blogging — Page 37

‘Seasoned’ Bloggers, Monetization & Comments

February 22, 2012 at 12:34 pm by Claudia

Sunrise. I’ve learned you have to quickly get the camera or all the gorgeous colors will fade in the blink of an eye.

The same goes for pretty cloud formations.

Everything changes, minute by minute, second by second. A camera gives you the chance to capture a moment in time before it’s gone forever. It’s a reminder to live in the moment. Something so simple but so hard to do, don’t you agree?

Thank you for all your wonderful comments on my most recent posts. Well, thank you for your comments on every post. But lately, there have been some wonderful, thought provoking ideas shared on this old blog and I’m extremely grateful for them. Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts, your experiences, your views. Sometimes, all it takes is reading about another point of view to turn my perceptions around in a different direction. I may not always agree with you, you may not always agree with me, but the dialogue is the important thing. I love the conversation. I’ll go even further: I thrive on it. So thanks and thanks again, my friends.

Monetizing with BlogHer

Every once in a while I get an email asking about BlogHer ads and the process of applying for them. You have to go to this link and fill out an application. It’s not enough to register on BlogHer’s site.

As far as the approval process, I’ve heard about some bloggers waiting for up to two years for approval, some are approved in a few days and others, like me, wait for about a month and a half. BlogHer has a finite number of blogs that are part of the Advertising Network. I imagine, though I don’t know this for sure, if they are full up, you might not hear anything for a long while. If there are openings, things might move more quickly. I do know that BlogHer chooses all kinds of blogs; big, small and in-between.

If you are interested, I urge you to apply. But prepare yourself for a wait. I think BlogHer is fantastic and their customer service is the best. They have been nothing but supportive and there for me when I’ve had a question. And they really do a great job of highlighting our posts and our blogs.

BlogHer Conference Disappointment

Do you know that BlogHer has their conference in NYC this year? Since I live so close to the city, it would be wonderful to take part in it. But I can’t really afford the registration fee. So when they issued a call for volunteers I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to attend the conference, help out wherever needed, and save money on the fees. I applied. To my disappointment, I got an email yesterday saying I wasn’t chosen. There were a lot of applicants. I’m bummed.

I also submitted an idea for a panel discussion. I thought there should be a panel about bloggers who are 45+ years of age. There’s a whole lot of us out there. We are consumers. We have life experience. We know a lot. And I think we’re sometimes a tad marginalized in the blogging world, just like in the real world. 30-something bloggers and mommy bloggers are everywhere. And I say, good for them! But we’re here, too. And we have much to contribute. It would be nice to take part in something that spotlights us – our challenges, our blogging audience. I often look at photos from these conferences and see a sea of young faces. Here and there, I might see a ‘seasoned’ blogger, but for the most part, I don’t. Maybe it depends on whose taking the pictures.

Anyway. I heard back from BlogHer. They passed.

Who knows? There may already be a panel scheduled to discuss this topic. Maybe there has been a panel about just this thing at previous conferences. Most likely, my presentation wasn’t strong enough. That’s my fault.

Do you remember being younger and looking at people who were in their forties or fifties, thinking they must be dull and old? I do. I now realize what my parents and elders felt when they were my age. I may be in my fifties, but I’m smart, savvy and still very hip, if I do say so myself. I have a lot to contribute. I’ve learned a lot in my lifetime. In fact, I’m full of ideas and am more vital than ever.

Take heed, world. We’re out there and we’re creative, smart and strong.

And now for a little Etsy advertising:

This is the latest scarf. The yarn is made of silk and bamboo. I think these are perfect for the warmer months because they are so soft and silky to the touch and they aren’t made out of wool. I wear these scarves with a T-shirt and jeans all year round. I’ve already decided to make another one in this color for me. Update: Sold.

Love to you all on this Wednesday morning.

Blogging Tips

January 22, 2012 at 9:00 am by Claudia

Hello, everyone. Just wanted to share a couple of tips with you today.

Tip Number 1:

I was shocked on Friday evening when I went to edit some photos in Picnik (which I use daily) and a message on the home page informed me that Picnik would be no more as of April 2012.

What??? My head started spinning.

Google bought Picnik a while back and they’re getting rid of it. The message from Picnik is rather vague, but it looks as if Google+ will have some of Picnik’s features available. Of course, in my obsessive way I searched all over the web for alternatives. I messed around with Google+ and edited a photo but, for the life of me, didn’t know how to get the edited photo back on my desktop. And I don’t especially want to get too involved with Google+. Facebook is quite enough, thank you.

Then I downloaded a free 30 day trial of Photoshop Elements. After about an hour I was ready to slit my wrists. I’d love to figure it out and haven’t given up hope, but the learning curve is rather steep.

But here’s the thing: Picnik was easy, fast, accessible and great for those of us who aren’t quite ready to handle the Photoshop learning curve. And it had the collage feature, which is how I made my banner and my sister’s banner.

Why does Google have to mess with something that has so many fans? There are already petitions on the web asking Google to keep Picnik going. I somehow doubt Google is going to pay much attention to them.

Today I found a site called BeFunky, via a list on Diane’s blog, that works in much the same way as Picnik. And like Picnik, it’s free. You can pay a bit of money for the premium package and get more features – also like Picnik. The one thing I didn’t see there was the Collage feature. Here’s the photo I used to test the site:

A barely okay photo – there’s a lot of light and shadow and some light orbs, as well. Here’s the edited version:

I resized it, did a bit with color saturation and contrast, used the drop shadow frame, watermarked it with the name of the blog and used my favorite feature on this site, Vintage Colors. Pretty cool, wouldn’t you say?

I usually don’t use effects on my photos. I edit and sharpen and clarify. But I do like this little feature – it made an okay photo rather artsy and cool. Still have the problem with the orbs but somehow it works this way.

