How I Blog: May C
This is the ninth post in our “How I Blog” series. To read the rest, visit the archives. Interested in participating? Drop us a note about ‘How I Blog’ along with a photo or yourself or your blogging space at tips [at] blogmedia [dot] biz.
May C, Blogger.
I’m a Palm blogger but I don’t blog from my Palm directly because I tend to write quite lengthy and detailed posts with Macromedia Flash simulations to illustrate and show how things work. My blog site is palmdiscovery.net.
My Palm blog is mainly focused on Palm users and showing how applications and programs work almost on a step by step basis. Originally, the blog was mainly focused on Palm newbies to get them started but I’ve since progressed to more of a software and hardware reviews blog where I do some research on the programs, create the Flash simulations, write up my material and post it online. Due to the amount of work required to post, I have now settled to posting only once a week since I was feeling burnt out as I was trying to find my pace.
I have a tendency to do my writing in the morning but the writing and editing and revising usually continues on during the day. So, when I first get up, I make myself a nice HUGE cup of coffee so that it will last me for a while. I’m a major coffee lover and I guess the caffeine is what keeps me active.
Usually, I take the first hour or so reading up on all the latest tech news that’s in my Bloglines so that I keep up with the news and maybe sometimes I get some inspiration or ideas on what to write about in the future. And reading and replying to emails. Once all that’s done, I start work on the blog.
I usually have several different postings around, usually unfinished. Some of them haven’t even gotten started except for a title. Some of them, I have a bit of stuff in it. Some of them, I have created the Flash simulations but haven’t done the writing. For me, it’s a way to keep things fresh, so that I’m not feeling like I’m committed to doing one particular post or subject. Sometimes I get requests to do reviews on a software so I have to stop what I was doing and write that up. So, that’s why some postings are unfinished. But eventually, I finish them and they get posted. The other reason why I have unfinished postings around is that I can write all I can on something and then have days when I can just relax and not do anything so that I don’t get burnt out.
A lot of the inspiration really comes from within and some of them come from the readers who do send me emails or comments. And, even when a posting is published and done, I usually do have a tendency to go back to them once in a while to update with new material or change how they look or whatever.
I’m actually surprised how much it’s part of my life. When the server is down or something got screwed up and the page or site is unaccessible, I worry and check on it and everything, even having sleepless nights.
I never would have imagined how much it means to me. But it’s a labor of love.
May C. is the principal editor & blogger at palmdiscovery.net.
Matt Craven is the former editor & publisher of The Blog Herald. Currently, Matt is the co-founder of Bryghtpath LLC, a consulting practice located in Woodbury, Minnesota. Matt's presently looking for new blogging gigs. Ping him at matt (at) bryghtpath dot com. You can follow him on Twitter.