Guest Blogging, ROW80 and my Dorothy Gale Moment

Yup.  That’s me up there.  I am feeling rather sheepish in regards to my last over-the-top-drama-queen blog from Monday. I mean, here I am blathering on and on about statistics-- meaningless droves of faceless numbers, and here you all are, commenting, supporting my silly needs, being the funny, eloquent writerly individuals you are day in day out and putting up with my greedy whiney need to be popular.

Sigh.  Thank you.  From the bottom of my wannabe prom-queen heart:  Thank you.

So, I promised beguiling tales of my foray into guest blogging.  At the behest of another blogger’s good intentions, I checked out two links for guest blogging with a somewhat moderate return on my investment of time. In retrospect, I guess I was drawn into the whole idea of guest blogging with the intention of “growing my ego”—I mean “blog readership”. I set some goals for ROW80 and thought I'd follow through.  I’m not sure if it was the right avenue for exploration, but sometimes, getting lost is exactly what one needs to find out where the real destination is. (Watch "The Wizard of Oz" for further clarification.)

The first site is BloggerLinkUp. This site is free and hosted by Cathy Stuck, a.k.a. "The Idea Lady".  This site offers opportunities for writing guest blogs for  other sites or hosting a guest blogger of your own.  There are listings for contests, informational articles and the chance to network in the greater blogosphere at large. A rather dry site visually, but to its credit, it does have an easily accessible list of blogging gigs.  I liked that the list of opportunities is readily available for easy perusal by topic.  If one wanted to “get out there” and write an article for publication, or publish an already written piece, this might be one way to begin. 

The next site is MyBlogGuest. This site is huge, with thousands of members clamoring for guest bloggers and writers jostling for gigs.  The daily emails allow me to check out relevant posts from like-minded individuals seeking guest-bloggers and bloggers looking for places to post.  While the site is free, the premium membership, which allows you to peddle specific articles does have a fee. 

Frankly, I’ve had a hard time navigating this mega-maze of a site and that’s AFTER a five day tutorial.  It’s also a bit of a sensory Sahara and a little overwhelming when in comes to choices.  It is also rife with a lot of (gasp) non-writer-types, so typos, bad grammar and dead-end links abound.  However, I did follow up on one lead which has proved to be all right so far.  I am writing an article (for free) for a new online magazine about mothering and will be submitting it this week.  (Guess what: I'll keep you posted.)

So, after all the time and energy that has gone into this, will I be read by scads of people?  Will they care about what I write more than you, my loyal visitors and friends? Will people flock to my site in droves?  Um… what was I looking for anyway?  The feel-good-fuzzies I have received from YOU have been both heart-warming and thought provoking.  It has made me realize more of who I am and what I’m even seeking though this whole blogging thing.  I keep thinking of that scene in “Wizard of Oz”.  You know the one.  Where Glinda asks Dorothy what she’s learned, and Dorothy says,

“I know that if I ever to looking for my heart’s desire, I’ll never go any further than my own back-yard.”

 

I truly have learned to value this community we’re creating together.  I love hearing your colorful thoughts and opinions, and reading your interesting, funny and informative blogs.  It’s the realest (yes that's a word) thing I’ve got going.  Maybe I should’ve started with you first.  So, if you will allow me:  If you want a guest blogger for your site, you know who to call.  And conversely, if anyone is interested in doing an interview about your so-called writerly life, I'd be honored if you would be my guest.

There’s no place like home.

~Just Jill

A huge P.S.

Apparently, my blog address has been hacked by a Bible study site?!  What?  THAT'S not in the Bible.  The bible site only pops up sometimes and usually at the worst of times, like when I signed up my linky for ROW80 and now everyone thinks I’m a spammer, or worse.  Has anyone else experienced this?    I feel like changing my blog URL would unleash a backlash of unforeseen internet crap!  Any advice my People?

The karmic internet Gods are laughing at me!  LAUGHING! 
"Trying to increase blog traffic, eh?  Take that!"

 ROW80 Linky here

 

 

Does this post make my blog look bigger? My fling with Google Analytics.

 

(This is the first of a two-part installment about growing my blog-readership platform.  I have been informed by those in the know that I will lose readers if my blogs are too long.  So now you have to come back again on Wednesday.  My apologies in advance.)

I have a confession. 

I’ve been trying to (ahem) expand my blog readership.

Before you say anything, let me explain!  It’s not you—it’s me!  You do everything right.  I’m the awful one here.  Every week I blather on about some nonsense or the other, and you show up and you read it fer chrissakes.  And you (sob) even comment.  You all make me feel so special.  It should be enough.

But then I started getting these emails about building my social media platform.  I know. I know.  I shouldn’t have fallen for it.  But I’m weak!  Weak--I tell you!  I was swept away by the promise of more followers, and more readers!  Reading!  All the writerly websites say building your social media platform is essential on the path to becoming a writer.  So I started up Facebook, again.  I Tweet my posts like the best of birds.  I visit, read and comment on others blogs, and they always DO come back to return the favor.  But I’ve always wondered, how do Bloggers manage when they have a huge following?  Do they still visit their visitor's sites in reciprocation?  How do they get anything else done?

