Sometimes when creating a post, the hardest thing to come up with is not the content, but the title. Take this post for example. I know what I want to talk about, but the main sticking point was coming up with an appropriate title.
Most of the time, I like to have my title connect, however tenuously, with the topic of choice I'm writing about. Occasionally, blanks are drawn and I wind up creating a nonsensical title that has absolutely nothing to do on God's green earth with the subject at hand.
Like now.
The subject at hand today is that this is post #150 of my blog Hooray! Three cheers and a tiger for me! and I wanted to give a small recap of what I've done so far with this blog. While some of my long time readers know what I'm about (boy do they know), some of the others who have stumbled across my blog may not quite know what I'm all about.
So the happy re-cap is thus:
I started this blog on Memorial Day weekend, purely on a suggestion by a fellow denizen of Topix. And picking the subject matter was at the time incredibly easy:
1) Work
2) Chat rooms
3) Relationships
4) Writing
5) My novel
So off I went, doing what I usually do best, which was to throw myself completely into my blog. I started shooting off posts left and right, on the average making about 8 posts a week. After a few weeks, suggestions were made to me as to how I could possibly attract a few more readers to the blog. Like posting a few of my short stories. Agreeing with the suggestion, I started posting one of my short stories, two pages at a clip.
About a month and a half later, I realized that if I kept up the same frenetic pace of posting my stories, I would quickly run out of stories to post. So we ratcheted it down to one page per post (which eventually got ratcheted down even further as I now post one page a week).
After that initial tweaking, I kept up the blitzing attack of creating 7-8 posts a week, rotating the topics on a weekly basis so that at least two would be touched upon every week. Around mid-summer I introduced the topic called "Suburbia", in which I would talk about where I live and would introduce a few pictures here and there describing my little slice of country living smack dab in the middle of the suburbs.
By the beginning of September or so, I was starting to become a little toasted from maintaining the killer pace I had set for myself. I wanted to keep my blog fresh, but it was becoming increasingly difficult to continuously come up with original material. At the same time, I really wanted to get back to my writing, which was starting to take a back seat to this blog. I also wanted to get everything in place and at the ready for when my self-published novel rolls out.
So after spending some time thinking about it, I decided to cut down on the amount of posting I was doing on the blog, from 7-8 posts including a short story, to 3-4 posts including a short story.
I am now in a much better frame of mind with my blog and everything else that surrounds it. This my fellow readers, is the happy summary of my blog. For more details, please feel free to explore the various links that are available, including the ones that contain some of my favorite blogs.
As for the title? The title is a song by Country Dick and The Beat Farmers, that a jock for a now defunct college radio program used to play when he was ending his show for the day. Even if his show was running over, you still heard this song in its entirety.
Hope your day is filled with nothing but Peaches, Lobsters, and Tequila.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
8 comments:
Go on, give me your best shot. I can take it. If I couldn't, I wouldn't have created this wonderful little blog that you decided to grace with your presence today.
About that comment moderation thingy: While yes, it does say up above I can take it, I only use it to prevent the occasional miscreant from leaving thoughtless and/or clueless comments.
So remember, all of your comments are greatly appreciated and all answers will be given that personal touch that you come to expect and enjoy.
G. B. Miller
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Providing the proper title for a post is an endlessly discussed subject, apparently. If you're trying to gain readers, you're supposed to put likely Google search keywords in the title. A post title should also be original and indicative as to the subject of the post. However, although I want more readers, I title my posts anyway I damn well please, Google be damned. A perfect example is that post I did about the fake fossil that supposedly showed human and dinosaur tracks together. According to blog promotion guidelines I should have named it Fake Man/Dino Footprint Fossil "Found" In Texas or something. However, I realized I had the perfectly appropriate and quirky title - The Texas Two-Step. When you read the post itself the reason for the title becomes perfectly clear - it's about two supposed footprints, "found" in Texas, and the title conveys the little dance with the truth creationists are so apt to perform. I like to do it that way, because it makes things more fun. The caveat: I have had several people googling for dance information land on that post (yes, I notice things like that!) They tend to leave immediately.
ReplyDeleteI've read about that too in various blogs.
ReplyDeleteI usually try to tie things in, but when I can't, it's creativity in action.
I thought about a few others this morning, but they were discarded as being either quite offensive or even more detached from reality than this one was.
I did give serious consideration of calling this "I think, therefore, I rock and roll".
In any event, I believe that should be silly with your post titles every once in a while. For me, the added fun is sometimes trying to write a post that fits the title.
I'm still trying to find the balance between blogging, family crap, writing (columns, book, etc.), work, and I am still floundering. I am so happy to read this. It gives me hope.
ReplyDelete:-)
I'm glad to be that little beacon of hope, beaming out from New England for all to see.
ReplyDeleteHey it's an anniversary for both of us! happy 150th buddy!
ReplyDeleteThank you Ms. Crseum.
ReplyDeleteAmazing that I managed to survive this long blogging, but I'm loving every blessed minute of it.
MMMMM.....Lobsters and Tequila. (I'm not so much the fan of peaches.) Congrats on the more doable blogging pace. These suckers can be...well...suckers!! Time consuming! I have been enjoying your blog an enormous amount since I stumbled over....and I plan to continue! (I got my computer back!! yes!!)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the compliment and I'm glad you stopped by to check out my blog and I'm glad you'll continue to check it out.
ReplyDeleteIt is the unfortunate quirk in my personality that I sometimes throw myself wholeheartedly into whatever project I choose to do. Sometimes its good and sometimes I just simply get burned out in the process.
We live and learn.