New Author-Blogger Facebook Group

I should totally NOT start any new Facebook groups, I know, but I do blog about blogging on my main book and I've written an ebook on blogging called 'Getting More Blog Traffic: Steps Towards a Happier Blogging Life.' So I thought I'd start a new group called 'Making Author Blogs Great Again!'

The idea is for author-bloggers to get together, follow one another's blogs by various means, and have the more experienced author-bloggers with good blog traffic make simple suggestions on what to do to make your blog better. I'm also planning to put up a post once a week where people are invited to post a link to one of their recent blog posts in a comment.

I personally am planning to follow all the blogs of group members on Bloglovin' and perhaps put them into our blogroll on this blog called 'Author Blogs.' (I'm also putting up some blogs of more famous authors in that blogroll, though I've had a hard time finding famous-author blogs where the most recent post isn't expressing hatred of a certain political leader that they didn't vote for. I'm not cool with hate of anybody. OK, well, Hitler. If you have to. I don't hate Hitler, I just wish he'd have stuck with his artist career instead of going into the people-killing business.)

So--- if you are reading this and you have an author blog, you are welcome to join the group. So long as you can be civil and not try to post private-parts pictures, anyway. But I'm sure if you have read this far into the post I'm sure you are cool like that. (Readers are generally cool, aren't they?) The link is: https://www.facebook.com/groups/310331253293318/

I have not designed a Canva cover graphic for the group yet, as I'm hoping one of the group members with more design gifts might be moved to do that. And of course if everyone hates the group name but me the name will be changed and if it is part of the cover graphic the cover graphic will be changed.

I'm hoping some of you that read this will come to my 'party' and join my group. (In which case, it will be your group, too.) But if you would rather do something else, that's good, too.

Thank you for reading this post on this almost-abandoned blog which I only keep for the blogrolls.

Nissa Annakindt

This is my blog-reading blog

I used to have a blog called 'The Lina Lamont Fan Club'.  Then I replaced it with a Wordpress blog called 'My Antimatter Life.' I liked it a lot. But it didn't allow you to put up blog lists with previews of the posts on each blog.

I set up this particular blog mostly to read blogs with. I put up lists of blogs in order to read them. But I haven't worked for a while.

I'm starting a new list for members of a Facebook group we nickname 'CLFA.' Many of the impressive writers in the list blog, but don't have enough traffic to their blogs. When I get the group members I know on the list, and clean up this blog a little, I will post in that group to try to get more blogs on the list.

I am also going to be adding some other lists, most of writers' blogs. I hope that this blog's lists might also help some other people find more blogs to read.

The Great WordPress Experiment

Blogger annoyed me today. Which is not a rare thing. But finally the Blogger-annoyance made me decide to start a blog on WordPress to see how the other half blogs.

I started a new blog called Nissa Annakindt: My Antimatter Life. It might end up being a replacement for The Lina Lamont Fan Club on Blogger, or it might not. It depends on how it goes, how long it takes me to learn how to blog on WordPress, how long it is before WordPress starts annoying me the way Blogger does….

Anyway, I’d like some feedback: is blogging on Blogger better than blogging on WordPress? What do you think of the new blog, Nissa Annakindt: My Antimatter Life? What do you think of The Lina Lamont Fan Club?

My current intent is to keep both blogs going for a while, just to see how it goes, and then when I know what’s what, discontinuing one blog or the other. If I keep the new blog, I’ll lose all the history of the old one. But if I keep the old, that history may end up being a burden.

If you visit the new blog, I have a poll there where you can express your opinion on which is better, Blogger or Wordpress.


My Facebook writing page:
http://www.facebook.com/NissaAnnakindt

If I Critiqued Your Blog.....

A lot of people are desperate to get their book or short story critiqued--- so desperate, that I've seen a few contests on blogs where the prize is a critique. But no one seems to want critiques on their blog.

I don't think of myself as a 'critiquer' or critic, and am certainly no blogging expert, but I often see blogs I wish I could critique, just to give the blog owner a chance to improve their blog a bit and get better results.

If I critiqued YOUR blog, what might I say? In particular, what things might I mention that you could easily improve? Here are some common things that I often see that could use improvement:

1. Overly-cluttered blog sidebar. I have this tendency myself. And you don't want your blog sidebar to be too pristine, anyway. But I'd recommend a declutter from time to time--- delete sidebar items that no longer serve a purpose, such as blog hop graphics from a two-year-old blog event. Other items should be pushed to the bottom of the sidebar so that the important things are easy to find.

2. No 'Follow' widget. No, I'm not talking about those 'follow by email' widgets--- I've never wanted to clog my inbox by following a blog that way and most other folks likely feel the same. I'm talking about the Follow on Blogger widget--- every Blogger blog should have one--- and the NetworkedBlogs and Linky follow widgets. Every chance visitor to your blog should get the opportunity to easily become a follower of your blog. And YOU should follow these blogs back, if at all possible. 

3. No Blogrolls. A blogroll is the blogger's chance to follow the Golden Rule laid out by Jesus Christ and 'do unto others as you would have others do unto you'. You'd love to have your own blog on dozens of other bloggers' blogrolls, right?  Then 'do unto others' by including their blog in blogrolls on your own blog. Some bloggers with a blogroll are a bit stingy, having maybe four or five blogs featured. But one of the most successful blogs I've known had massive blogrolls with a wide variety of blogs---- probably including every blogger who'd ever linked to one of his posts and every blog commenter.

4. Too many rants/shocking posts. A little controversy can get a blogger some attention. But when your blog goes ranty--- every post a diatribe spewing anger at something or some one who has offended you--- you may get more blog readers but you detract from your persona as a real writer and rational person. No one wants to read a whole book written by an angry crackpot. So don't blog like one. (Of course, a blog that is all bland/non-controversial/dull is a losing strategy, too.)

5. Too unfocused a blog. If you are a science fiction writer, for example, on-topic posts for you would include posts about science fiction and science topics, news about your own books, and reviews of the books of others in your field. You may have some other topics you regularly post about, like politics, or faith if you are a person of faith, or your family or your cat. But if your last few posts were one about the Green Bay Packers latest game, and one about the Etruscans, and one about dryer lint, and a cookie recipe, and an account of going to the nail salon, your blog may be too unfocused. Readers will wonder 'what is this blog ABOUT?' and not be able to find any answers. Perhaps the rule should be that every 'off-topic' blog post should be followed by an 'on-topic' one.

