Blogher and the Male Blogger

This is the first year I've been cross-posting on Blogher during NaBloPoMo.  I confess that I feel like an alien on that site.

Before I ramble on, I want to make it perfectly clear that I am grateful to Blogher for hosting NaBloPoMo.  And I admire the team of talented writers that contribute to the site's content.

But, the reason I feel like an alien on Blogher is because of the predetermined set of tags I have to choose from.  They're so... gender-skewed toward the feminine that I feel a bit stifled.

The complete list of tags is given below.

A few of the main categories are typical of a content provider or message board: Food; Health; News & Politics; Entertainment.  Yet the sub-categories under them seem incomplete.  For example, "Food" could use "Desserts" "Paleo" and "Outdoor Grilling".  "Health" could use "Vaccinations" and "Exercise" rather than "Infertility" and "Pregnancy".  "Entertainment" is fine except that "Sports" should be a main category all on its own.

DIY really should be called "Hobbies" because its sub-categories are essentially hobbies, and because it lacks such real DIY subjects as "Flooring" "Electrical/Lighting" "Plumbing" and "Automotive"

And then there's the most feminine main category of "Style," which includes:  Makeup; Nails; Shoes; Fashion; Hair.  Oh yes, I'm so looking forward to writing about makeup....  Hmm, then again, it might be a fun challenge to write about each sub-category of "Style," from a guy's perspective, of course.  Maybe Melissa Ford will make me write Style posts for the remainder of NaBloPoMo as punishment for dissing the tags.

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The list of predefined Blogher tags, as of Monday, November 16, 2015...

Blogging

Social Media

 -Tips, Tricks & Tools 

 -Blogging Events 

 -BlogHer Publishing Network News 

 -NaBloPoMo 

Food

 -Food Politics 

 -Baking 

 -Drinks

 -Cooking for Health 

 -Frugal Kitchen 

 -Gluten-Free 

 -Quick and Easy 

 -Recipes

 -Special Occasion 

 -Vegetarian and Vegan 

Games 

Health 

 -Body Image 

 -Mental Health

 -Diet & Fitness 

 -Infertility 

 -Wellness 

 -Pregnancy 

DIY 

 -Crafts 

 -Style DIY

 -Home & Garden 

 -Knitting, Crochet & Sewing 

 -Photography 

Work/Life 

 -Childfree 

 -GLBT 

 -Grief and Loss 

 -Humor 

 -Midlife 

 -Career 

 -Pets 

 -Finding Balance 

 -Caregiving 

 -Spirituality 

 -Travel

 -Green 

 -Money 

Love & Sex 

 -Dating 

 -Divorce 

 -Marriage and Commitment 

 -Sex 

 -Weddings and Anniversaries 

Family 

 -SAHMs 

 -Working Moms 

 -Tweens & Teens 

 -Adoption 

 -Empty Nesters 

 -Grandparents 

 -Home Schooling 

 -Multiples 

 -Special needs 

News & Politics 

 -Science 

 -Current Events 

 -Politics 

 -Media and Journalism 

 -Race & Class 

 -Feminism 

 -Technology 

Entertainment

 -Arts & Culture 

 -Astrology 

 -Books 

 -Movies & Television

 -Music 

 -Pop Culture 

 -Sports 

Style 

 -Makeup 

 -Nails

 -Shoes 

 -Fashion 

 -Hair

Advertise and Market with Women 

BlogHer Conferences 

 -#BlogHerFood16

 -BlogHer Food '15 

 -BlogHer 2016 

 -BlogHer 2015 

 -BlogHer Conference 2012 

 -BlogHer Entrepreneurs '13 

 -BlogHer PRO '14 

 -BlogHer Conference 2014 

 -BlogHer Food '14 

 -BlogHer Food 2013 

 -BlogHer Conference 2013

 -BlogHer PRO 

 -BlogHer Pro '13 

 -HealthMinder Day 2013 

 -Pathfinder Day 2013

 -Viewfinder Day 2013 

 -BlogHer Entrepreneurs '12 

 -BlogHer Food 2012 

 -BlogHer Handmade 

 -BlogHer Writers '11 

 -BlogHer | bet 

 -BlogHer Conference 2011

 -BlogHer Food 2011 

 -BlogHer Food 2010 

 -BlogHer Conference 2010 

 -BlogHer Business 2010 

 -BlogHer Conferences 

 -BlogHer Food '09 

 -Reach Out Tour 2008 

 -'06 Conference news 

 -'06 Podcasts 

 -'06 Sessions/Speakers 

 -'06 Sponsors 

 -'07 Conference news

 -'07 Sessions/Speakers 

 -'07 Sponsors 

 -BlogHer Business 2008

 -BlogHer Business 2009 

 -BlogHer Conference 2008 

 -BlogHer Conference 2009 

Web site 

 -From the 'hood

The Importance of Deadlines

To all of you participating in NaNoWriMo and NaBloPoMo this month, this quote is for you:

