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Can you tell us a little about yourself and your blog?
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I am retired, grandmother to 5 little boys, mother to 4 sons, 3 living. My husband and I love to travel, and own a travel trailer and a pontoon boat. I consider myself a professional hobbyist photographer, and am also actively learning to paint in oils and watercolors. I also enjoy doing crafts and quilting. I live on the east coast of the US. One son was married in Thailand, and I spent 2 weeks visiting there for his wedding. I have traveled to Ireland twice for work-related visits, and would love to go back there. I am also planning a trip back to Thailand next summer with my daughter-in-law and grandson.
My blogs generally are linked every day to a particular meme. I started the 2nd blog because I couldn't find a way to participate in some of the ones I wanted. Because some of mine are rather labor-intensive, I sometimes have found it very time-consuming to blog on a daily basis. I do have a commitment to blog daily with my first one, The Road Awaits.
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Are you a full time blogger? How did you get into blogging and why?
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I am not a full-time blogger, although I do have 3 blogs.
and I sponsor a meme, Wordless Wednesday Again.
I started writing a blog because of a friend who had her blog linked to Networked Blogs, posting to FaceBook on a daily basis. I enjoyed seeing her photos, and felt connected to her daily life through her blog. I initially saw the blog as a way to hone my writing skills - particularly as a tool to learn to say more with fewer words. And, I saw it as a way to share my photographs and possibly learn something about photography along the way.
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If someone was interested in blogging, what would be a few things you would suggest?
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I found that the easiest way to get my blog in front of people, other than my family, was to participate in memes. I spent some time reading other's blogs, exploring the things that interested others, and started participating that way. It has been a really good way to get some faithful followers.
The next thing that is important is to connect to others by commenting on their blogs. I try to personalize my comments so that people will know that I really read, or viewed their blogs the way they hoped. I try not to be overly complimentary to the point that everyone gets a "great photo" or some equally empty comment.
Finally, I would suggest that if you want to be successful, you have to sift and sort through the ones that drew lots of good comments, looking for what worked. Then you have to look, dispassionately, through the ones that got little mention and find out what didn't work. That is the most difficult part for me - trying to understand that connection. Just get started!
The only other suggestion I would have is that you should take a bit of time reading someone's blog before you start to follow it. Initially, I did not take the time reading older posts and after a short while, realized I had little in common with some of them. However, because I know how important it is for people to build their base, I have not been willing to "unfollow" someone - at least not yet! I am more cautious now!
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How do you build a community around a blog and social media?
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I quickly found out that I needed to link the blog somewhere so people who knew me would be able to see it easily. I am not a user of many of the social media avenues, but I am on FaceBook, primarily to keep connected with family who live away from me. I have my blog linked through Networked Blogs, which publishes to FaceBook. Initially, I was also posting to Twitter, but since I use a lot of photographs in mine, I felt it was an inappropriate place, so I no longer do that. I also tried to be sure that I sent invitations to people that I really wanted to read my blog.
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What are your three favorite blogs to read? What makes those blogs special?
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There are quite a few more than 3 that I read daily - but there are some that I read with great anticipation every day. Each of them has a different style, but each speaks to me in a particular way.
The initial blog I started following was These Days of Mine. Dianna is a long-time friend who lives on a river with a gorgeous view. I enjoyed her photographs and her commentary. Another that I follow is Hootin' Anni's. Anni and I are close in age, and very similar in our views. She has a particularly witty way of writing, and I have enjoyed the relationship we have developed through blogging. She sponsors a blog called Theme Song Thursday, where we find songs that we can illustrate with our photos. That has been so much fun, even though it is a challenge every week! She is the one who helped me get my Wordless Wednesday linkup done, even created the blog buttons for me. And then there is E.Lizardbreath Speaks, a totally delightful, refreshing young woman who writes about any and everything that pops in her head. When I read Beth's blog, I feel connected to her life as if I were sitting in the same room with her. She is honest and open, generally interested in life and the things around her, and shares freely. There are so many others that I love - John, from Sinbad and I On The Loose - shares his journeys in such detail that I feel I have been with him on the trip! But, since you asked for 3 and I have given you 4, I will stop here. Remember when I said I wanted to hone my skills to say more with less words? It still isn't working, is it?
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Which one plugin would you suggest all bloggers to have?
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I am not even sure what a plug-in is...so I am not particularly sophisticated technically! I do use the pop-up comment window, and because I sponsor a meme, I use Linky Tools...I also have a Follower's widget and one that allows people to subscribe via email.
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