6. Too focused a blog. If you decide your blog is JUST about 'my book and my writing career', that's a problem, too. It may be difficult to distinguish between YOUR blog about your book/career and a dozen other (mostly self-pubbed) authors blogs about their books/careers. Remember, the one thing that you have that no other writer in the world has is your YOU. Showing your individuality off is important. And if you are a modest person, making your blog just about your book may make you hesitant to post very often because you don't want to 'toot your own horn'.

7. No faith/worldview indicator. Whether you are a gay progressive atheist or a devout conservative Catholic with same-sex attraction, you will be more attractive as a blogger and writer to people who share some of your views. Yet I've visited many blogs by authors who are Christians of one sort or another who have not one item in their sidebar or their 'about me' section that gives a hint of their faith. I'm sure many potential readers will pass them up thinking them secular authors who don't share their values. By the same token, back in the days when I was a political progressive/Marxist and a Neopagan, I would have been attracted to author-blogs by authors who shared my then-values--- if the authors had made them known. Often all it takes is a graphic/symbol, such as a picture of Jesus, cross or crucifix for Christians, to let readers know where you stand without doing a rant on the subject.

8. No About-Me page. OK, I don't have one of those yet, but I do have a 'Statement of Faith' page that tells a little of my personal story. Your blog readers will be curious about you as a person. While you should feel free to keep private things to yourself, it's great to put out some sort of an author bio to let your readers know who you are. An author picture is helpful here, too.

9. Ads, pop-up ads and commercial posts dominate. Don't turn your author blog into the Home Shopping Network! Until your blog is well-established and you get loads of blog traffic daily, blog ads won't earn you any money, anyway. They will just alienate readers. Some bloggers love to review free items of any sort they got in exchange for writing a review. But their blogs look like one long advertisement, and they don't attract many readers. The secret to a good blog is this: don't be a seller, be a giver. Give away good and interesting information in your blog posts and readers will come to your blog to get it.

10. Not enough posts. You must try to blog regularly. You are allowed to take vacations and even just days off when you don't feel like blogging. But a blog that has one post per month or less gets very little traffic, even if the posts are excellent. Set up a schedule and make your blog a habit.

11. Misspellings and grammar atrocities. It's fine to use informal language, even informal language that breaks some old-fashioned grammar rules, in a blog post. But when you post something that's full of errors or incomprehensible sentences, you are telling your blog readers that you just can't write very well. Which is fatal in an author blog.

12. Hard to use comments. The comment thing that comes with Blogger is JUST FINE. Some of the alternatives I've seen on other blogs make it impossible for me to make a comment that links back to my own blog--- Disqus, for one. Also, about the word verification step--- lose it. Many people can't read the word verification words they have these days. So they will refrain from commenting on your blog. I dropped the word verification step a couple years ago. What I do is have comment moderation on older posts--- after three days or a week, I can't remember the exact setting. Once in a very great while I get a spam comment caught in the moderation. Spam comments are what the word verification step is supposed to prevent. So it's not at all a problem to leave that step out to make commenting easier.

How does your blog measure up? If you see a lot of problems after reading this post, don't be discouraged. They are ALL things you can fix. You may not be able to become the world's best/most popular blogger, but you can do little things to improve your blog here and there, and in time it will pay off in more blog readers.

My Facebook writing page:
http://www.facebook.com/NissaAnnakindt

Want Me to Read Your Blog? Join this Contest!

Saipan the cat

Join the 'Obsession' Blogroll Contest


The wise blogger likes to read blogs, comment on them, follow them, and from time to time share their content with their own blog readers, in the hope that other bloggers will return the favor. I try to do this regularly, and have a very big blogroll of blogs I follow that I sometimes read or comment upon.

But this is kind of a scattergun approach. I'll comment on a blog once and then not get back to that particular blog for months. So I thought I'd start a new blogroll, my 'obsession' blogroll, filled with a very few blogs that I try to read very frequently, as well as commenting and sharing.

Three blogs will be picked from the group of blogs that are well-visited and much commented, such as the blogs by Mike Duran, Karina Fabian or Rebecca Luella Miller.


For the other blogs, I thought I'd throw it open to nomination, and pick a few blogs that share an interest or two with this one. I'm mostly interested in writing or book blogs, preferring those by authors of 'clean' fiction. I am a Christian (Catholic) and I enjoy work by writers that are Christian (Catholic, Evangelical, LDS, Protestant...) or at least by writers who are Christian-friendly or try to be. I like science fiction and fantasy, but I like other genres as well--- mystery, gothic romance, Amish romance, rural fiction and westerns are current 'likes'. And I am simpatico to writers who are 'different' and who even feel like outcasts--- perhaps because I have an autism spectrum disorder, plus I have same-sex attraction and am a conservative Catholic.

If you would like your blog to be read by me and be included in the 'obsession' blogroll, please comment in the comments section and describe your blog and tell a little bit about yourself. There will be between 3 and 6 winners this first time out, depending on how many people comment. The blogs chosen will remain in the 'obsession' blogroll for at least 2 months.

In time, I will rotate those blogs into the 'big' blogroll and perhaps run another contest for another group of blogs to 'obsess' over.

Anyway, if you think your blog might be a good fit with this contest--- or even if you are afraid it won't--- make a comment telling about your blog (don't forget to include your blog link.) And may the odds be ever in your favor.... ;)

Kitty picture notes: the cat Saipan is a year-old female cat who likes to jump into my bathtub. So one day I turned on the water. She watched, fascinated, until she realized that she was getting pretty wet.

Facebook Group: Christian Women Fiction Writers:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/572042192867903/
My Facebook writing page:
http://www.facebook.com/NissaAnnakindt

Goals Bloghop: Your Blog and Your Writing Goals

This post is part of the Do You Have Goals? bloghop sponsored by the Five Year Project.

Writers and aspiring writers who have goals also tend to have blogs, these days. Why? Something to do with having a platform, I imagine. A blog is not the same thing as a platform, but it's easier to put together.

How does your blog connect to your writing goals? Perhaps your writing goal involves writing a novel and having it published. Whether you publish with a large publisher or a small press, you will want to sell a few copies of that novel. Your blog can affect those sales.

Your blog is a place where your writing can be seen by potential readers without their having to take a gamble on purchasing your novel. What do your blog posts say about you?

Several times I've visited a blog by a would-be writer whose blog posts contain misspellings, grammar mistakes, and, worst of all, incomprehensible sentences. My presumption is that if these bloggers have books out, they are probably self-published and have the same flaws as their blog posts. Such blogs actually discourage book sales. Just as well, because these bloggers are probably prematurely self-published, which is not good for their writing career.