The biggest thing separating people from their artistic ambitions is not a lack of talent. It's the lack of a deadline. Give someone an enormous task, a supportive community, and a friendly-yet-firm due date, and miracles will happen every time.

- Chris Baty
Founder of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)
in "No Plot? No Problem!", page 19

Websites That Pay Writers

On the website "Freedom With Writing" Kelley Schepper lists 54 websites that pay writers for online writing.  Here's a link to the article: http://www.freedomwithwriting.com/freedom/uncategorized/54-writing-platforms-that-pay-writers/ .

The content is not accompanied by a timestamp, but my review of the source code suggests that it was uploaded this month, March 2015.

Perhaps writing would be a good way for me to spend my excess vacation time, assuming I have any left over this year.

NoBloPoMo 2014 Wrap Up

I completed this year's National Blog Posting Month, or NaBloPoMo 2014.  I felt that this year was more challenging because: I had less time than ever before; I no longer participate in "Shadow Shot Sundays" (which essentially gave me four, easy, thought-free posts); and I'm much more lazy than ever.

Nevertheless, I have some unrealized ideas for posts as I do every year.  Here are some of the topics I had planned to write about:

1. Gender wage gap
2. Why is Thankfulness a Challenge?
3. From Christian to Pagan
4. The Right to Vote and Serve on a Jury
5. When We Use "We"
6. How I Actually Spent My Staycation
7. Photos of the Views from My Drive to Work
8. Things I've Not Done But Would Like To Try
9. My List of Must-See Movies
10. A Really Bad Lollipop

 As I did last year, I invite you to let me know which ones you'd like me to write about first.  

BTW, I was very impressed with my next-door neighbor's blog, "Being Weirdly Awesome" as well as Snoskred's own NaBloPoMo blogroll.

NaBloPoMo 2014

National Blog Posting Month (NaBloPoMo) has started, and I plan to participate by posting every day in November.  I don't know yet how I'll find the time.  I have no free time, so it's a matter of shuffling priorities, eating less, getting less sleep, perhaps taking fewer and briefer showers.  Ugghh.

I'd like to call your attention to the NaBloPoMo Blogroll, which is the listing of all the official participants.  In particular, I'd like to promote the two blogs that my blog is sandwiched between (if I may be allowed to do so by ending with a preposition).  At number 568 we have an awesome blog called "Being Weirdly Awesome".  At number 570 we have "The Lipstick Memoir! oX: A kiss and tell composition of life as I know it...so far that is!"

November is the month when I appreciate how difficult it might be to be a journalist, to come up with content for a new column, day after day, year after year.  Right now I have more content in my head than I have time to write it, so it's not so bad.

Anyway, if you'd like me to write about a certain subject, please let me know. Now would be a good time for me to fulfill your request.

Topics of Future Posts

I've closed my Spigot of Creativity when I achieved my goal of posting daily for NaBloPoMo in November.  But the flow of ideas isn't so easy to stop.  Here are some of the other topics I'd thought of posting about in November:

• What to do When You're Always Tired
• Things I've Not Done But Would Like To Try
• My List of Must-See Movies
• My Non-Surgical Hernia Treatment
• How I've Lived With Skin Picking Disorder
• The Energy-Saving Myth of LED Holiday Lights
• Holiday Memories (aka, I Never Believed in Santa)
• List of Things I've Done

I'm devoting less time now to blogging, so I'll let you choose what I should write about next.  What would you like to read about?

NaBloPoMo 2013 Wrap-Up

Well, NaBloPoMo 2013 is over.  I achieved my goal of posting at least once each day in November.

The 30 posts totaled 19 pages (in MS Word 2000, Times New Roman 12 pt font, sans comments and dates), approximately 7,806 words and 35,322 non-space characters (43,331 including spaces).

The most viewed post was "Foodbook" with a whopping 157 page views!  This was followed by "Thanksgiving on the Blood Type Diet" with 13 and "Thanks For These Stats" with 12.  Total page views for the entire month came to 1,309.

