I've Been Tagged...

...and I'm not even sure what that means. So, dear reader, let us try to find out together.

Herewith the "tag":

Sunday, July 29, 2007

Blogging Tips - Another Meme

Yep, I've been tagged for another meme. This is a bit different though. Check out the links and then add yours along with your blogging thoughts and tips.

Instructions: When this meme is passed on to you, copy the whole thing, skim the list and put a * star beside the tips you especially like. Add the next number (1. 2. 3. 4. 5., etc.) and write your own blogging tip for other bloggers. Try to make your tip general. After that, tag some other people. It was originally 10 others but I don't know 10 people who would do this. So make it 5-10. I'm changing the rules. Haha.

1. Look, read, and learn. ****- http://www.neonscent.com
Bill's comment: I've learned a ton from blogs, especially Diana Peterfreund's, Erica Ridley's, and the Manuscript Mavens'. I'll add a star.

2. Be EXCELLENT to each other. **- http://www.bushmackel.com
Sound like a line from a movie...I'll pass.

3. Don’t let money change ya! *- http://www.therandomforest.info
I'd sure like a chance to try this one...:-) But not sure it would affect my blog.

4. Always reply to your comments. ******* - http://chattiekat.com
Probably a good tip...but I tend to pick and choose which ones to reply to. Life is short, and all that...time management is important, too. *Bill wonders if he can add half a star...help, Vicki!*

5. Link liberally — it keeps you and your friends afloat in the Sea of Technorati. *****-http://chipsquips.com
Link, yes; the Sea of Technorati??...I'll pass.

6. Don’t give up - persistence is fertile. **- http://www.velcro-city.co.uk
Ooh, cute! I like that one. Sign me up!

7. Give link credit where credit is due. ******- http://www.sfsignal.com
See my comment on time management above. It takes me time to figure out how to do links right, so I stick to the ones that really matter (to me, that is).

8. Pictures say a thousand words and can usually add to any post.****- http://scifichicki.com
Yes, I'm on board with this one. I love Diana's quirky pictures, Erica's travel and conference pics, and even some of the ones I post myself... ;-)

9. Visit all the bloggers that leave comments for you - it’s nice to know who is reading! ******-http://stephaniebooks.blogspot.com
Yup, I gotta admit I do this. It's how I met Erica, among other things - not to mention the rest of the Mavens and their fans.

10. When commenting on others’ blogs, a few kind words go a long way. – *** http://shelflifeblog.blogspot.com
I think Erica is perhaps the best exponent of this tip. In her honor I'll add a star.

11. When you’re starting out, comment on all the blogs you like to read; that way the bloggers will know that you exist! ** http://astripdarmchair.blogspot.com
Ah...the Lurker Question rears its head. How do I get Ed Krumeich to de-lurk and post a comment? Answer: I probably won't. So no star here.

12. Make sure you check your links! http://superfastreader.com By way of explanation–when you cut & paste the text of a meme, you don’t get the underlying links. If you just see text, you need to turn the text into links manually. If you see hyperlinks, you can cut & paste from the Page Source to get the HTML code and preserve the links. In Firefox, you can use Command/Apple-U to see this. The whole point of a meme is to spread link love, but you need more than just the text to do that.
OK, here's where I start to go out of my depth. I know Erica's tried to teach me (and others) how to do this, but when I link it's always a cut-and-paste thing rather than HTML. I'm not gonna be the first person to put a star on this one, that's for sure... :-)

13. Give your blog a theme/focus; make a niche for yourself. ***** http://www.theaccidentalnovelist.blogspot.com
Ah, yes, this one's right up my alley. Scribal wisdom interwoven with the latest hot gossip from Hedge Fund City...that's me!

14. Post on your blog daily and if not daily then at least 3 -4 times a week. Readers will not continue to come to your blog if there is not something new to read and comment on. And while you’re at it throw in a contest or two. ** http://vickilane.blogspot.com
And so we come to Miss Vicki herself, the charming damsel who has dragged me out onto the tagging dance floor. Should I not give her a star? Perhaps two? Yeah, I like that - let's go with two. ;-)

15. Make your blog a creative-writing experience. Play with your words, and your ideas. Bend and twist them into new shapes to see what they look like. Make bad puns (there are no good ones, so don't worry!). Have fun. Sharpen your writing skills. Learn from others how to write better, and, with luck, pass it on. Use words and language to help shape a new and better reality.

(Well, that's not so much a tip as a mini-essay, dear reader, but it's what the fingers wrote, so you're stuck with it.) Greenwich Gossip

Thanks to Openchannel for the tag. I’m supposed to tag (up to) 10 people... here goes:

Anne-Marie Carroll

Diana Peterfreund

Julie Leto and the rest of the Plotmonkeys

Tawny Weber

Erica Ridley

Bill Clark If you aren’t checking out his blog you should be. As well as his wonderfully funny and insightful comments on others.

Patricia W.

Ava Rose Johnson

So sorry if you didn't want to be tagged...I did pick people who I thought would add great tips for bloggers. :)

Vicki

Well, here we are back in real time. I followed the instructions to cut and paste Vicki's "tag". Now what? I guess I have to * star the previous tips that I like. But how am I to do this? I'm not about to re-paste the whole thing and use that as my working copy, so I guess I'll just make adjustments to the text above. You will be able to track my contributions because I will use a * Greenwich green star, and my comments will likewise be in living Technicolor; thus if you ever get tagged, dear reader, you will have these bumbling efforts to guide (or perhaps mislead) you. So here goes.

*Bill scrolls back up to assign green stars to tips he likes*

OK, just one more thing, and then I guess I'm done. *I* have to tag someone - preferably 5-10 someones, but since this is my maiden effort, I'm gonna play it safe and just tag one person: the AuthorBabe.

For those who don't know her (yet), the AuthorBabe wrote Confessions of a Closet Catholic a couple of years ago, and has recently sold her second book, formerly titled Ketchup on My Cucumbers (new title still to apparate). She lives here in Greenwich, and can be identified by her authorial license plate, which was the proximate cause of our first meeting (I wanted to unscrew it then and there and put it on my car). She has two great kids and a cuddly dog, an English nanny known as Mary Poppins, and a finally-ex who is safely bestowed back in England (most of the time). Oh, and a great new friend known as the WebMeister, with whom she recently toured Germany (see her blog for fabulous pics and commentary). And so, without further ado (cue trumpets) I hereby tag:

saraclaradara!!!!!!

*Bill wipes the sweat off his brow and hopes he has not disgraced himself too badly on his maiden venture into tagland*

*Time passes...*

Oh, Hell's bells - I forgot to add a blogging tip!! Guess my grade for this first effort is - yup - F minus.

*Bill sneaks back up to the body of the post to shoehorn in his tip, hoping nobody has yet flamed him for his flagrant omission*