Other blogs are clever and interesting and, at the least, prove that the blogger is capable of writing in good English. Some blogs go even further and show that the blogger is a thoughtful, intelligent person who probably is able to write fiction that is compelling. One great example of this is the blog deCOMPOSE by author Mike Duran. Since Mike is a Protestant and I'm a Catholic, we don't always agree on the issues he blogs about. But at least his blog posts are intelligent and worth reading, and his blog is one of those that I look to as a role model for my own blog.

Now, not all of us can be a Mike Duran. We can't put together a thoughtful blog that attracts lively debate without cutting into our writing time too much. But we can all do something. And we can improve our 'something'.

For my own blog, my goals are to improve the blog by:
1. Posting more often--- sometimes I neglect the blog for a couple of weeks. I want to post at least twice a week.
2. I want to participate in 4 blog events monthly in order to interact more with other blogs.
3. I want to make my blog more personal by posting excerpts from my writing journal, and sharing about my struggles with writers block, low self-esteem, and my autism spectrum disorder (Asperger Syndrome).
4. More cat pictures. My blog really needs more cat pictures. Because my cats are way cute.

Kitten Therese mourning her dead friend, kitten Myfanwy.

MY goals update:

My goal, which I put down for this blog hop, was the limited one of writing 10 more poems in a series I started. I didn't do much work on this poetry project because of NaNoWriMo. And I didn't finish my NaNo novel, either. But I am continuing with my NaNo novel after the month is done. I've come up with some good ideas for it and the work is continuing.

Another goal which I haven't worked on this November is to work on putting together a ebook version of my poetry book. Also at the same time a revised print version of the book. I'm so indecisive about the whole project, though. I don't know whether to stick with the current version of the book or to totally do a new book with stuff added. Well, I'll think about that tomorrow.


My Facebook writing page:
http://www.facebook.com/NissaAnnakindt

How Writers and Bloggers Can Use the Rule of 5 To Become Discoverable

How Writers and Bloggers Can Use the Rule of 5 To Become Discoverable

The above post, over at How to Blog a Book, is very inspirational. Do you have a book--- or an author blog--- that seems to be invisible? The Rule of 5 is sound advice to help you make your book and/or blog more visible.

I'm not going to repeat what is found over at How to Blog a Book. I want you to go there and read the original for yourself. Right now.

Yes, right now.




OK, what did you think of the article? How will you use what you learned from it?

The first thing I learned is that I need to 'show up' more often here by writing blog posts. OK, I pretty much already knew that. The chronic writer's block which plagues my fiction writing has also extended into my blogging life--- perhaps because the instant gratification to be had on Facebook makes it all seem to be too much effort. But lately on my 'controversial' Facebook page I've had some lessons on the down-side of that instant gratification--- others can gratify themselves instantly at my expense, as in the left-wing racialist page that not only posted a picture of me and called me ugly, but posted a picture of my sweet little disabled kitten Therese having a bath, and said she was ugly, too. Which was so unfair because she wasn't looking her best scared out of her wits in a plastic tub of water! So I had to work on a blog I have that duplicates the content of my 'controversial' page, where I have more control over the ability of stray commenters to be abusive.

So--- I've got to blog more. The problem is, blog about what?

I once read the blog of a fine Christian gentleman who had written a self-published novel. His blog posted about the various steps on the way to self-publication. And then the book was out, and he had nothing to blog about. I suppose he was too modest a gentleman to put himself forward by blogging about himself.

But as writers, our selves are what we own. Our writing--- good or bad--- is the product of those selves. Sharing about ourselves to some extend is something that builds interest in a writer and his work.

I happen to be a Christian, and so I believe in the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have others do unto you. So the second topic to blog about is others. Sharing the blog posts of others, as I am doing now, helps spread the reach of their blog. And if some of those others are checking their stats regularly and see they are getting new readers coming at them from your blog, they might be grateful.

'Trending topics' is another thing to blog about, but that must be personalized. Most 'hot topics' don't thrill me. Either they are about allegedly famous people I've never heard of, or they are about people doing evil things and make me want to look the other way rather than spread the news. Rather than blog about the top trending item, I will want to blog about something that is a hot topic among people who share my interests and ideals. For example, many people I know and respect are concerned about the rise in hate-crime murders of Christians in Africa and the Middle East, which are not being reported. That might be something to blog about.

One last thought, though. It does little good to 'show up' if you are metaphorically showing up in your pajama top, with unbrushed hair, and no pants. Many young self-published writers write blog posts that are misspelled, ungrammatical, and sometimes verge on being incomprehensible. These young writers send a message with every such post: 'I'm no good at writing.' Work on these basic skills first before starting a blog--- or self-publishing a book.

Is Your Blog Lonely? Here are 8 Cures for an Under-visited Blog

 Sometimes in my internet wanderings I find a lonely blog. No comment on post after post, only two or three followers--- if they even have a 'follow' widget on the blog at all. When the blog belongs to a writer, that can be especially frustrating. They likely blog to build a platform--- but how can a blog help with that if no one reads it?

I had that problem myself at first, but I learned some things that I could do to fix my blogs loneliness. In no particular order, here they are.

1. Put up at least one 'follow this blog' widget on your blog. There is one for Blogger blogs, and one from Networked Blogs, and one from Linky. I have all three in my sidebar somewhere. This gives people who find your blog and like it a way to find and read your blog posts.

2. Make a point of reading other people's blogs and commenting. I've read that author Alex J. Cavenaugh spends a few hours a day reading blogs. And as a result he's well known in the world of author blogs. Be sure to read the blogs of your own followers and comment on a few, and also reach out to bloggers you haven't met before. Set a goal of commenting on 3 or 5 or 10 followers' blogs and 3 or 5 or 10 new blogs every day, or every day you are working on your blog, anyway.

3. Make your blog about more than just you and your book. You may be eager to find new customers who will buy your book, but the hard-sell approach doesn't win you any new blog readers. So blog about your genre and issues related to it, or another genre you also read, or current affairs, particularly those of interest to readers in your genre. Post a recipe or a picture of your kitten getting a bath. Anything to make your blog more than just another author's buy-my-book blog.

