Category Archives: Blog Stuff

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Secrets Suck

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Another thing that I’m not very good at (besides misplacing things occasionally) is keeping secrets. I mean, if you tell me something that certain people shouldn’t know, I won’t tell them. But I will tell MK. And maybe my Mom.

MK is like a package deal. I don’t think you are supposed to keep secrets from your spouse, even if they are that some girl I know has a maxed out credit card (as in, something he has no need to know). If I tell him I get the urge to share out of my system. He’s usually not even listening so it should barely even count.

Unless it’s something super juicy, like, so and so was doing something they shouldn’t have been doing, or is about to make something happen that no one knows about. Then I call Mom too. Again, it seems justifiable to me since she might not even know who this person is, and she’s not going to tell anyone.

So that’s my circle. Anyone out there have a similar circle of trust?

My main problem has nothing to do with being a good friend – I can keep YOUR secrets. My issue is keeping secrets about me. I’m pretty sure I’d try not to tell, but you’d know right after I stopped taking the pill, sold the car, or won the Nobel Peace Prize (haha). In reality you probably don’t even want to know half the things I’m willing to divulge, they’re not always that interesting. But I want to share! I mean, I have a website…that should be the first clue right?

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SomeGoSoftly Stories Chapter Four: Direction, Success

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  • This week I’m going to share some things I’ve learned about blogging. I’m not an expert, but I think that so many of you that visit here don’t have a blog, read many other blogs (at least not cheapo personal ones, but of course maybe you read news etc. similarly) or know some of the funny and interesting things that go into writing and publishing online. Like I said, there are ten thousand “How to write a Blog” experts out there and I’m not one of them. I just thought it’d be fun to share some stories with you.

Another situation you would have to consider if you were a nerd blogger would be honing your direction. In case you haven’t noticed, there is So. Much. Crap. All. Over. The. Internet. Your proper direction, as far as I’m concerned, is to write and make yourself and a few others happy. Some people’s direction is the blog stat page. Some sites tell you your blog is successful depending on how many sites link to yours. For a while I went that way and spent hours poring over other blogs, commenting, and sharing in contests and forums that were there to get me more readers. I would be on stumble upon, digg, and a ton of other sites. But what I realized is other bloggers use those sites, not readers. At least not my readers. So I was begging bloggers to take time away from their content to be on my site.

How many of them stayed? Not many. But yes, a few. The realization I came to, however, is that since I told you in Chapter One that I’m not making money here or going to get famous here, this space is for me. And whoever listens. And so I’d rather ask for your feedback in the comments and ask what you like best and target that. Not fill out questionnaires and comment all over the internet looking for someone to notice me. Trust me, it’s fun when it happens, and I do hope to gain new readers. But those readers should be my friends, and yours. Tell your friends, send a link to a post they might like, and as always, please keep commenting! It means a lot to me.

My direction will be as scattered as ever, but I’ll be calling myself a success, and that’s what counts!

Thanks for sharing this week of a few posts about my site – I promise not to bore you again soon.

I’m just really trying to sharpen my skills with a forced exercise. And I enjoyed it! 🙂

  • Read Chapter Two: Relevance
  • Read Chapter Three: Rants

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    SomeGoSoftly Stories Chapter Three: Rants

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    • This week I’m going to share some things I’ve learned about blogging. I’m not an expert, but I think that so many of you that visit here don’t have a blog, read many other blogs (at least not cheapo personal ones, but of course maybe you read news etc. similarly) or know some of the funny and interesting things that go into writing and publishing online. Like I said, there are ten thousand “How to write a Blog” experts out there and I’m not one of them. I just thought it’d be fun to share some stories with you.

    I’ve been called out a couple of times by people in times zones that should be doing anything but reading my blog at the time last week I posted and then took down a rant. No one had commented on it, which as far as I can tell is the only reason to rant – to have people tell you you were in the right. I was – and still am – furious at the amount of trouble MK and I – two very nice people – have gotten living in this retirement resort. But I got over it.

    Blog topics can be hard to come up with from time to time. In fact, the timing for me is never good. MK is downstairs playing volleyball right now and I’m not entertaining because I had a minute and finally clarified my train of thought. I try my best to throw things on my phone’s memo pad so I don’t forget to blog about them – but usually the message to myself is totally indecipherable.

