“Every job from the heart is, ultimately, of equal value. The nurse injects the syringe; the writer slides the pen; the farmer plows the dirt; the comedian draws the laughter. Monetary income is the perfect deceiver of a man’s true worth.” – Criss Jami
• It’s like asking someone to love you.
As many are polishing and re-polishing their blogs for what 2015 has in store, there are people on the internet contemplating starting a blog. They may be tying up the loose ends and deciding on a template this very moment; or categorizing a host of topics to cover. Some of them are writers, poets, chefs, professional business men and women, teachers, lawyers, publishers, or just people who would like to share their thoughts with the world. Wherever they are we will soon meet them. For this reason there are some tips I think we can all use to help increase productivity, or ideas we would like to share with future newbies or old heads looking to expand and or increase traffic.
One tip I would like to offer from my tiny corner of the Blogosphere is a suggestion: One Reason to Never Ask Someone to Follow Your Blog. While I admire the courage it takes to step out on faith and all, and give it the old college try, personally I think it’s kind of tacky, screams of desperation, and that we’re all worth so much more. I do not want to thrust my words into your mouth and force you to swallow them and I don’t expect to be forced to do the same. I will never write specifically for your approval because I’m not built that way. If you disagree you have a right to do so and on to the next one. But to ask you to follow me is disingenuous. While the person may just follow you because they investigated what made you bold enough to ask and decided they actually want to follow your blog, the offering side of that coin is not so bright. I imagine we all want people to follow our blogs or to interact with them in some way because we all have something to offer. Even if it’s just a blog created specifically to vent, to rant and to rave about how much life sucks, you still have something to offer otherwise you could have just bought a journal and scribbled till your fingers grew numb. But you didn’t. You decided to browse the internet where millions of people live and share your thoughts with them. Call it therapy, or call it a hobby, whatever, but don’t pretend feedback isn’t encouraging for you because otherwise why are you here? My point is that even if you’re content with one follower, I think he or she is worth all you’ve got to give. I’ve had to do lots of things that required an audience and only had a few people to show, but I’ve always believed that no matter how big or small, it was my responsibility as the host to give one-hundred percent. People are drawn to passion, so give them some—but show, don’t ask.
You want people to interact with your blog because something you said drew them in and they simply could not resist themselves, not just because you asked them to. In this way you already have their attention as opposed to trying to grab their attention. You must strive to keep their attention of course, but you do have them in this moment. No matter how weird and quirky you are people like what you have to say. My suggestion is that you grab them first and let them decide if you’re worth following; it makes for a much sweeter victory. Let us fall in love first before deciding whether or not to make this a commitment.
“Anyone who has ever struggled with poverty knows how extremely expensive it is to be poor.”
– James Baldwin (Fifth Avenue, Uptown. Esquire)
“When writing the story of your life, don’t let anyone else hold the pen.”
The wind has released itself from its chambers and spreads its body over the earth. A blanket of hammers slamming low temperatures into the atmosphere, it carries the clouds; full and dark with storms they are coddled into position. The sun has set and is nestled inside the crook of fire in the west wing of the heavens until it is time to renew itself again. The trees expose its private parts except the fourteen or so that do not lose its leaves to the whistling death sentence of winter. In less than a week from now, when the stars loiter on top the sky amidst the backdrop of midnight, people will decorate themselves with the image of change and resolutions, and make intoxicated promises they will never keep. Maybe it is just the warmth of liquor wrapping its arms around their spines, cooling their blood, and pulling at their heart strings. Suddenly it will happen, that moment when the bullet is separated from its shell, the parties burst into confetti, and this moment hushed into a lullaby. Right here, in the middle of a dead winter; everything cold and stiff and silent and yet loud inside a lowering orb of momentary bliss. This is the excited murmur of a new era and it is the canvas to which they will usher in a new year.
Be careful out there.
“There has never been another you. With no effort on your part you were born to be something very special and set apart. What you are going to do in appreciation of that gift is a decision only you can make.” – Dan Zadra
“Treat people like people. Beware of pity and patronization because in them, you can’t see when you’re unashamedly looking down on someone.” ― Criss Jami
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