And then along came Google Analytics.  I’ve always felt my Google Blogger Stats to be unreliable, and being the curious type, I experimented a little on the side. (But I didn’t inhale.) Google Analytics is supposed to tell me how many readers really DO visit my website, aside from my faithful dozen who consistently comment.  Google Analytics show my readers demographics and behavior, something horrible called a “drop-off rate” and a bunch of other crazy statistics about the actions of these blog-readers I have never met.  It lured me in with promises of success.  It told me what I wanted to hear.  I became somewhat of an addict.  One day, after reading I had 87 visits to my blog over the course of a day, I noticed a button called “Engagement”, and when I clicked on it, I found the average duration of over HALF of the visits was… under ten seconds!  Seriously? 

What was that sound? 

Oh—nothing.  Just my gynormous ego hitting the floor and shattering into a thousand bits and pieces.

Surely I’m not pouring my life’s blood into this realtionship for a mere ten seconds! I considered stopping this blogging nonsense altogether.  But I ain’t Irish for nothing.   Someone tells me “No” and I do my Grandma Josephine O’Donovan proud and come out fighting!

 

I decided to delve even further into building my blog platform, broadening my horizons and checking out some guest blogging opportunities.  I thought it would be a sort of experiment, nothing too far-fetched, you know.  And conveniently, one of the bloggers I follow had posted on several of these guest blogging opportunities.  I decided to take the plunge!  My findings?

 

You will have to wait until Wednesday to find out. I’m hope the suspense won’t kill you.  After all—you are my faithful twelve disciples.  Besides, if I go long you won’t be able to read this blog in three minutes, which is the average rate of visits for most of my readership. 

But in the meantime, do tell:   Are you concerned about building your blog-readership or do you just say “To hell with it!” How do you approach gaining readership?  Is it just time in the trenches, hosting contests, commenting, and building relationships?  I would love to hear how you all have done it, and as always, thanks for reading.

~Just Jill

ROW80 Check in:

I have followed through and submitted an article to an online magazine, and have my “Chicken Soup for the Mother’s Soul” article in the final edit.  My plan of enter “Dreamwalker” in a contest to light a fire under my editing butt has fallen flat since I did not make it into the contest.  I did however get an honorable mention.  (Always a bridesmaid…) I shall continue editing without the lure of readership for now.

As Helen (one of my fabulous CPs) says, “Onward and upward into the fog!”

 

 

On the road to Quitsville: How do you read books?

Greetings Everyone!

I have a question for you regarding “The Reading of Books”.

It happened last night.  The lovely book I am reading has become… formulaic.  I found my reading speed increasing as I started scanning the pages, looking for action rather than description.  Sigh.  Once that happens, it usually is only a matter of time before I completely lose interest.  My daughter and I have a ranking system for books.  The standard 1-10.  10 being the best read ever, of course.  This particular book was an eight, whose definition is “A good, solid read”.  Nothing fancy, but engaging.  Last night I felt the erosion to my "Eight" begin, and I started slipping down to Sevenville, which is right down the road from Quitsville.

 

Do you stay with books, even if you feel you attention slipping?  When do you say “Enough!” and put the book aside?  Some people are far more patient than I.  (Or perhaps just more stubborn.)  They will endure a boring book like a car-ride to Grandma’s house.  It is simply unavoidable, and must be done.  And getting there won’t be fun either.  It’s just a matter of DUTY! 

 

But I just don’t have time for that nonsense.  I get very little reading time, and my precious hour after I go to bed must maintain an eight rating or above…or else!  What do you do?  Do you ever review books you don’t like, or do you stick with putting your energy behind the ones you love?
Goodreads has an official opinion (complete with polls!) on the matter. http://www.the-digital-reader.com/2013/07/10/infographic-what-makes-you-put-down-a-book/#.Ud1t0vUo5jo

Also, on a similar note.  Um…. Does anyone ever read the ending first?

GASP!  Now I’ve done it.  I’ve let the cat out of the bag! 

Sometimes I do. especially if I see the road-sign for Quitsville looming up ahead. And sometimes, it encourages me to keep reading.  New studies by very important psychologists say knowing the ending of a book actually helps the reader enjoy the process of reading.  So there.  Is you don’t believe me ask your mother, and then go here. http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2011/aug/17/spoilers-enhance-enjoyment-psychologists

 

So, do you do it?

Fess up here.
 

 

P.S. ROW 80  I am still working on my article, and have started another. I am in the process of another edit for the MS and I’ve entered it in Xmas in July, so if it gets get picked as one of the thirty, I need to have it done.  Thanks for keeping in touch!

 

Tag-along Mom and ROW 80

Hello Everyone!

First, a big thanks to all of those who have stopped by to read and leave comments.  I sometimes wonder why I blog, since it can oftentimes appear to be a futile effort, so I truly do appreciate your time and feedback. It really does make it worthwhile.

