more adventurous, you could look even further in your background by hooking up with a family tree site and see what you come up with. Personally, I find it much more interesting to come from the horses mouth. Besides, family always enjoys company (:

Meet the Guest Blogger: Katelyn Jane, an Etsy Seller, creative blogger, wife and tea drinker, lives and writes in British Columbia, Canada. She loves riding her dog sled to work, inventing new storage ideas for her igloo and making leather with her teeth (or lack of).

Did you ever spend a weekend doing a whole lot of nothing and you felt great about it? In a sense that’s what my weekend was like. We bought a new stove for the house. We’re supposed to move in around May 15th. Other than that, I just whittled at the blog, wrote a guest blog that should be published this week and learned what “glass” effect was on Photoshop. I haven’t posted an “aside” post like this in a while but I thought I’d explain that I was doing nothing, thinking about everything, and doing stuff behind the scenes. I have 3 ideas for posts, it’s just a matter of getting the links and paragraphs in line. I thought a lot SAT-SUN. So much, I am speechless for once in my life. Funny how real quiet and thinking will do that to you. Suffice it to say, I had some deep thoughts that have done me well. Watch for a really big one in tomorrow’s column.

To close: for lack of any clever comment generating hook:

How was your weekend?