Post A Day 2011 Is Over…Now What?

So Post-A-Day 2011 is over as I have already mentioned and I successfully completed it. While that’s all fine and good and I am very proud of myself and extremely happy with all I have accomplished on this blog in the past year the end of the Challenge begs an important question:

Should I continue to post every day?

It isn’t like I don’t enjoy posting to this blog. I absolutely love getting my thoughts out into the ether but the fact of the matter is that there are a few reasons which immediately spring to mind as to why I shouldn’t continue posting on a daily basis. These include:

1. Let’s be perfectly honest here, there were days when I wrote completely garbage posts. There were days when I straight up said I have nothing to write but posted anyway because I was doing a challenge which required posting daily. Shouldn’t I be trying to separate the wheat from the chaff now that I am not doing a regimented post per day kind of thing?
2. It is one heck of a lot of work and sometimes I found it got in the way of other things because I ‘had to post’ each day.

Now on the other side of the coin why I think I should continue posting every day:

1. I’ve gotten into a good habit of posting every day and why should I stop now? Look it’s 11:46pm and I am still typing away right now doing my post for today.
2. Often topics and posts that I thought were incredibly inane and which I just wrote because it was 11:30pm and I needed something to write about really struck a chord with people. Case in point, my signature scent vs scent switching cologne/perfume post, I truly did not think that that post would resonate with anyone and it was just something to write about with time a-wasting before the midnight deadline. If I wasn’t tryign to write a post every day would I have written about the cologne? I’d love to say I would have eventually gotten around to it but I can’t say that and be perfectly honest.

What’s funny about the second thing is that I have heard it time and time again (or read about it) from people in creative fields that are markedly different from each other. Cracked.com put it best when describing the origins of the Guns N’ Roses Song “Sweet Child O’ Mine” in their 6 Classic Songs That Were Supposed to Be Jokes article. They write under the entry for the famous G N’ R song (which topped the list):

“What you like, and what your audience likes, are probably going to be very different. It’s probably best to just go with it.”

Basically, what I think to be throwaway writing isn’t necessarily that.

So here’s what I’m thinking, I will continue to write a post a day so long as it isn’t a post about how I can’t think of anything to write that day. What do you folks, my readers, the most important people in this relationship think? Good decision? I am open to suggestions and really would like to hear your thoughts, pop em down below in the comments.

How Long Is Acceptable To Wait Before Replying To A Comment?

Responding to a comment I received on my blog earlier this evening. Pretty good turnaround time if I do say so myself!

This is a question of blogger etiquette which I put to you, my readers. I have mentioned before that as a blogger one of the most rewarding things about blogging is the comments I get as a result of my blog posts. But recently, with life that needs living I don’t always get to answer comments on the blog as quickly as I would like to and I was wondering if this is affecting your opinions of me and my blog and my attitude towards my blog. So, I have decided to ask all y’all what you think is an acceptable amount of time that I should strive to reply to comments left on my blog.

As of now the poll has no time limit. I might change that in the future and will change these words accordingly but right I feel I’m not one to judge anyone on timing.

Have at it! I look forward to the responses on this poll!

 

Blogging, Events, And Swag. What Is The Responsibility Of The Blogger?

Dan Levy blogging at laptop keyboard...OK technically this is a posed picture but that IS my hand and that IS my laptop from where I blog.

I have mentioned more than once how I love being a blogger and standing up on my digital soap box talking about things that strike my fancy every day of every week. I have also mentioned how often times this results in me receiving invites to events or receiving things from companies/brands to try out. However, while I appreciate each and every invitation I get and I love getting free stuff from brands/companies to try out (this is also known as ‘swag’) I have always maintained my honesty and integrity here on this blog and have been completely open about things with my blog readers. This is, in my opinion and in the opinions of readers who I have communicated with, part of what makes my blog, my posts, and my writing style attractive.

A couple of weeks back, actually it was on the day I went to the Ex, I read a tweet from Spiro aka @mandylor of ItsAllStyleToMe.com. I am going to quote it to you directly and post a screenshot of it but, for full disclosure’s sake, here is a link to it. The tweet read: “PR firms make sure bloggers provide verifiable web stats, twitter, FB accounts. Demand a post within 72 hours fashion show/event. #blogs.”

At first I agreed with Spiro when I read his tweet and I retweeted it. However, upon further reflection since then – the tweet was tweeted on August 24th around 3PM – and I came to realize that while I think Spiro is a good guy I don’t 100% agree with him. Why is this? Well, while I agree that PR Firms should be more than entitled to check with bloggers/online personalities for their stats to ensure that the PR company’s client is getting value for inviting people to the event or sending them swag at the same time who is to say that the event/product will be worth writing about?

Writing & Editing: A Little Time Makes A Big Difference

Writing regular posts to this blog in the Post A Day Challenge has driven home a lesson that I learned in an OAC (Grade 13) Canadian History class a long time ago during the summer of 1998 at Earl Haig High School in North York, Toronto:

The more time you leave after you write something the better you will be able to edit it. Try to leave at least 24 hours after writing a paper before you go to review/edit it and then hand it in. If you can leave longer that is even better.

God, I wish I could remember the name of the teacher who taught us that.

That lesson has been one of the lessons that has really stuck with me over the years being the kind of person who almost always wrote his papers and essays at the last minute in school. My educational career’s essay writing experiences and attitude could be summed up in a quote from one of my high school friends:

The best minute is the last one.

I would tell you who it was but I don’t know if wants to be quoted on that and he is a twin so I don’t 100% remember which one of them said it – although I am somewhat sure I know which, but I digress.

Post-A-Day 2011 Learnings

As you all know this whole year I have been involved in the WordPress Post-A-Day 2011 Challenge.

This has been a huge learning experience for me, not only in the difficulty that comes with creating content that is interesting – at least to some degree – and well written on a daily basis. Beyond the challenge that is associated with completing this endeavor as long as I have and continuing on there is also a lot of good and interesting conversations that have come out of it.

One such conversation happened last night. A friend of mine contacted me via Facebook and asked me about the challenge. She was wondering whether or not she should start blogging daily as well. I honestly had no answer to give her. I explained to her that j found the task a very challenging one while also being very fun and rewarding. She then opined that if she wrote about het life in a blog it would be really messed up for people reading it because her life is filled with so many trials and hardships and weirdness. I told her that just because she is choosing to blog daily doesn’t mean that you necessarily must write a lifeblog and explain to everyone everything that is going on I’m their own her life but it is her decision to make at the end of the day.

Blog Comments: Likely The Most Rewarding Part Of Blogging

As I have continued on blogging daily since the beginning of the WordPress Post-A-Day 2011 Challenge I have discovered – for me, and I’d think any blogger – that the most satisfying and rewarding part I experience from blogging is something that was unexpected:

COMMENTS

Sure, I liked seeing that Mickey’s Pizza posted a quote from my blog for all to see in their store. I’d be lying to you and to myself if I said I didn’t experience a huge rush of pride and joy when I saw that (and if you read the post linked above you’d know how ecstatic I was). Sure, I look forward to seeing my words posted up in different places, referenced on other blogs (which has only happened once thus far, as far as I know) or by mainstream media sources but what I really love is comments.