4. Participate in blog events such as blog hops. When I started out blogging I discovered the Christian Science Fiction & Fantasy blog tour. This is a monthly event where a group of authors reviews a work of Christian Science Fiction or Fantasy, and shares a list of the URLs of other tour participants. I got my first blog followers by doing the blog tour. Currently I participate in 2 monthly blog hops--- the Insecure Writer's Support Group and Indie Life. Links to these three blog events are in my sidebar, and you may find plenty more by looking through author blogs. By the way, if you are looking for new blogs to comment on, find the link list from a blog hop and check out some of the blogs on it, even if the blog hop is long over.

5. Join Facebook, and use the app 'Networked Blogs' so that you can make your blog posts appear in your feed. If you put up a Facebook author page as well, you can have your blog posts appear there--- or on both your personal page and your author page. Twitter and Google+ are other places to share your blog posts. I should point out that if you want to use these social media outlets to build up a platform rather than destroy one, use them like a grown-up. Don't send rude or hateful comments to random people who disagree with your political or (ir)religious views. Don't post pictures displaying some one's private parts and then scream 'censorship' when a grandmother asks you to take it down since her little grandkids are roaming around Facebook. Don't pitch a fit at ANYONE. And don't use curse words even if your Facebook friends do.

6. Blog regularly. When I was actively participating in the Christian Science Fiction & Fantasy blog tour, there were a couple of lonely blogs I visited that had no posts except that month's blog tour post, and the previous month's blog tour post, and the month before that.... I can understand how that can happen, on a lonely blog. You get discourage when you post and post and no one seems to be reading it, except perhaps on blog tour day. But if you don't post regularly, your blog doesn't look active enough for anyone to want to follow it.

7. Do a mitzvah (good deed) for other bloggers regularly. Make it your mission. You can share a good blog post from another blog--- particularly a lonely blog. If a blogger speaks of technical difficulties they are having on their blog, tell them how to fix it. Give them a good review of a book they've authored if you can do so honestly. There are many ways that you can show that an important part of your identity as a blogger involves helping others--- not just asking others to help you by following your blog, buying your book, and the like.

8. Review your blogging stats regularly. Note which of your posts were most popular, so you can do more like them. Notice what search terms were used to find your blog. That may not help--- my top search terms are 'David Tennant naked', which, alas, is not something I provide here at The Lina Lamont Fan Club. But I do see a lot of searches which include 'asperger' or 'autism' and so I make a point to blog about the autism spectrum side of my life from time to time. And, finally, note new links to your blog posts. This will help you find out if someone has linked to one of your blog posts recently, so you can go visit their blog in return.

I hope some of these ideas can help you make your blog a little less lonely. Do you have any great ideas yourself for increasing blog traffic? Post them in a comment!


Please visit my Facebook author page.
http://www.facebook.com/NissaAnnakindt

Will Blogging be Replaced by Facebook and Twitter?

 

Used to be when I posted stuff on my blog, things got pretty lively around here. Sometimes too lively as when a former blog follower got very angry because I, a gay woman, gave my opinion on gay 'marriage' and it didn't coincide with hers.

But as Facebook and Twitter have grown, the blog world, at least around here, has shrunk. I don't know, of course, if that is true for all bloggers, and I suspect the big blogs are doing better than ever.

I have given some thought myself to replacing my blog efforts with work on my Facebook author page (link below). It's a bit livelier even though my follower base is still small. But I think it would be sad if thoughtful blog posts get entirely replaced by tweets and Facebook status updates. It makes for a world that is ever more  trivial and ignorant.

Also, the world of Facebook is dominated by some pretty vicious trolls. When I got opposition here on my blog, I was simply informed that I could not express that opinion since it offended the person complaining. When someone disagreed with essentially the same opinion expressed on Facebook, I was told I was a liar, a fraud, a hater, a moron, retarded and crazy--- pretty much in one sentence.

I am very inactive on Twitter though I have an account, but I got a taste of that kind of opposition there as well.

The blog world seems to me to have the potential of being more thoughtful and more kind than Facebook or Twitter. As a result I think I must spend more time on this blog and on visiting the blogs of others.

What do you think? How does the blog world compare with social media?

Continue the conversation on Facebook.
http://www.facebook.com/NissaAnnakindt

The 300-Blog Follow Limit on Blogger

Did you know that on Blogger, you are only allowed to 'follow' 300 blogs? You can have lots more blogs than that following yours, but you can only follow them back until you hit 300.

But there is a loophole, according to Carole's Chatter Blog Tips: You go to the blog in question, and if they have a Blogger 'Follow' widget, sign up there and it will not be held against you.

Of course, this only works for Blogger blogs, and ones that happen to have the widget displayed.

This is too bad. There are two ways I follow blogs--- one is through Facebook, when one of my Facebook friends or a Facebook page I like posts their blog posts on Facebook, often through Networked Blogs. The other is the blogs I follow through Blogger, displayed on my Blogger dashboard.

I have tried using NetworkedBlogs to follow blogs, but frankly, I just don't check in at NetworkedBlogs unless one of the blogs I myself has there needs a change in the syndication or something.

I am now syndicating this blog to my new Facebook page, Lina Lamont Fan Club by Nissa Annakindt. So if you go there and 'like' this page, you will be able to follow the posts of this blog through your Facebook. I also share Doctor Who-related posts, and of course cat pictures like the mama cat and kittens above. (The mama cat is Chachamaru, the same cat that's on the cover of my poetry book.)

I have been reading a book I downloaded by James Scott Bell, 'Self-Publishing Attack!', which gives, among other things, some very good tips for writers who want to use blogging and social media to build up a following and, in time, sell books. These things are recommended even before you are ready to publish your book!

I am inspired by this to create a plan of action for my blogging/social media life as well as for my writing. I am hoping to write to this blog more faithfully, to visit the blogs I follow more regularly and comment there, and in time build up my following base to greater numbers.

Have you been inspired anytime lately to do things to improve your blogging or social media life? What did you do? How did it work out?

7 Things Famous Writers Can Do That You Can't

When it comes to the actual writing, it is good to imitate writers well-known for their fiction's quality, or at the least, famous writers of your genre (and others.)

When it comes to blogging and social media, there are many things that the well-known, mainstream-published author is and should be doing that you, a new, unknown, unpublished/self-published writer, must not imitate.

1. Write only about their own books --- authors like Orson Scott Card, Holly Lisle, Jerry B. Jenkins, Charlaine Harris, and Jeff Lindsay (author of the Dexter novels) know that the people that read their blog or follow their tweets and Facebook postings because they are already fans. They want to hear all they can about their author's published and upcoming books. For the rest of us, most of our followers are not familiar with our writing and thus are not fans of it. Writing too much about our work feels like advertising, and no one likes being advertised at.