I’ll keep trying other sites and will let you know what I find. But for now, you might consider using BeFunky when Picnik ends its run in April.

Tip Number 2:

I know many people have been having problems leaving comments, viewing blogs, and having blogs disappear in the middle of a visit. Every time I research one of these problems, I find that many of the people having the problem use Internet Explorer. Remember when I was going to start using Threaded Commenting earlier in the week? I ended up reverting back to the Pop-up Box because I read that those readers who used Internet Explorer couldn’t leave comments when a blogger had implemented Threaded Comments.

Internet Explorer seems to have a lot of problems. I personally don’t use it and haven’t used it in many years. My suggestion is this: If you use Internet Explorer, consider downloading another browser. It’s pretty easy to do and takes very little time. If you’re nervous about downloading, have someone more computer-savvy do it for you. At the very least, it will give you more options for viewing blogs. You won’t run into these problems nearly as much and you’ll have the option of having another browser to try if one acts up. And they do. I have 3 different browsers on my computer for that very reason.

Every browser can have its little quirks, but I’ve found that Chrome and Firefox work very well for me.

Google Chrome – the browser that Blogger favors because it’s Google, of course. There are versions for Macs and Windows/PC.

Firefox – this link may show Firefox for Mac, as I have a Mac and that’s what keeps coming up when I search, but you can easily change that to Windows/PC.

If you have a Mac, you already have Safari, which is Apple’s browser.

There may be more out there, but these are the browsers I know and feel comfortable recommending.

Any questions? Feel free to email me.

Yearning for a Simpler Life – Is it Possible in this High Tech World?

January 6, 2012 at 10:32 am by Claudia

Why am I waking up so early?

This morning, I found myself wide awake at 5 AM. Don was awake, too, and we chatted a bit. The thing is, Don can go back to sleep easily. I can’t.

So here I sit, with stingy eyes and caffeine chugging through my body, wondering if I can get a nap in later in the day. I swear, I haven’t had a good night’s sleep for a week.

The new, slightly-ill-fitting-but-it-will-do-slipcover. In fact, it’s more than slightly ill-fitting. In a perfect world, I would tackle this project and make a slipcover. I tried to once and ran screaming out of the room. Besides, this chair is old and on its last legs, so why bother?

We were watching television last night and found a channel that had very, very old black & white television programs: The Jack Benny Show, The Goldbergs and Dinah Shore.

We were enthralled.

There’s an aura of timelessness about them. And a simplicity that I yearn for sometimes. The Goldbergs was amazing – like a teleplay – a live broadcast, start to finish. At one point, a cameraman goofed up a shot, one of the actors flubbed a line and they kept right on going. As a theater person, this warms my heart. Because they couldn’t rely on retakes, they had to do it. Live. And improvise if they screwed up.

Dinah Shore sang a long, complicated medley with Ella Fitzgerald. Tough stuff, musically. They had to really be on their game. No auto-tune. No retake. No relying on special effects and lots of loud noise in the background. Just a piano and their incredible voices.

What passes for talent nowadays often isn’t.

Do you ever yearn for a simpler time?

The Model T was my dad’s toy. The paint has chipped. It was well-loved. When my dad sees it, does he wish for a simpler time?

I bet he does. I sure do.

I have a twitter account and use it every once in a while, but frankly, it’s hard to keep up with everything. Blogging daily, thinking of and writing posts, taking pictures, checking Facebook, the occasional tweet, thinking about my future Etsy shop, making a website for my theater work, should I join Linked In, what about Google+?

I don’t want to sound like one of those people who say, “When I was a girl, we had to…” We had to, what? Walk to school? Yes, over a mile and no school bus deposited me right at my door. Use our imaginations? Yes. No computers, no computer games, no X box, no texting. Just me, a doll or two, or a cardboard box, or the world outside my front door. Read? Yes, for hours. No technical-age distractions. Just a book and my imagination. Have conversations face-to-face? Yes. Of course, there was the phone, but for the most part conversation involved sitting with someone and looking them in the eye and talking. No hiding behind an email or a text. Television? 3 major networks. No 24/7 news stations. No reality shows. No endless news cycle that results in a lot of misinformation. Rather, a sense of a larger community sitting down to watch the Beatles on Ed Sullivan, or tuning into Dinah Shore or Bonanza.

It’s a mixed blessing, this world of ours. On one hand, I wouldn’t be writing this blog without the incredible technical innovations of recent years. I wouldn’t have met all of you. I couldn’t google something at the drop of a hat. So much that used to take a chunk of time, doesn’t anymore. On the other hand, what have we lost?

A friend of mine who teaches theater on a university level tells me that she sees a real difference in today’s students. Their brains are wired differently. They can’t concentrate for very long on a task. They don’t know what to do without their cell phones. They don’t know how to write. They don’t know how to memorize. She’s actually including a segment this coming semester on how to memorize lines. Pretty essential for a drama student, wouldn’t you say?

I love my iPhone and my laptop and my digital camera. They have become a part of my daily life. Certainly this blog wouldn’t exist without the computer and the camera. But yet another networking site? And I now have to keep track of tweets? I know Social Media is highly recommended to get your blog out there, but the very thought leaves me exhausted.

I don’t know.

What do you think about all this? Too much technology? Too little? Is there such a thing as a simpler time? How do you balance all of this? Don says that he sometimes feels out of the loop because he wants to maintain some distance from all of this. Yet, he wants to be in the loop. But how do you stay in the loop and still lead a life that is filled with quiet, meditative moments, time for the imagination to soar, time for good conversation?

Your thoughts?

‘Seasoned’ Bloggers, Monetization & Comments

Blogging Tips

Yearning for a Simpler Life – Is it Possible in this High Tech World?

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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