In life and other matters, my twelve year old daughter had a sleep-over this week.  Typical twelve-year old stuff:  Nail polish, hanging out at the park, bad movie, ghost-stories, home-made Ouija board, etc.  My daughter and her friend asked to walk down the trail by our house to ransack a Mulberry tree and I agreed.  It really wasn’t that far, and they are twelve and together.  And, my daughter assured me, her friend had her phone.

 

As I watched their pony-tails swinging down the block and disappear around the corner, I sighed the parental sigh of Mommies everywhere:  My pre-teen is growing up so fast; well on the path to leaving me, as all children are since Day One.  I was having all these type of thoughts when the phone rang.  I picked it up and heard, “I’ve got’cha where I want’cha.  Now I’m gonna eat’cha.”

It was my daughter and her friend, discussing the lame ghost story I had told them at dinner that night.  I quickly realized the phone had speed-dialed our house on accident, and now I was somehow a voyeur, secret passenger on their walk down the path.  I listened as they giggled, screamed, gushed and talkedsofast I could hardly understand a word, but the poignancy of the moment caught me:  Here I was, suspended in my daughter’s world.  One apart from me, but one I helped create.

I wouldn’t tell her, but I will tell you.  I put the phone on speaker and listened for a few moments as I did the dishes.  They were so fresh and full of life.  I didn’t feel like I was invading her privacy, just admiring their world from my place.  The writer in me thought, “If this was a book, something terrible would happen to one of the girls, and then the phone would go dead!” Yuck.  Not a book I’d want to read, so I pushed the thought away and reveled in the beauty of my daughter’s world for the moment.

That is—until my four year old came in the door and said, “Geez Mom!  Are you still wistening to dat?” 

I sighed again, the sigh of parents everywhere, and hung up the phone.  On to the next moment.

 

As for ROW 80,

Private Just Jill reporting for duty!  Article done for submission to “Chicken Soup for the Mother’s Soul” (I know…) and I am entering a contest to help get the lead out as far as re-editing my MS “Dreamwalker”. 

Over and Out!

 

Lastly, I wanted to tell you all about a must-read blog.  Most of you are probably familiar with lovely  Rosi over at "The Write Stuff", but if you are not, this blog should really be a regular on your blog-list.  Packed full of fabulous links for writers and great reviews and give-aways, Rosi never disappoints.  It's like your usual dish you always order from your favorite restaurant!  (And her blog template is simply FABULOUS!)

TTFN,

~Just Jill

 

 

Facing the Past: IWSG for July

Greetings IWSG folks and nut-tree enthusiasts!

Last week I had the pleasure of being “found” by two old friends.  Previously, I would have bridled at being discovered.  (I’m an insecure fugitive at heart.) I am not one to attend high-school reunions and have left my past behind me in many ways.  Several moves out of state and changes in perspective have left many of my old relationships –well, without basis for continuation and despite my penchant for writing, I’m really quite a lousy pen-pal.  At any rate, this reunion with my two friends has been delightful, our social-web has reconnected, and now life continues… on Facebook, of course. 

When we move, we always leave behind friends and acquaintances.  One “friend” I left behind in my move from California to Wisconsin was my chiropractor, Phyllis.  Phyllis came late in life to her practice, becoming a chiropractor at the age of sixty.  She was a wise, funky, left-coast soul, and a bit of a psychic.  While she worked out my kinks and knots, she would subtly mention these things about me and my life, things that only I would know, and I became acutely aware that my inner being was inextricably tied to my outer state.  I always left Phyllis’ office feeling fresh and perfectly aligned.

I thought a lot about Phyllis after my move to Wisconsin, and remembered well her serious look and parting comment at our last meeting.  “Keep in touch! You hear?”  But I didn’t.  I wanted to write to her and say “Thank you,” and “You made an impact on my life," but I didn’t do it for the longest time.

It took a year for me to write.  A long rambling missive in my fifth-grader’s loopy handwriting and then I proceeded to let it rest on my desk for weeks, until it got moved to my perpetual stack of paper-dross, and then finally, months later, feeling that all the news in my letter was old and my confidences silly, I did what I often do to letters I write:  I tore it up. 

 

Shortly afterwards, a friend called to tell me Phyllis had died of cancer.  I had not even known she was ill and now I had missed my chance.   I still honor her life and death every Dias de los Muertos, though I do regret not sending that letter, though the memory of her smiling face always assures me not to worry.  We connect in other ways now.

 I thought of Phyllis when  my two friends contacted my mother, looking for me.  And with Phyllis in mind, I opened myself up to reconnect with my past.  After all—if someone wants to find me, who am I to object?  It’s not like people are lining up around the block to talk to me! Frankly, it’s nice to be wanted.

So lovely IWSG bloggers and dearest readers, I am curious to hear about your own experiences.   Has social media allowed your past to catch up to you?  Have you felt wanted or just plain stalked?  Has your online presence rewoven loose threads or opened an old can of worms? Are you secure enough to face your past?

Do tell!
~Just Jill

P.S.  That picture was taken of me by my long-lost friend David.  The things you do on a long winter's night in South Dakota!

P.S.S.  It was the eighties.

 

Link for IWSG here!