2. Refer offhand to characters and situations from their books --- when a well-known author does this, it is what his fans want. When we do it, we are making our readers feel like outsiders because they haven't read our book yet. This will not make them run out and buy your self-published book.

3. Forget to proofread --- when a famous author misspells a word in a blog post or tweet or makes some other obvious error, no one thinks a thing about it. He's good enough to get published by a mainstream publisher, so the error is forgiven. When we do it, our readers assume we are bad writers. If the mistake is the misuse of big words, we are pretentious bad writers. Proofread everything down to the shortest tweet.

4. Offer a free ebook --- when bestselling Christian author Jerry B. Jenkins announced on Facebook that his novel 'Riven' would be available as a free ebook for limited time only, folks jumped on the offer. He's an author that's made the bestseller lists many, many times. When we make free offers, folks take it like they take offers of a free kitten. This doesn't mean you shouldn't offer your self-published ebook for free--- it just means that folks won't take it as a precious gift but as a potential waste of their reading time. It is more like they, the readers, are giving you a gift when they take the time to download and read your free ebook. Be thankful when this happens.

5. Be rude to commenters --- when you have a blog or a social media account, comments and replies are your life blood. A nationally known author has floods of commenters and, if the mood strikes him, can afford to call one or two of the most annoying ones idiots. We who are not yet known must cherish all our misspelling, zany, and odd commenters, and only when they are actually uttering death threats or spewing hostile profanity can we afford to scare them off.

6. Ask you to vote up their book on a web site --- while famous authors rarely make these kinds of requests, it would not be off-putting to their readers/followers if they did. If we do something like that, we are imposing on our readers. What if they haven't read our book yet or didn't like it? At best, you might mention in passing if your book is gaining ground on a GoodReads list or something. Leave it up to your readers what to do with that bit of information.

7. Insult a whole political faction or religion --- while this is a stupid thing to do even for the most popular authors in the country, they can get away with this if they do so within the limits of political correctness. Years ago I visited Stephen King's web site and saw a rant in which he proclaimed his opinion that conservatives were stupid. His fame was such at the time that he could probably gotten away with saying liberals were stupid. Maybe. All I know is that before I read that web site, I bought every Stephen King novel out there and read them to pieces, and bought books about Stephen King. Afterwards, I have only once or twice bought the new Stephen King novel, and rarely re-read my Stephen King collection, because aware of his real-life attitudes, I can't write off the intolerance in his books as just part of the fiction. But Stephen King was big enough at the time he didn't need me as a reader.  We, on the other hand, can't afford to actually insult conservatives, liberals, Christians or Jews, even if what we write is political thrillers aimed at those who share our views or religious fiction for those who share our faith. We have to cherish every person who gives us his attention, perhaps especially the ones who do so in spite of political or religious differences.

I think perhaps the best way to sum the whole thing up is that all writers, in social media interactions or blogging, need to come across as humble. For the bestselling author, they do it by humbling themselves to interact with their readers by internet at all. For us, we must never presume that our readers have any abiding interest in our books or book-related news, and must limit our mention of these things. Blogging and social media are about building friendships, not about peddling books or anything else to the uninterested.

To find a blogging role model, look to blogs by indie and small press authors who have won a successful following by NOT talking about their book all the time. Mike Duran's blog, in my sidebar, is one example, Karina Fabian's blog, also in the sidebar, is another.

Worst Author Blog Ever

Once I saw an author blog by a man who had written a self-published novel. He had been told that he should have an author blog. He decided that what that blog was about was his book, and himself as an author

And so he made a few posts to announce when the book came out, and when it became available on Amazon.com. And then, being a fine Christian gentleman who didn't feel right about immodestly talking about himself, he stopped posting for lack of anything appropriate and Christian to say.

But that blog was not the Worst Author Blog Ever. That would have to go to one of the many authors who have made the same decision about what their blog is about--- their book, and themselves as author--- and somehow managed to find things to post about on this topic every day for months or years.

If you want a blog that will connect with potential readers, you need a blog that talks about what they might be interested in--- and at first, your book will not be among those things.

You need to decide what your blog is about--- perhaps write an 'elevator pitch' or a one-sentence summary of your blog topic. It can be about your genre, about the writing life, about the fact that your cat is plotting against you---- anything that can help you reach out to like-minded blog readers.

Another important factor in avoiding that Worst Author Blog Ever title is to follow the Golden Rule--- do unto others as you would have others do unto you. Do you want other blogs to mention your book or blog? Mention the books or blogs of others. Do you want others to review your book/blog kindly? Review the books or blogs of others kindly--- pretend the author of these works is looking over your shoulder as you write. Do you want others to respect your opinions even if they disagree with them? Respect the opinions of others; if their opinions are beyond the pale (as in admirers of Adolf Hitler), at least be as kind as you can to the holder of the opinion. (Calling people dirty no-good skunks never changes their opinion, anyway.)

One published author whose blog I have followed mainly attracted me by how she followed the Golden Rule in her internet presence, Holly Lisle. Her web site and blog is filled with useful advice for beginning writers. Now, I had read a few Holly Lisle books years ago and didn't care for them very much. But after year after year of checking in on Holly Lisle's blog from time to time, I recently picked up one of Holly's books second-hand. I got hooked, and bought the next two books in the trilogy as soon as I finished that book. Her internet work had eventually turned me into a reader of her fiction.

Are you a writer who may have had trouble with this new requirement that authors become bloggers? How has it been working out for you lately? Do you have any wisdom to share?

Blog Followers and How to Get Them

A blog follower is someone who is using some service like Google Friend Connect or NetworkedBlogs to read YOUR blog on a regular basis.

Blog followers are better than the breeze-through blog reader because they may keep coming back for more. If they like your blog enough after repeated reading, they might add your blog to a sidebar on their own blog, recommend your blog or a post on it on their blog, Facebook, Twitter, or other services.

Blog followers are great to have. I have seen people begging on the forum at NetworkedBlogs that they will follow ANY blog if the blogger follows theirs. But that's NOT the way to get a blog follower that actually reads your blog.