I hope you enjoyed at least some of the daily posts.  I have more content in my head than I had time to write, and I'll post it at a relaxed pace in December.  Perhaps I'll post the topics or post titles of upcoming posts and let you decide which ones I should write first.

Peace

NaBloPoMo 2013

November is National Blog Posting Month.  Once again, I'll be participating.  I'm registered as number 83 on the Blogher Blogroll, sandwiched between The Pitter Patter Diaries and  BOTTLESOUP.  All I have to do is post at least one blog entry each day during November.  And you can still join me if you register before November 5.

Not sure what I'll be writing about, but I never had trouble coming up with something before.  All the essay assignments I received when I was a boy paid off.  You know the ones I'm referring to -- the "punishment essays."  "Why I Should Not Chew Gum in Class" and "Laughing During the Pledge of Alliance is Disrespectful" are two that I recall specifically, but I'm sure there were at least a half dozen more, probably involving a few disgusting bodily functions, running, and bothering people.

Well, anyway, I hope you can join me in this fun writing assignment.  If not, perhaps you'll enjoy more reading than ever before.

Key to the Past

I'm about to open a briefcase that I haven't opened in over twenty years.

It's a briefcase that has stewed in the juices of my childhood.  It served first as my brother's school bag, and later, mine after he got too cool to use one.  If this briefcase could talk, it would reminisce about former teachers, bullying on the school bus, the numerous girls I've had fleeting crushes on.

In a sense this briefcase can talk -- it contains over one hundred memo pads, dating back to when I was thirteen, that I used for my Diary.

Wow.

And when I dig up old stuff like this, feelings of foreboding and dread fill me.  And mostly Sadness.

The motivation for this expedition is to find some old poetry that I wrote but don't fully remember.  I want to publish it, but not here.

The first step was finding this key, which could very well be older than me.

NaBloPoMo Wrap-up

Well, it's December 1.  The November NaBloPoMo is over, and I rocked it -- 36 posts in 30 days!  Woot!

I probably could post every day for a full year, but I have so many other interests (plus a full time job) that my other projects would languish.  So I'll quit while ahead and focus on: Reiki, Dog Training, Feng Shui, photography, exercise, finances, family, food, reading, work and whatever else looks fun and interesting!

From Whence I Blog

I have two answers to "Where is your favorite place to blog?"

My first answer is rather superficial, and it assumes that blogging is the act of typing content into an editor and then uploading it to the blog.  I have no smart phone or tablet.  I blog at a computer.  The computer in my home office is the one I use most often, but I might also use the computer at work or occasionally the one at the library.  So my superficial answer is "My favorite place to blog is in my home office."

But that's not my final answer.  My final answer is more complicated.  I believe the idea for a blog post is just as important as the act of typing it.  My ideas come to me almost everywhere, usually when I'm doing a tedious chore.  I could compose content while preparing breakfast, or folding laundry or driving.  But for some reason, when I scoop the four litterboxes, I do not form ideas for blog entries.  Instead, I think about the "Karate Kid" movies.  So my final answer is "My favorite place to blog is everywhere."

I could end this post at two paragraphs.  But I'd like to mention that I thought about the previous post while brushing my teeth this morning, and I typed it in at the library computer while my daughter was at her karate lesson.

While I was using that library computer, I became aware of four very attractive teenage girls (or perhaps they were young adult women) looking in my direction and having a lively discussion that involved laughter.  I forced myself to remember that I'm nearly 50 years old and that I look much older.  Otherwise I'd lapse into reliving my high school fantasies.

It wasn't until I got up and left that computer that I realized what their commotion was all about.  They walked over to the area I'd just left and started to take photos.  I guess the seat I was in afforded them an ideal vantage point for their shots.  And their discussion was over which of the four was going to get stuck with asking me to move.

One Sentence

One truly original sentence is better than an entire post of generic cliches. If you only have fifteen minutes, go for the one sentence, seriously! Then post it all by itself.

- from http://www.blogher.com/six-tips-writing-well-and-you-can-still-write-after-kids

Okay then, here's my sentence:

How come you can get a traffic ticket for not stopping when the light turns red, but the guy in front of you won't get one for not going when the light turns green?

