Posts Tagged "blogging"
why do i read your blog?
I read your blog not because of your impressive writing abilities. Whether you believe it or not, I am a silent follower of this blog and that is not to say that the blogger can’t write well because based on her background, I think she’s doing great with her writing. If you don’t focus on the strict grammar rules of the English language, you might also enjoy reading her entries.
I read your blog not because you’re famous. I follow Heather Armstrong. She’s famous and she writes really well but that is not the reason why I read her blog. Believe it or not, most of the bloggers I follow are small time bloggers who cater to very few audiences.
I follow your blog not because I learn from it. I actually hate super pretentious blogs that tell you what to do. Google leads me to those kinds of blogs whenever I need info but the chance that I will return to those blogs is always almost zero.
I read your blog because you share something about your life and your thoughts with honesty. I read your blog because I get the feeling that we have something in common. I read your blog because we have the same opinions on some things. I read your blog because I like your humor. I read your blog because I can sympathize with your sorrows. I read your blog because it’s entertaining.
I, myself, don’t have a writing prowess to boast about but I have an idea why a few readers read what I write because it is also the very reason why I read somebody else’s blog.
I read your blog because I know that behind that blog is a “real” person.
Read Morelevel up
Ever since I learned about the world of blogging, I always wished to have my articles published on real online magazines (would also be super great if I get my work published on print). Of course, I have some written works available online but they are all self-published.
I’ve spent years contemplating on submitting my articles to online magazines but I never got the courage to do so. I always thought, who would want to publish the kind of writing I do? I mean, no fancy words, no long sentences, no impressive idioms, etc. It’s like anybody who completed first grade can write the way I do.
But because this deep conviction to bring my blogging to the next level can’t be suppressed anymore, I signed up for ODESK and looked for some writing gigs. I have to tell you that I wasn’t so impressed at first because some buyers offer really cheap compensation (I mean REALLY cheap). That’s disheartening but I told myself that if I really want to do this, I must not concentrate on what I will earn. I should concentrate on getting jobs and starting my portfolio as a freelance writer.
So I started applying for jobs. I sent out nine applications and from these applications I got one rejection and three interviews. And from these three interviews, I got one job and I refused the other two jobs because the job I accepted requires 16 hours per week and that’s already more than I can commit to my writing. I want to be able to do quality jobs and since I am just starting and learning the ropes of freelance writing, I avoided quantity (As you know, I don’t enjoy pressure).
I rescinded my application for the other six jobs I applied for. I didn’t wait for buyer’s response anymore because I already accepted an earlier job offer.
Now, I want to talk about the job I got.
When I got a notification from ODESK that I am invited for an interview, I was ecstatic and of course, nervous. In my mind, I immediately reviewed possible questions that might be thrown at me and the corresponding answers. To my surprise, all I got was this:
Hi Vienna,
Thanks for applying. Do you have any blogs or writing samples that I can take a look at? It would be really helpful.
Thanks! S
So I directed her to this blog while thinking… oops, I should have updated my blog and written a better post. I was sure I won’t get this job but I was surprised to see her reply:
Hi Vienna,
I took a look at your blog and I love it! I like your writing style, its reflective and gives the glimpse into your personal thoughts through your writing. I also really enjoy that you write casually and not forced (some people write like they have to prove something!) and that you also include photos with your entries.I think you’re a good match! You can write about anything under the sun that is Wine, Food & Travel related. You can stretch the topic since it doesn’t have to be literal and can be interpreted in so many different ways. For food, you can write about your own herb/vegetable garden. For travel, you can write about past experiences, going to some place in town, or dreams of future vacations. For wine, heck – whatever floats your boat.
You can combine the topics or write them individually. Again, its completely up to you. There are no rules! You’re hired.
I’ll set you up with an account on the website, which is WordPress based. You can post the articles, I’ll review and publish them when ready. Just as a note, all articles also need to have a companion photo, which is located on the right hand side of the article page. This image will also be used as the thumbnail image on the homepage and throughout the site. You can also add multiple images in the body of your writing, just like you do in your blog.
Let me know if you have any questions. I’ll also need some time to set up your account… in the meanwhile, welcome to the team and I look forward to your writing
Cheers, S
Look at that! Somebody likes my candid way of writing. I was all smiles when I finished reading this message. I am really happy that one of my many dreams is about to come true.
I won’t tell you where my articles will be published yet. I’ll have to wait until at least one of my articles goes live. c”)
Read MoreGoodbye to my old theme
There’s a lot of revamping going on in my blogs lately and I am not done yet. I started with merging some of my blogs and changing the themes. Not only did this blog got a new theme but my other blog, Bizarre Marriage, is also running on a new theme since last week. The next few weeks will bring more merging. My target is to have less than five blogs and at the moment I still have like seven or so.
The reason why I am doing this is because I want to be able to manage all of my blogs well and with the day job coming this September, I’ll definitely have lesser time for blogging so I thought that it is better to keep fewer blogs but manage them well than to keep all my blogs and leave most them unattended.
So anyway, I like my old theme and it worked well for me but I’ve been using it for a long time so I thought of using a new one for a change.
I think my new theme is great! ElegantThemes.com has some really handsome themes and I particularly like this one because of it looks clean. The photos, if you noticed, are not related to the blog posts but for aesthetics’ sake, I placed one photo on each post. This theme looks way better with the photos and in the future I will try to put photos that are related to my blog posts. There’s one thing though… and I would do it if I could but I my PHP knowledge is very limited. It is actually not even enough to place the “recent comments” and “random articles” on the bottom of the page instead of displaying them on top.
And then there’s also the reminder from Sterndal that since I merge some of my blogs, I also have to fix some links. She’s right but I’m not sure if I would like to go through all that hassles. This blog alone has almost a hundred posts and I after putting photos on each of them, I don’t like to imagine going through each post to check if the links are linking to deleted blogs. But maybe I’ll do it someday. Who knows? It’ll definitely make my blog better.
Read MoreWriting
Writing is easy but only if you simply want to put plain words together to convey what you mean and that’s what I’ve been doing since I started blogging. I read my previous entries and I am like…. hmmm…everything is just so lame…(not to mention my frequent grammar mistakes).
My writing is so plain. I myself feel bored when reading my entries. I want to and have to write better. I’ve embarrassed myself long enough in the whole World Wide Web. It’s time to stop writing and publishing crappy blog entries. It’s time to work on my writing skills.
But where do I start?
Read MoreI merged two blogs today
The blog that contains my scrapbook pages (Digitally Designed) is now merged with this blog. I finally realized that I can’t handle that much blogs anymore. I am now busy looking for a real job and I have a good feeling that I will find one soon.
That means I will have less time for my blogs.
I still have nine blogs and I am thinking of merging some of these blogs together.
Read More