A better way to get more blog followers is as follows:

1. Add a followers widget to your blog sidebar. The most common followers widget I've seen on blogs is the Google Friend Connect one provided by Blogger. The next most common is the one from NetworkedBlogs. 
2. When a new follower joins, click on their icon to find their blog and become a follower of it. 
3. Add a blogroll JUST for your followers' blogs. Here at Blogger you can set up a blogroll so it only shows the five blogs with the most recent posts, which is nice.
4. When looking for blog posts on which to comment, check the newest posts from followers first.
5. Ask people to follow your blog on the message on your comment form. (Click 'comment' on this blog post to see how I did it.)  You might ask the same at the bottom of some blog posts.
6. Comment regularly on other blogs in your category/categories. Become a follower of the blogs you like.
7. Check out the profile of all new commenters, and look at their blog. Comment on their posts, and perhaps become a follower.
8. Add another blogroll for all the blogs YOU follow--- see mine below on the left sidebar. Check this blogroll to help find posts to comment on.
9. Some people offer prizes of some sort for new followers. I have not tried this, but if you have a book blog and have books to offer as prizes, it might be helpful.

I don't have all the answers on attracting blog followers yet. I have questions--- is it better to put up several follower widgets--- one for Google Friend Connect and one for NetworkedBlogs--- or to have just one? Should you indiscriminately follow new blogs or be more restrained? If you have any ideas, please share them!

5 Blog Comments a Day

Lately I've been having blogger's block--- or blogger's blecch--- and blogging has felt pointless, like screaming out in an empty echo chamber. And so for the past few days I've been biting the bullet and blogging twice daily. With limited results.

What I really need to do is comment more on the blogs of other people. And that's hard for me. I have Asperger Syndrome which makes social interactions difficult-to-impossible, and commenting is a social interaction.

Especially when I'm suffering from commenter's block--- you know, that writing disorder where, when you read a great blog post, you can't think of anything to say that isn't based around the words 'nice' or 'interesting'. Or maybe 'nice and interesting'.

In spite of this I set a new goal of commenting five times a day, in addition to my other blogging and writing goals.

To facilitate this, I've also revamped the blogrolls in my sidebar, so I can easily see blog posts on which to comment. I already had one big blogroll of all the 170 or so blogs I follow using Blogger. I also have a blogroll of all the people that are following my blog.

I added a blogroll which has on it the last list from the Christian Science Fiction and Fantasy blog tour, a blogroll of some of my favorite published authors who blog, and 'more blogs' list, to which I intend to add other blogs I might like to comment on but don't necessarily intend to follow right at this moment.

In an irrelevant note, (I have Asperger Syndrome, remember) I'm also using Digg to promote my blog posts (and other folks' posts). In the past I used reddit instead, but it is so filled with aggressive hateful atheists I deleted my account there.

Another blog-improvement measure is I'm adding some sort of picture to each post which shows up nicely in my Facebook feed and also is useful for my Link-Within thingy (that shows three of my older blog posts at the end of each post).

Some random blog posts:
How to Get More Comments
Get More Blog Comments by Taking Sides
Latest Dem Idea On Mother’s Day: Donate To Pro-Abortion Groups

Writers of the Future will Work for Free

Johanna Spyri, writer

In the past the neophyte writer served his apprenticeship by writing for genre magazines, sometimes called 'the pulps' after the low grade paper they printed on. There were mystery, sci-fi and fantasy, romance and western pulps. They paid pennies per word.

For about 50-70 years, they paid the same pennies-per-word rate as at the beginning, so by the end, it was the prestige and not the money which motivated. And the pulps have fallen out of favor as radio dramas and then television provided the major entertainment source for most people.

So, how does the neophyte writer serve an apprenticeship today? By writing for free. You are of course writing for free anyway on your initial short stories--- in the absolute beginning stage it's better to write many stories one after the other, rather than revising your first precious jewel endlessly in hopes of making it good enough to publish. But I'm talking about a different kind of 'writing for free'.



In the beginning, your writing-for-free will be centered around your blog. Since you are not ready for a full-fledged author blog until you have a few published novels under your belt, your blog theme should be about your chosen genres (if you've chosen one yet) and perhaps about writing--- in order to attract other neophyte writers, and perhaps more advanced ones looking to promote their books. (You might even share some of your writing on your blog.)

Your blog is a free sample of your writing. It gives potential readers the chance to evaluate whether you can write a correct English sentence without a net. (Or a correct French, German, Nepalese or Esperanto sentence if you are a native speaker of those languages and will thus be writing in them.) That's why it's so important to use correct spelling and grammar.

If you have started out writing fan fiction, another form of writing-for-free might be to post your fan-fic short stories on a website that specializes in this. I don't know of such a website, offhand, though I'm looking for one (I have a short story in the works where Captain Kirk and Doctor Who are kidnapped by a Really Bad Dude, possibly Lord Voldemort or Mr. Burns, and must be rescued by Idris and some Enterprise crew, and perhaps Romana.

There are other sites for original short stories. Both of these kind of sites, I'd imagine, are homes of the most amateurish writers imaginable, and they will give you insincere praise in order to get you to read and promote THEIR fiction. But it's a place to get your work looked at. And if it is original fiction, publishing it on a password-protected story-site such as these does not count as 'publication' and so you can, at a later date, sell the fiction to a paying publisher. (Publishing it on an open blog does count as publication. And password protecting your blog means you'll have virtually no readers.)

Another form of writing-for-free is to write a story or novel and make it available as a free ebook on Smashwords. (Note: be very clear to let the audience know if it is a short story or novel so they won't be resentful when it ends too soon.)  Catholic author Amanda Borenstadt has two free short-short stories at Smashwords featuring characters from her novel Syzygy.

Even well established authors benefit from the writing-for-free thing. Baen books had the Baen Free Library, in which Baen authors were permitted to offer some of their older books as free ebooks. Often these were the first novels in a series--- which might encourage readers who liked the free first book to buy the next book in the series. Authors who have participated in the Baen Free Library include one of my all-time faves, Mercedes Lackey.

Mainstream publishers are also looking in to the idea of making a book temporarily free. I got a free copy of Jerry B. Jenkins' novel 'Riven' that way. I picked it up because it was free, and when I read it, I really enjoyed it. If I hadn't already been a fan of Jenkins from the Left Behind series (in spite of the theology mistakes), I would have been more likely to try other Jenkins books after reading this free-sample novel and finding out, yes, the man can write.

Warning: just because I've said writing for free is now part of a writer's life, don't be taken in by the vanity presses who want you to write for less than free--- they want you to pay to get your work published. Sometimes they will claim they publish for free--- but you are required to pay for services such as editing, marketing and the like. A vanity-press book looks very bad on your writer's resume--- you'll be best off never mentioning it to a real publisher. (A self-published book is also better off not mentioned unless it sells well.)