NaBloPoMo 2012

November is National Novel Writing Month (or NaNoWriMo).   It's also the month for spinoff projects such as National Blog Posting Month (or NaBloPoMo).  If you're a blogger and want to commit to writing one blog post every day in November, sign up here:

https://www.blogher.com/sign-novembers-nablopomo-and-join-blogging-party

I couldn't participate last year due to a freak late-October snow storm that made us lose power for a full seven days.  This year Hurricane Sandy cut us off from power for two days.  But we have it back now in time for the blog posts to flow.

Creativity Quotes from "Imagine"

Don Lee on inventing the bacon-infused old-fashioned:

"Basically I experimented with fat-washing because I was bored and nobody told me not to," Don says.  "I'm sure most bartenders would have told me it was a terrible idea, that it would never sell, that I was wasting perfectly good bourbon.  But the laws of chemistry told me that it should work, so why not try it?  I guess my only secret was that I didn't know any better."

- from "Imagine," by Jonah Lehrer, page 117

So it's not such a far-fetched thing to add ghee or extra virgin olive oil to hot tea, then, as I do!

The outsider problem affects everyone....

This is one of the central challenges of writing.  A writer has to read his sentences again and again. (Such are the inefficiencies of editing.)  The problem with this process is that he very quickly loses the ability to see his prose as a reader and not as the writer.  He knows exactly what he's trying to say, but that's because he's the one saying it.  In order to construct a clear sentence or a coherent narrative, he needs to edit as if he knows nothing, as if he's never seen these words before.

This is an outsider problem -- the writer must become an outsider to his own work.  When he escapes from the privileged position of the author, he can suddenly see all those imprecise clauses and unnecessary flourishes; he can feel the weak parts of the story and the slow spots in the prose.  That's why the novelist Zadie Smith, in an essay on the craft of writing, stresses the importance of putting aside one's prose and allowing the passage of time to work its amnesiac magic.

When you finish your novel, if money is not a desperate priority, if you do not need to sell it at once or be published that very second -- put it in a drawer.  For as long as you can manage.  A year or more is ideal -- but even three months will do . . .  You need a certain head on your shoulders to edit a novel, and it's not the head of a writer in the thick of it, nor the head of a professional editor who's read it in twelve different versions.  It's the head of a smart stranger, who picks it off a bookshelf and begins to read.  ou need to get the head of that smart stranger somehow.  You need to forget you ever wrote that book.

- from "Imagine," by Jonah Lehrer, page 132 - 133

I'd love to write fiction, but I can't tell if I would get my story across the way I play it out in my head.  I think this outsider problem is part of it.  But I think I also get too caught up in the detail of specific scenes and pay little attention to the overall flow, cadence, pace of the story.

The Long-Term Benefits of High School English

At our daughter's Open House, the English teacher presented us parents with an Assignment: What was your favorite poem, short story, book from high shcool English?  Describe how English helped you in real life.

(Can you imagine a similar assignment from an algebra teacher -- how much bullshit that would have generated?)

We were limited to only ten minutes, and I had to listen to the teacher's open house spiel while thinking and writing, and I had to wait for a pencil to become available.  At first I couldn't even remember anything that I read in High School -- I'm such an avid reader on my own I wasn't sure if anything noteworthy was assigned by a teacher.

So I wrote simply that I built a large vocabulary, and that I learned the difference between "affect" and "effect" and "lay" and "lie."

Then I remembered having to present William Carlos Williams' "The Red Wheelbarrow," so I mentioned that.  And then I remembered more.  I remembered reading Grendel, which was wonderful.  So I mentioned that.  I also wrote that my 12th grade English teacher was an actual  comedian who would perform at comedy clubs in the evenings.

Ultimately, I had trouble ascribing any benefits to the English I studied in High School.  I feel that it was my natural inclinations toward writing and reading that built my vocabulary and established my (above average among engineers) facility with writing.

Did the subject of High School English benefit you at all?  Did any subject?  How?

Top 10 Blogs for Writers 2010

Top 10 Blogs for Writers 2010:
http://www.copyblogger.com/top-10-blogs-for-writers-2010/

NaBloPoMo Redux

When I finished National Blog Posting Month (NaBloPoMo) and National Blog Writing Month (NaBloWriMo)¹ last year, I vowed that I'd never participate again. It was grueling to find the time to post among all the other aspects of life I was dealing with. I would often stay up late and eat chocolate and ice cream to power me through the late night efforts to post.

So naturally I felt no apprehension or anticipation on October 31, although maybe that was because I was too busy eating enough left-over chocolate to make a life-size solid Easter chocolate bunny.

But a funny thing happened when I woke up on November 1. My thoughts were brimming with ideas for three blog posts, and I had a resounding urge to participate in NaBloPoMo. So here I am!

