My friend Sammie (also known as Faye), who I met through Nanowrimo, is attempting to win a competition run by teen fiction publishers MiraInk to win an awesome job - blogging for a wage.
Contrary to popular belief, those of us that bare our souls on the internet so that the rest of you have something to read that is slightly more informative than the Daily Mail or the Sun are, shockingly, not financially rewarded for our efforts. I know, I know. When I began this enterprise as a way of venting my spleen that wouldn't see me banned from public places or having an aneurysm at the sheer bloody awful state of things, I expected to have a following of millions of smiling, attractive followers within the week, and enough advertising revenue and merchandising to retire forever to Miami within a few months. After all, I have a IQ in three figures and a vicious sense of humour, which puts me on a rough social par with Frankie Boyle. But unfortunately, I'm also about as wealthy as a typical Glaswegian. Anyway, I digress.
Sammie is one of ten hip young things who have a chance to win the blogging contract, and it would really help her efforts if we could share her sixty-second entry far and wide to ensure that she nets this prestigious prize.
Click here to see Sammie's entry.
The question that Sammie asks in her entry is, 'Why Blog?' Unlike me, she has a slightly more in depth answer than 'if I don't get the crazy out, I'm scared I might pop a vein.' Sammie reviews books - those much vilified and sadly underrated cornerstones of civilisation that are disregarded by so many in an age of instant gratification and reality television.
In addition to a role contributing something positive to society, Sammie is sweet and friendly, and has lots of time for her audience. Her blog, 'A Daydreamer's Thoughts', can be found by clicking on the link.
Sammie is right that it takes guts to put a piece of yourself on the internet - that unforgiving, all-encompassing web that has access to all your drunken pictures and never forgets all the silly things that you have to say. But when you have the reward of knowing that something you have produced is enjoyed and shared with others, it makes the whole act of producing something so completely worthwhile. In short, it is what being a writer is all about.
There are loads of different reasons to blog. I started as a way of recording my makes, but now I interact with people all over the world as well and enjoy inspiring others. I also love reading other blogs and getting ideas and inspirations from them. It seems amazing to me that one of my posts has been linked to on a few crafty sites and other blogs and that one post has had over 1000 views! Not bad for not so little me in Reading!
ReplyDeleteSee you soon,
Jen
P.S. I don't share my real name on my blog, but as you know my job you understand why!
Hello Jen
ReplyDelete1000 views is epic - I can only dream about numbers like that! (Bizarrely, my quick discussion about my holiday in Bulgaria remains my most popular post, with a couple of hundred views.)
It's great knowing that people get a kick out of reading your thoughts and opinions. I was gratified when someone linked one of mine to an macroeconomic information site, I got several well-informed comments that day.
I know what you mean about linking up, I only got so many posts as one of my readers posted a link on a much bigger site. Still, it feels pretty good and I love seeing what others have made following inspiration from me.
ReplyDeleteI have 123 followers atm on wordptess or by email. I know of others, but wordpress don't count rss feeds in their stats, just like they don't count being read on their reader as a view. Still I'm quite pleased with how it's all going. I'll never be able to make a living by it though!
Being part of a community is a wonderful thing, and ultimately, given that we're social creatures, it's what we aspire to. I don't mind if the people who read agree, disagree, or scream the house down as long as what I say makes them think!
ReplyDeleteI probably don't have a hundred regular readers (a lot of people comment on the Facebook/Twitter links rather than the articles themselves) but I do get a lot of foreign readers, particularly in the US and Russia. I probably suffer a bit from having no central focus. I just talk about whatever I want on the day, sometimes politics, sometimes international issues, but sometimes sport, psychology or cheese. The variation stops me from getting bored with it!