Blogger's New Word Verification Ruins it All for Everyone

I love Blogger's old word verification words. I even collected them in a notebook for use in writing--- when I need an alien name or word, I pick one from the notebook either as a temporary substitute for the final-version name/word, or sometimes as the permanent solution.

But I always hated the Captcha WV system. Besides the fact that they were often ordinary words--- useless for my purpose--- there was the fact that they were too distorted for me to read. With Captcha WV, I had to enter the words 2 to 3 times before I got it right.

Now Blogger has scrapped their old system for Captcha. And so I have had to eliminate the word verification step on this blog out of respect for my reader(s).

This led to quite a bit of commercial comment spam. So I've had to disallow anonymous comments. I don't like to do this as I use the anonymous comment thing myself. Not that I want to be anonymous. But under 'anonymous' there is the name/URL option. I use that when I am reading poetry blogs, and want the blogger to find my poetry blog and not my sci-fi/writing blog or my Esperanto blog or my low-carb diet blog.....

I do still like Blogger the best. I've tried many other free blogging platforms and Blogger does a lot of things and makes it easy to do them. So what if Blogger is owned by a mega-successful business and thus is the tool of the progressives' version of Antichrist?

Blogger's New Word Verification Ruins it All for Everyone

I love Blogger's old word verification words. I even collected them in a notebook for use in writing--- when I need an alien name or word, I pick one from the notebook either as a temporary substitute for the final-version name/word, or sometimes as the permanent solution.

But I always hated the Captcha WV system. Besides the fact that they were often ordinary words--- useless for my purpose--- there was the fact that they were too distorted for me to read. With Captcha WV, I had to enter the words 2 to 3 times before I got it right.

Now Blogger has scrapped their old system for Captcha. And so I have had to eliminate the word verification step on this blog out of respect for my reader(s).

This led to quite a bit of commercial comment spam. So I've had to disallow anonymous comments. I don't like to do this as I use the anonymous comment thing myself. Not that I want to be anonymous. But under 'anonymous' there is the name/URL option. I use that when I am reading poetry blogs, and want the blogger to find my poetry blog and not my sci-fi/writing blog or my Esperanto blog or my low-carb diet blog.....

I do still like Blogger the best. I've tried many other free blogging platforms and Blogger does a lot of things and makes it easy to do them. So what if Blogger is owned by a mega-successful business and thus is the tool of the progressives' version of Antichrist?

Lina Lamont gets fourth blogging award

Thanks to Amanda Borenstadt, blogger at A Fortnight of Mustard, which is one of the top condiment-related blogs on the web, for this fine award.

She got the award from Nick Wilford at Scattergun Scribblings.

Click 'read more' to find out why my cat is named Consubstantial and what I always bring to a swordfight.



The rules of the award are as follows:
1. In a post on your blog, nominate 15 fellow bloggers for the Versatile Blogger Award.(or 5 like Nick Wilford - he claims you will not be smited.)
2. In the same post, add the Versatile Blogger Award.
3. In the same post, thank the blogger who nominated you in a post with a link back to their blog.
4. In the same post, share 7 completely random pieces of information about yourself.
5. In the same post, include this set of rules.
6. Inform each nominated blogger of their nomination by posting a comment on each of their blogs.

Seven Possibly True Things About Me:

1. I've had a massive crush on Tracy Quartermaine for thirty years. Alas, as she is a fictional character on General Hospital, and in addition she's married to the mad mobster Anthony Zacchara, she probably doesn't like me back. I also have crushes on the Racnoss Empress, Chantho, Captain Jack Harkness and Rose Tyler from Doctor Who, and the Crazy Cat Lady from the Simpsons.

2. I think my cat Chachamaru is pregnant for real this time. Just hope she can manage to have fewer than six kittens this time...

3. The first periodical that published a poem of mine was a Stalinist communist 'zine called 'Struggle'. This was before Al Gore invented the internet.

4. I am the one person on Earth who likes the fact that the Catholic Church has changed 'being of one substance with the Father' to 'consubstantial with the Father. I like the word 'consubstantial' so much I now have a kitten named Consubstantial, though I mostly call her Connie or 'damn you cat, get off the counter!'

5. I've always been religious. Used to be a Protestant, from 1987-2005 was a Norse Pagan, now I'm Catholic. I thought once of becoming an atheist, but I'm just too logical for it.

6. I swear too much. My late lamented dog Jadzia wouldn't come when I said 'Come here', but would if I said 'Come (effing) here'. Very embarrassing when company comes. (My current dog Mina is too smart to come when called since I usually call her when I have plans for her she doesn't care for. So when I want Mina, I call one of the cats.)

7. My rule for winning in hand-to-hand combat: Bring a sword.

Bloggers I nominate for the Versatile Blogger Award

Why these blogs? Look at them and see. Each one is here for a reason. Those who guess the reasons right win a prize. Warning: the prize is a kitten.

Julie Bihn
URL: http://kinynchronicles.blogspot.com/

Thomas Fletcher Booher
URL: http://tulipdrivenlife.blogspot.com

Shane Werlinger
URL: http://www.shanewerlinger.com

John W. Otte
URL: http://www.leastread.blogspot.com/

Fred Warren
URL: http://frederation.wordpress.com/

Epic Rat
URL: http://www.theepicrat.com/

My apologies to those worthy bloggers who didn't get included. If you have a blog that deserves recognition, please comment and tell me what it is about your blog that should earn you a blogging award. (Smart aleck answers preferred.)

Blogcrafting: 10 ways to get more comments on your blog.

Building up a blog? Ignore the cool stats feature on Blogger (or whatever your blog host gives you). The real measure of whether your blog is reaching folks is the number of comments you get.

Why is that? It's because many folks hit your blog while Googling for something else. On this blog the perennial top search term is 'david tennant naked', followed by 'anton yelchin naked', 'billie piper pregnant' and 'billie piper naked'. (But never 'billie piper naked and pregnant' or 'john barrowman pregnant' for some reason). Since my blog does NOT feature naked sci-fi celebrities except for that shirtless John Barrowman picture, most folks don't stay.

A comment means that someone has not only found your blog but has looked at it long enough to want to make a comment. This is great, even if the comment is hostile rant! Hostile rants often spur more sympathetic readers to defend you, and those readers are likely to come back for more.