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¹ The site that hosted National Blog Writing Month is not in service at this time.

How to Blog Daily

The forums on NaBloWriMo are filled with ideas for blog posts. Apparently, a lot of folks find it difficult to come up with topics to blog about.

Not me. Hundreds of ideas are already clamoring for attention inside my puny brain. The ultimate challenge for me (aside from being entertaining) will be to find enough time to do all this typing and posting.

So in case any of my fellow bloggers are like me and have more ideas than time, I will aid them with a list of ideas for blog time:

1. Eliminate Exercise. If you haven't already stopped going to the gym or given up your lunchtime walking routines, you're not really serious about blogging. You should remain rooted in front of your computer until your buttock cheeks go completely numb. Tell yourself that you'll start exercising again on Dec 1.

2. Sleep Fewer Hours. Many people make the mistake of reducing their sleep time in timid increments like 20 minutes or so. Well, the average sleep cycle is more like 90 minutes. So by shorting your sleep time by a mere 20 minutes, you shorten your last sleep cycle to 70 minutes. This leaves you feeling worse than a zombie. What you need to do is boldy carve out huge chunks of time from your sleep. Start with 90 minutes right away and completely eliminate that last sleep cycle. You'll actually feel surprisingly refreshed. And if you don't, well, that's why coffee was invented.

3. Use Work/Classroom Time. If you're a student or have a desk job, there's no good reason why you can't blog during at least half your school/work day. In most places I worked, it didn't matter what you did as long as you looked busy. When your boss sees you clattering busily at your keyboard for the sake of your blog, he'll be glad that you're on his or her team. Just remember, ALT-TAB is a quick way to switch between applications, such as Excel and Firefox.

4. Give Mindfulness a Rest. Does anyone really pay attention to what he or she is doing anymore? Judging from how often our bread, tomatoes and eggs end up at the bottom of our grocery bags week after week, I'd say most people have mastered the art of mindlessness. You should too. Spend every waking moment thinking about your blog. Instead of paying attention while fixing breakfast, brushing your teeth or driving to work, focus your mind on your next blog post. Yes, you might end up putting the cereal back into the 'fridge and the milk into the cupboard, but that's the price we geniuses have to pay for, uh, being geniuses. Did you know that I once almost lost our car and that my shaving brush managed to hide itself right before my very eyes? These experiences are the ultimate proof how a finely honed a mind can be.

5. Give Up Grooming. Speaking of shaving, stop! Beards are in these days. They're the new black. Even my mother-in-law has one. And ladies, it's getting cold in the northern hemisphere, and you can spend the rest of November wearing jeans, slacks and even ski pants in order to hide your leg hair. And how much time do we waste in the shower? When I was a kid, I'd get a bath once a week whether I needed one or not. Some people find a lack of personal hygiene to be off-putting. In that case, they'll leave you alone, and you'll have more time alone to blog. "Ostracized" isn't a four-letter word, you know!

6. Stop Calling Your Mother. How much time do we spend calling friends, loved ones, even our mothers? That's precious time we could be blogging. Now I know mom was always there when we needed her to kiss that bruised knee, nurse us with homemade chicken soup when we were sick, type our thesis project the night before it was due. But she also made you eat liver and Lima beans, forced you to go to Church or Synagogue each week, and glared at you fiercely if you even grimaced when Auntie Mildred pinched your cheek. So I say, paybacks are a beach, mom. Lose the number, will you? Oh, and my laundry needs doing, okay?

So I've just given you six great ways to make more time for blogging. Try not to think of how much you could've written had you not wasted your time reading this! Get that blog fired up now!

National Blog Posting Month

Wait, didn't I just post about this? Apparently not, because there are (at least) two similar sites. National Blog Posting Month, or NaBloPoMo, is the earlier site, having established itself two years ago. NaBloPoMo encourages members to post once a day in any month of their choosing, and each month may have a theme. But November is the Big Month, since it mimics NoNoWriMo.

Visit NaBloPoMo

National Blog Writing Month

I've just registered for National Blog Writing Month. It's similar to National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), except that instead of writing a certain amount of a novel each day, your goal is to write a substantive blog entry every day.

I'm not at a loss for content. The challenge for me will be to find enough time each day to type it and post, especially since I don't like turning on the computer on the weekends.

Anyway, if you blog and lead a life that's nearly equally vacant as mine, why not join NaBloWriMo with me!