BulgingButtons

Not bad for a fat girl

Tag Archives: blogging


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Split Personality

aheadsI’m at an impasse. I’m not sure what to write about. It’s not that I don’t have anything to say. I ALWAYS seem to have something to say. It’s just that I’m not sure in what direction I should go at the moment.

This blog began as a way for me to bitch and moan and then celebrate a little about how I was treating my body. I was going to get fit, dammit! And I was going to be accountable along the way by sharing my trials and tribulations with all of you out there in blog-land. Naturally, I would digress from time to time, but that was fine, especially since I planned to be completely anonymous.

Well, it didn’t take long for me to start writing about my family of origin, and my current family situation. After all, this is my life, so welcome to it. Again, I was anonymous, so whatever raw emotions I was feeling I spilled out onto the screen and didn’t think twice about hitting the publish button. I am what I am, take it or leave it. Something like that.

Then I started to sneak in some of my professional life. I’m a teacher. Teaching is an all consuming profession. There is not a day that goes by that I don’t think about SOME aspect of my profession. Lesson plans are swirling around in my brain, the endless to-do list nags at me at the most inopportune times, and I’m constantly thinking about how I can be more effective. It’s impossible to be me without also being an educator, so again, into the blog it went.

One of my education pieces got picked up by Scary Mommy, and that was a lot of fun. Thousands of readers took in my words, and honestly that was a rush. The piece was also translated into Greek and posted on no fewer than 8 Greek language websites. That event also marked the end of my anonymity.

Now in addition to an educator, I’m a writer. As time has gone on, I’ve come to realize that writing is something that I’m meant to do. I’ve been writing, reading about writing, learning about writing, and writing about writing. And yes, I put that into the blog too.

So now what I have is a big ‘ole mess. The blog has turned into a giant mish-mosh of stuff, from fun fitness for fat chicks to fabulous books for fourth graders to my childhood memories of gingerbread to my feelings about frito-pie and standardized testing. I’m afraid that as I’ve spread out my topics, I’ve lost some momentum. I feel like I’ve lost my edge by wandering around discussing this topic and that. I feel like I need to narrow my focus and find my niche, but I’m not sure I exactly WANT to do that. I like writing about a little of this and a little of that. And I don’t think I have the energy to run several blogs at once.

Even if I did, what would I call them?

BulgingButtons – or how two years later I’m still fat and struggle with making good lifestyle choices

All the Pretty Words – The Journey to Becoming the Writer I Believe is Hiding Inside Me

Give Kids a Chance – My Take on How our Education System Ought to Help Kids

Past, Present, Future – My life as it was, is, and hopefully will be

I know bloggers who have revamped their blogs, or started additional blogs to address new topics. What do you think? Shall I soldier on? Make some changes? Rein in some of my topics? Avoid others all together? I’d love some feedback, and if you’ve been with me for some time, thank you, your support means a lot.

 

 


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Five Strategies to Make Your Blog Utterly Forgettable




6a00d834548d0869e2017d3e61371c970c-piEvery blogger hopes to reach readers who will enjoy and hopefully use the content they offer. Bloggers imagine reaching people throughout the world with their wit and wisdom, and they find it rewarding when those readers offer constructive feedback. At least I think they do. I do, anyway.

It takes many of us a little while to get into the groove of blogging, and even then there are good days and bad days. I’ve made plenty of mistakes blogging, and I’m sure I will make many more. In hopes that someone can learn from my pitfalls, I offer you my tongue-in-cheek blogging advice.

Here are five surefire ways to make your blog utterly forgettable.

1. Post boring content in a boring way. Yep, send your readers straight to snoozetown, and you can be pretty sure they won’t be coming back for more anytime soon. Being completely self-absorbed is an excellent way to achieve this goal. So is colorless writing. Feel free to drone on about any old thing for as long as you like.

2. Skip proof-reading. No matter how many times I proof-read before I hit the submit button, I always miss something. So what? Who cares if my words are a mess? Readers will more or less get the idea of what I meant. Spelling is overrated, anyway.

3. Write too much. Just write whatever pops in your head and don’t bother to edit or reread it. More is always better, right?

4. Talk down to your readers. Assume that you know way more than they do about everything, and don’t expect to learn anything from them. In fact, don’t even invite them into the conversation. That’ll show them!

5. Along the same lines, ignore your readers. Post every now and then, if you feel like it. And comments? No need to answer those. People just wanted to let you know they were there. You don’t owe them the courtesy of a reply. You already gave them a blogpost. What do people want from you, anyway? Sheesh!


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Greeking Out

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I’m astounded and amused and also happy to report that the article 10 Essential School Supplies That Money Can’t Buy has now appeared on at least SIX websites in Greek (oh, and one besides this one in English). I find that peculiar, since I don’t speak a word of the language, unless”Opa!” counts. I’m really not sure how it happened, but it did, and frankly I kind of dig it.

Now I want to go to Greece and meet the wonderful people who were in charge of putting my words, translated into Greek of course, on their websites. Only problem is, I don’t know who they are or how to find them. As a matter of fact, I’m not even really sure they’re in Greece. I choose to believe they are, but really, who knows?

Still, in my fantasy mind they live in villas and estates in Greece, but for all I know they could be visiting their websites from their living rooms in Pittsburgh or San Antonio, or Des Moines.  I’m sticking with Greece for now, though, because that way my mind can take an international holiday. Opa!