How to get more comments:

1. Comment on other blogs, especially blogs in your niche. Comment both on the more popular blogs and on the lonely struggling blogs. And make them good comments--- not just a 'nice post' or 'interesting blog'.  Mention something interesting in the blog post and react to it.
2. End your blog post with a question, if only a 'what do you think?'.
3. Write good blog posts of general interests. Even if it's your own author blog/book blog, it shouldn't be all about you/your book. Study articles on ProBlogger to learn how to write better blog posts.
4. Join NetworkedBlogs on Facebook and publish your blog posts in your Facebook feed. This works best if  you have a good number of Facebook friends. NOTE: you will get some of your blog comments on Facebook instead of your blog. This helps your blog also, so don't worry.
5. Make it easy to become a follower of your blog,  with the Google Friend connect widget AND one from NetworkedBlogs.
6. Have good blogrolls. I have one for those who follow my blog, and my big blogroll of all the blogs I follow. They show both blog title and most recent post title. Blogger makes it easy to set up like this.
7. Respond to your commenters by follow-up comments and by visiting your commenters blogs, if they have them. This helps turn your blog into a community. 
8. Be positive and friendly when interacting with commenters, even hostile ones. Take the high road!
9. Allow for commenters of different opinion. I've seen blogs where the blog-authors forbid 'debate' in comments. This scares off a lot of commenters as they conclude you won't accept any comments other than 'I agree completely'. Remember, even hostile comments help.
10. Delete comments only when needful, as in the case of blatant spam comments and comments with excessive swearing and blasphemy, death threats or the like. I've also reserve the right to delete comments with personal attacks on me that I just can't handle at the moment, but if you are thicker-skinned, I'd recommend against that. Remember, comments are good!

I'm sure other bloggers out there have found other ways to increase their comment count. What works best on YOUR blog?

Blogging prompt: Every blogging day, choose one item from the list to increase your blog comments and do it. Go through the list. If you still don't get many comments, go through it a second time.

Welcome to my new blog follower, covnitkepr1, who blogs at AccordingtotheBook. Please check it out!

The Irresistably Sweet Blog Award

This blog is sweet? Really? I mean, I could understand winning an inconsistent blogger award, or a weird blogger award, or obnoxious off-topic ranting blogger award, or mentally challenged blogger award, but sweet?

I got this award from Amanda Borenstadt, author of the urban fantasy novel Syzygy, whose blog is A Fortnight of Mustard, which is the best condiment-titled blog of all time, easily beating out Catsup Dreams and Where's the Soy Sauce.

The Rules:

1. Thank and link to the person who nominated you.
2. Share 7 random facts about yourself.
3. Pass the award along to 8 deserving blog buddies.
4. Contact those buddies to congratulate them.



The one scary part is passing the award along. The last time I passed out an award, one of my awardees was Operation Counterstrike, who as it turned out was not available to pick up his award due to being in jail for the death threats he kept making (which were no surprise to his blog readers.) So now I'm puzzled--- do I try to find bloggers who WON'T get arrested to award them, or should I consider it a challenge to pick another potential trouble-maker? I'm torn....

SEVEN RANDOM FACTS ABOUT ME:

1. My cats steal one another's kittens. In fact, that's how I found out my cat Psychokitty had given birth this year because I couldn't find one of Willow's three-week-old kittens which had been stolen by Psychokitty and stashed with her own newborns.
2. My favorite condiments are soy sauce and chocolate syrup. I put one or another on everything except communion wafers.
3. I swear too much. I had a dog who wouldn't come when called unless I said 'come [effing] here!'
4. In 1881 two loggers were lynched across the street from what became the site of my grandmother's house. (My brother lives in the house now.) My great-great-grandmother's cousin-in-law may have supplied the rope. [See Song of the McDonald Boys, my new blog, for more details.]
5. I have an unnatural obsession with ampersands. &&&&&&&
6. Mi amas lerni lingvoj, kiel Esperanto, Germana kaj Korea. (I love learning languages like Esperanto, German and Korean.)
7. I am totally in love with the following fictional characters: Angelique Collins from Dark Shadows, Pavel Chekov from Star Trek, Tracy Quartermaine from General Hospital, Niki Smith from One Life to Live, Romana from Doctor Who, Kes from Star Trek Voyager, Trance Gemini from Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda, Annie and George from Being Human, Thomas Kincade Brannigan from Doctor Who, Rose Tyler from Doctor Who, and the Racnoss Empress from Doctor Who (the sexy red spidery alien with all the eyes). Because fictional people are just cooler than boring old real people.
8. I'm smart enough to join the genius organization Mensa but I'm too smart to want to.

DESERVING BLOG BUDDIES WHO ARE NOT IN PRISON (YET)
1. Letters for George: I just discovered this blog which has a lot about local history in the town of Menominee, Michigan, among other things.
2. Happy Catholic: I added this blog to those I follow some time ago. Visit to find out why to boycott Nestle and what Saint Ambrose wants you to do when you're insulted (hint: it doesn't involve chainsaws.)
3. Bluegrass Pundit: conservative news, video and comment from the Bluegrass state. Visit the blog to find out which state that is, and to read about the complete and utter destruction of Al Gore.
4. Tracy Krauss-Expression Express, a blog by a Christian writer and artist who is author of My Mother the Man Eater and And the Beat Goes On....
5. Dragons in our Midst & Echoes from the Edge: how can you go wrong with a blog with an ampersand in the title? The blog by author Bryan Davis has a press release for his daughter's new book, do check it out.
6. WORD up! offers Bible study and book reviews.
7. Reviews from the Heart: a Christian blogger who does book and product reviews.
8. IT CAME FROM ALLEN'S BRAIN! Check out his job interview questions for the position of assistant. I particularly like #6:

06. I am capable of making:
__ Plutonium from common household items
__ Repairs and modifications to both atomic- and lightning-powered machinery
__ Flimsy excuses
__ Eleven different death-rays
__ Decent coffee
__ A mess

GETTING A BLOG AWARD IS TIME CONSUMING
I mean, I could have spent the time blogging about how Richard Nixon is one of my favorite Doctor Who companions, or providing proof that US President Barack Obama is the Doctor's arch-nemesis, The Master AKA Harry Saxon. Or doing laundry or returning stolen kittens to their real mamas or the mamas I want them to have. I guess that's why some bloggers don't accept these awards. But not me, I want all the awards I can get. Just because.

If YOU want all the awards you can get, add your name and blog address in a comment and I will add you to the list next time I get an award, or I will completely forget about you. One or the other.