A few of the ladies of See Jane Write before our morning walk |
Here we are before sitting down for our healthy potluck brunch |
A few of the ladies of See Jane Write before our morning walk |
Here we are before sitting down for our healthy potluck brunch |
Ironically, one of the best things that have come out of the #bloglikecrazy project has nothing to do with blogging.
Throughout the month members of See Jane Write who have participated in the challenge have been sharing links to their posts on See Jane Write Facebook group page. Through these posts we quickly realized that many, if not most, of us have a strong interest in fitness.
So Tanya Sylvan had the great idea of organizing See Jane Move — an event to both celebrate the completion of #bloglikecrazy and help us all in our quest to stay or get in shape.
On Saturday, Dec. 1 at 10 a.m. we will meet at Railroad Park, 1600 1st Ave. S., Birmingham, for a walk/run. Feel free to roller skate or dance or do whatever you please. Just keep moving.
Bring a healthy snack to share. After exercising we will sit down and enjoy a little picnic brunch.
I hope those of you in Birmingham this weekend will join us. You can RSVP here or leave a comment on this post letting me know you’ll be there.
I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: why should writers care about fitness? You can’t write a best seller or an award-winning blog if you’re dead!
Cross-posted at The Writeous Babe Project.
As #bloglikecrazy comes to an end you may be thinking, “OMG! I need a blogging sabbatical after this!” But please resist the temptation to take a hiatus. Most likely, you’ve picked up a following of new readers or won back old ones this month. This is no time to give them the silent treatment.
Rachel Callahan |
Amber Wright |
Laura Kate Whitney |
High Road Ice Cream of Atlanta served ice cream samples at the last FoodBlogSouth Conference and they’ll be back in 2013! |
The Pecans Project from Greensboro, which helps high school dropouts learn business skills, served spiced nut samples and pecan butter samples at FoodBlogSouth 2012. |
Goo Goo Cluster was a proud sponsor of FoodBlogSouth 2012. Can you think of a more iconic Southern candy? |
We’ve also got sessions on how to brand yourself as a blogger, how to write your own cookbook, a session where experienced bloggers share how they juggle blogging and the rest of everyday life, SEO and tools for bloggers, and more. Plus there’s going to be some good food: Look for some delicious cheeses for breakfast, and we’ve got a crew of chefs from Baton Rouge coming to cook for our after-party.
Necole Bitchie Image via iamnecole.com |
While cruising around in Twitterville last night I happened upon a link to an interview with celebrity gossip blogger Necole Bitchie. If you’ve been reading my blog, The Writeous Babe Project, even for a week you probably won’t be surprised to know that celebrity gossip isn’t really my thing. I frequent blogs about feminism, writing, faith, and living your best life. But the tweet about this article caught my eye because it mentioned Ms. Bitchie “falling out of love with her blog.”
I’ve been there.
It happened with my previous blog Georgia Mae. And one of the reasons I have yet to make any moves toward starting an online magazine is my fear that eventually I’d lose passion for the project. So, I was interested in what Necole had to say about this and about blogging in general.
Interviewer Jerrod Hobbs of CarltonJordan.com asked Necole if people need to live in a certain area to be a successful blogger. Ms. Bitchie stated that if your goal is to be an entertainment news and celebrity gossip blogger with exclusive coverage then being near a major city like Los Angeles, New York or Atlanta is probably your best bet. But she went on to say, “The good thing about living in other cities across the nation is that you can be that ‘It person’ for your city.”
I think this doesn’t just have to apply to celebrity news. I’ve heard and read advice from successful bloggers in a variety of niches recommending that emerging bloggers seek to take a local approach to their topics. I’ve been considering this myself. Could the See Jane Write blog become the source for news and information on Birmingham’s literary and media arts communities?
Later in the interview Ms. Bitchie told Hobbs that between March 2011 and May 2012 she had to take a break from her site to deal with some personal issues. Meanwhile, her brand was changed into something different from what she created and that’s what caused her to fall out of love with blogging for a bit.
I think there’s a valuable lesson we can all learn for this and I think it goes back to the idea of having a mission statement for your blog or any project. You need a clear vision for your work and you need to stay focused on that always.
This, perhaps, is the solution to staying motivated and committed, the key to staying passionate about what you do. In the interview Necole Bitchie discussed the importance of following through and said the secret to sticking with it is to do what makes you happy. Don’t chase blogging trends; tackle topics you truly care about.
Being true to your mission and to your voice will also help you keep readers. These things will make your blog and your brand consistent which will make your readers loyal. Ms. Bitchie explained it this way: “A good brand makes people feel a certain way and gives a certain experience. People are loyal to things because of the way they make them feel.”