    Other times, you can’t wait to sit at the all powerful computer and either name names or rant about a bad experience at a restaurant or whatever. But I just can’t do it. I have a 24 hour rule. If I write the post, save it, reread it, and think it’s okay, then I’ll share it. If not, it gets deleted. I mean crap – READ THIS STORY – and tell me you’re not worried for my safety. The last thing I need is a lawsuit over some frivolous thing I felt fleetingly.

  • Read Chapter Two: Relevance
  • Read Chapter Three: Rants
  • Read Chapter Four: Direction, Success

    • Unknown's avatar

    SomeGoSoftly Stories Chapter Two: Relevance

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    • This week I’m going to share some things I’ve learned about blogging. I’m not an expert, but I think that so many of you that visit here don’t have a blog, read many other blogs (at least not cheapo personal ones, but of course maybe you read news etc. similarly) or know some of the funny and interesting things that go into writing and publishing online. Like I said, there are ten thousand “How to write a Blog” experts out there and I’m not one of them. I just thought it’d be fun to share some stories with you.

    One of the hardest things to deal with on a blog is time. You can throw on a lame outfit and I might tell you it’s “so last year”, but in this whole wide world of social media, things can be “so five seconds ago”. Especially with everyone wanting to be a world famous Twit (person on Twitter). To avoid that, I’m not a super huge “guess what just happened in the news” writer.

    The concept I struggle with is how my audience uses my blog. Ironically today some friends of mine were using my blog to remember what we did or didn’t see at ACL in 2006. I was thrilled. I know that not everyone even looks at anything other than the first page. When I first started blogging I was told to keep a very few (5 or so) posts on the front page for you to peruse. I at the time had 10 or more, since I thought I could make you scroll down and maybe realize something that you’d missed. Or throw a comment my way, even if it was jsut because you were bored (I’d take it!).

    I also assume you know that the sidebar on the right has a search option, with only-within-this-blog parameters. You can type “buttface” to see if I ever called anyone that here (I checked, I haven’t). I’ve been reading a great blog called Soapbox Included that is telling me to do a better job of pointing you in the right direction, but I am limited by using a free site (see previous post). If you want to see snow, you should know I have a category called “Photos” and one called “Park City” and by using that bar on the right you should be able to find me skiing down a mountain.

    However, it did give me the great idea to include on my main “Who’s Going Softly” page -that’s a typical About Me if you didn’t check it out- some of my all time favorite or even most popular posts (coming soon). For the record, things about zombies, and the ones I did on Joe Rogan, tattoos, and pumpkin carving have the most hits of all time. Don’t say random doesn’t work.

    I’ve been here for three years recapping events and telling you about places and things I’ve seen. I’ve stayed away for the most part from the “what I think about what just happened” kind of blog. There’s plenty of that out there.

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    SomeGoSoftly Stories Chapter One: Spam

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    • This week I’m going to share some things I’ve learned about blogging. I’m not an expert, but I think that so many of you that visit here don’t have a blog, read many other blogs (at least not cheapo personal ones, but of course maybe you read news etc. similarly) or know some of the funny and interesting things that go into writing and publishing online. Like I said, there are ten thousand “How to write a Blog” experts out there and I’m not one of them. I just thought it’d be fun to share some stories with you.

    So one of the things you may have noticed about somegosoftly is that it is free. I’m not going to make any ad revenue over here, and I’m not a niche blog, I’m a girl sharing stories and thoughts with her friends and family. WordPress has a free .com program, and also a .org paid and customizeable option. If I ever graduate, that would be my dream. I could make my own theme- with better fonts and colors and graphics (what you see here allows me the header (the big orange thing at the top) and to put whatever I want however I want on the right column, that’s about it). So free means I have to deal with a few things like that.

    Free also means that they take care of a ton of things I’m sure I couldn’t handle on my own. With a .org site, you have to install plugins to make the behind the scenes things run smoothly. With a .com site, they do it for you. For example, there is a spam filter. Believe it or not as of today:

    Akismet has protected your site from 34,436 spam comments already,
and there are 4 comments in your spam queue right now.

    There have been some pretty funny things in my spam filter from time to time. Here’s two I wanted to share with you.

