Writing, Among Other Things

Category: Blogging (Page 9 of 16)

How do you keep track?

There are millions of blogs in the blogosphere. It is impossible to manually keep a track of all of them, not that there is any reason for you to keep a track of all of them…unless, of course, you are Technorati.

Yet, in your travels across the blogosphere, I am sure, you must have come across blogs that you liked. You feel that you would like to come back to the blog another time and read the latest that the blogger has to offer. What do you do?

Subscribe to the RSS feed : One of the easiest way to keep track of a blog is to subscribe to it’s RSS feed. These days almost every blog has one. If a blog does not have one, more likely than not, it will not be a blog that you would want to keep track of.

The problem here lies in choosing a suitable feed reader. I have not yet been able to decide on the best tool to be used to aggregate feeds from various blogs.
Which one do you use, and what do you like, or not like about it?

Favorite, or bookmark it : Another way to keep track of a blog is to add it to your favorites or your bookmarks. But, I feel that this method becomes unwieldy as the number of blogs you have bookmarked increased. I don’t usually bookmark or favourite blogs, but I think this method also does not tell you when a blog has been updated.

Blogroll it : Another traditional method is to create a blogroll where you can add the blogs you like, and visit them at your leisure. If a blog stops updating, or starts posting about things that do not interest you, it can be taken off the blogroll and in it’s place you can add any other blog that you might have taken a fancy to.

Remember it : The last, and I am sure the least preferred, way is to simply remember a blog’s URL and visit it whenever you want. This is, of course, is not an easy way.

How do you keep track of your favorite blogs? Do you use one of the above methods? If yes, then which one do you prefer over others? If no, then what other method do you use?

Three Reasons Why Blogging is Not Good for Your Writing

Many of us discover blogging through our love for writing. We like to write, and we also like to hope that some one is going to read what we write. A blog provides us with an easy way to share our writing and ideas with others, and before we know it, we are addicted to blogging.

Like most things in life, blogging, too, has a negative side. A writer can fall into the blogging trap without having the least idea that such a thing exists, and by the time he realises he is in a trap he has wasted a considerable amount of time, and time once lost can never ever be got back. Here are a few things that one should be careful about when blogging:

The “Fast Food” Trap : Fast food can be tasty, and fast food can be easy to get, but too much of fast food is never good for your health.
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Writing as a System – An Old Post Revisited

The post that follows was written by me a few months back. While I sat down to write a new post today, I relaised that I had already written something like that a few months back. So, instead of writing the same thing, albeit in different words, I decided to simply repost the old post. I hope you like it.

Often, we, bloggers, and writers, complain about writer’s block. I don’t know about others but I have often complained about it in the past, and even written posts about it. That was until I realized that there was no point complaining about it. One either has to overcome it or, allow oneself to be beaten by it.

While I was thinking about it, I thought of another thing. The whole process of writing can be be seen as a system.

Writing as a system

Taking this approach, it is easy to see that whatever we write is basically based on three inputs. The first is our LIFE. Over a period of time we go through many experiences and these not only affect the way we think, but also, the way we write and the things we write about. Therefore, living a full life and going through many experiences in life can enhance one’s writing as one will have a first-hand knowledge of the things he or she is writing about.

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4000 Entrecard Credits Giveaway Contest!!!

I am sure you know what Entrecard is. If you don’t then, maybe, you should stop reading this post, and do a google search for Entrecard.

But, if you do know about entrecard, and use it, then this post might be of a little interest to you. After using Entrecard for a few days, I have come to the conclusion that I do not have the time, or the patience, to drop  enough Entrecards every day.

So, though I like the idea, I have decided not to use Entrecard as much as I have in the past couple of weeks. And if I am not going to use them, the 4,000 Entrecard credits I have are not of much use to me. Therefore – as seems to be the current fashion – I have decided to hold a contest and give away the 4,000 credits.

Earlier, I was thinking of dividing the credits into smaller portions and distributing them among many people. But, then, I felt that reducing the number of credits, might make the contest less attractive to some. So, the 4,000 credits are going to go to one lucky person ( I hope winninig 4,000 entrecard credits makes you feel lucky enough).

The winner will be chosen by a random draw…and there are three ways to enter the draw:

1) Leaving a comment on this post –  1 entry.

2) Subscribing to the RSS feed via e-mail – 3 entries.

3) Writing a post about the contest on your blog – 7 entries.

The contest is open till the midnight of 13th May, 2008 ( Indian standard time). You can do one, or two, or all three of the above activities, but one activity can be done only once per person.

Since this is the first ever contest of any kind on this blog, I am really looking forward to the response this gets. Best of Luck!

 

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