Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Blogging In The Stocks

Kia ora tatou – Hello EveryoneKen in the stocks

Since my PC died, I feel as if my blogging has been put in the stocks. Funny enough, the lack of PC and drop in frequency of posts seems to have had an inverse effect on blog hits, for Google Analytics showed a definite rise in the past few days.

Graph and link to Google Analytics
Nothing to celebrate but it’s nice to know my readership hasn’t died just because my PC has.

But hey, with all this time on my hands, I find all sorts of other things to do at home.

Who needs a PC?



I was lent a copy of George Monbiot’s, ‘Bring On The Apocalypse’.
If ever there is a writer who will write great blog posts, he is. His book is essentially a collection of short essays (what Monbiot calls arguments) on six key topics of interest all written this century, some very recent:
Arguments With God
Arguments With Nature
Arguments With War
Arguments With Power
Arguments With Money
Arguments With Culture

Monbiot's new blog is on the Guardian’s web site – check it out.


I also listen to the radio a lot – always did.

Last Saturday, Kim Hill interviewed David Haywood, a New Zealand blogger who has earned such a reputation for his posts that he has been persuaded to write a book, essentially comprised of his blog posts, would you believe. If ever there was a writer to prove the rule about blogging clashing with authorship in print, Haywood wouldn’t be one. Check out Haywood's blog.


Ngā mihi nui – Best wishes

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Ken

We were amused to see you 'in stocks' Sorry to hear your PC was out of action - you would have been lost!
Barbara & Chitra

Blogger In Middle-earth said...

Haere mai Barbara and Chitra!

So nice to have you visit Middle-earth. Do have a look round. The latest gismo that seems to be working rather well is my Index Page - top right of the blog page for the link.

You might also like to check out my Comment Guidelines page or my Welcome Page if you have not done so already.

Do drop in any time. Cool to have you visit Middle-earth.

Catchya later

Anonymous said...

Hi Ken
We are looking at blogs and are leaving you a message. It's an interesting site and we look forward to exploring more as we discover how blogs and wikis work. A question from the group - How do you find the time to put up your posts on a regular basis?
Kokako and Puawai teams

Blogger In Middle-earth said...

Haere mai Kokako and Puawai teams!

Usually I do my thinking and writing and reading of other blogs at the weekend (evenings) and sometimes through the week. Lately I have been slowed down considerably since I do not have a PC at home. This impacts on my reading time and also on the time I need to write.

But publishing a blog post doesn't take much time at all. In fact, my latest post, which I wrote out on paper last night only took 5 minutes to scan and publish. I think the post took about 3/4 hour to write.

If I have a picture, diagram or photograph to accompany the post, then sorting that out can take more time. Probably about 1 to 1.5 hours preparation is what I'd put into a post. This may include a bit of time extra reading (on the Net or from up-to-date books) but usually my reading time is over and above that.

I put this down to my own professional development. It is a goal I set myself in May last year when I first started blogging. The goal was to learn:

a) how to write a blog post
b) how to gather a blog community (called a commentsphere) who were interested in what I was too
c) how to improve my (blog post) writing skills.

I am still learning.

Catchya later