    In this screen shot (click to enlarge), you can see I get a ton of junk, all just trying to throw their own links in the comments so you guys click on them. Imagine if I had to go looking all over my blog to find these things on old blog posts? I love the spam filter…

    spam

    And this one (on top) made me laugh today – most of the time it’s not even words but sometimes it’s a coherent, albeit moronic, thought:

    two

    So, let me know if you need a pink chocolate cell phone.

  • Read Chapter Two: Relevance
  • Read Chapter Three: Rants
  • Read Chapter Four: Direction, Success

    • Unknown's avatar

    Bad For Those Bad Eyes

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    There are many simple things that make me super happy in life. What can I say, I’m a simple girl at heart. I’ve told you about my love of having a BlackBerry here, here, and here. Recently, I’ve been super happy finding many new services on my BlackBerry. KD got me on googleTalk, so I can chat with my google/gmail buddies even on my phone. And the best one yet is a free online book reading app where I’m currently reading The Other Boleyn Girl (and loving it so far!). It scrolls and doesn’t bother my eyes as long as I have my glasses on (the ones I hate, still no new ones yet) even in the dark in the car last night.

    Not only is this discovery probably bad for my eyes, it’s bad for my husband. He already hates me super engrossed in anything, even reading, too often. He also loves his BlackBerry, but only for google maps. He kinda has an aversion.

    He yells at me if I’m on the phone too much, even if I’m making us dinner plans. Especially if we are around anyone else. Even if I’m talking to someone on the way. You know what I mean, right? I try to have etiquette and strike a balance, but sometimes it’s hard! And that phone can be a real lifesaver when you’re stuck doing something boring, say waiting for a plane. I’m excited about the books, now I don’t need a Kindle!

    So here are my questions for you all going along with this theme:

    • Do you have a phone you’re addicted to?
    • If you do, what’s the best app/program?
    • Does someone else’s phone use drive you nuts?
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    Bad Marketing

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    The more I think about what I want to do with myself I think about what I’ve done. I’ve been blogging badly for four years now. It didn’t make me famous. I’ve been running around on the internet looking for ways to think of a next big something. I’ve written books I’m too chicken to show anyone (that’s where all the chicken references come from in case that made no sense).

    My sales pitch might be the problem. “Tastes like chicken” might not be the most thoughtful tagline. I’ve been thinking about what to put on my resume for how lazy I’ve been the last three years – I never thought “housewife” could be me until I watched those Bravo shows and realized you don’t need to do crap to be called a “housewife”. We joked about getting business cards- Realtors keep asking MK for one and we both laugh. What we he do with those? Build card towers? It would have his name and email, which is his name. And maybe his phone number, which ironically is also his name.

    from toothpastefordinner.com

    from toothpastefordinner.com

    Can you tagline yourself? What would your tagline be? “Hard worker”? “Mother of 18”? “Boisterous”? “Business oriented with a goal of success and growth in an emerging new media industry”? Tell me in the comments.

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    Blog Block

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    Sometimes I sit down so worked up I can’t spew the thoughts out of my fingers fast enough. My spelling and grammar – okay, and content – usually sucks and comes out nothing like I was thinking when I began.

    But of course there are times when I have nothing to say. If the days are quiet and I’m not in the middle of any crazy adventure, I try to tell a story. You might have noticed lately I’ve had a few posts categorized “Reminiscing”.

    Many bloggers turn to lists of suggestions if they are stumped for a topic.

    Here’s an extensive one – go ahead, take a look.

    And here’s a cute answer-y type one – of sillier things.

    Tutorial? Niche? Event commentary? Thank goodness I don’t know how to DO anything. I’m usually trying to be funny and failing and that is a full time occupation! I wouldn’t even know where to start with these lists that I found today.

    So here’s MY thought ( okay, it’s #17 on the long list, sort of):

    Let me know if YOU want to volunteer to do a post for SomeGoSoftly sometime – I just gave you 151 150 ideas! 😉

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    Speaking Of Running

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    Here’s someone doing far better!

    One of my high school friends has started a blog detailing her mission to make her doctor say something nice, to stop doing that thing we all do called putting food in us when it’s not always necessary, and to get all healthy and sexy!

    Run Fat Girl, Run

    Check it out!

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