Tag: blog

Absent Minded

~ Sue ~ Leave a comment

It is easy to forget something, when you don’t deal with it at all. I haven’t been on-line much. Which is a bit of a lie, I was on sites like twitter, but they are updated through my phone. And whilst I do have a wordpress app on my phone, I am not a big fan of typing for long periods of time on the wee keyboard thing. It irritates my hands, to be typing on something so small. Bet not many people have that problem. -.-

So this leads to me waiting till I either have enough time at lunch to write an entry, or wait till I go home. And I don’t use my laptop a lot right now, mostly because of its faulty power cable. So, as a result, I haven’t been blogging very much. Any blogging I do, seems to be just apologetic ramblings about why I haven’t posted. This is my own fault.

Whilst I don’t think I’ll ever stop blogging, I feel that if I am not in the frame of mind, I won’t do it. And I don’t like filling this blog with empty promises. But hopefully change is coming, and it’s going to start with a new banner design. 🙂 Maybe.

Content Error

~ Sue ~ Leave a comment

Adding personality and uniform to my online self is hard. I find I am struggling to keep things interesting. I am currently in a state where I have so much in my head that I want to say, but I always seem to be writing the same things constantly. Which, whilst being quite freeing to myself, it does end up that I post the same old grumblings day in and day out.

I love writing, I always have. But I am finding it harder and harder to keep up any momentum with interesting posts. Sure, I am great at moaning about my life (or lack of it), but I struggle in making things interesting for readers. I guess I have to start ‘feeling’ what I write again. I know that sounds strange, but I feel that I seem to have been really honest on here before, and the reaction kind of shocked me. The internet is full of people who give hate for no reason, and although it is easy to say that people should expect the worst, it doesn’t prepare for the hate that can be angled at you, for just posting your own thoughts.

And when I have received hate, it has shocked me, and kind of made me a little hesitant in posting so much. Which is sad. As mentioned I love blogging, and feel that it is a good way for me to talk through the issues in my mind. So I have just held back, and been posting a lot less than what I used to. This is something I regret letting happen, but it did. I am going to try and get back into things online, which means I need to start thinking up some interesting topics.

I am doing a ‘Sketch-a-day’ challenge, so I am going to try and post some of those pages, and see what happens.

Currently Listening to: Wicked- Defying Gravity

The Excited Road of Progress

~ Sue ~ Leave a comment

Overselling it a little?

Yes, probably. I am really into trying to make myself a better artist at the moment. I am hoping to do this through various avenues, such as designing more things, and being more active on blogs again.

It isn’t just writing entries and articles, which is going to make me a better artist, it is more showing my work. I will look at noting my progress, and what I do, as I aim to make myself more creative and make Riot Graphics a viable business. A lot of the parts of this plan are hard, as it includes ideas such as web design, which are things that I have neglected for many months.

So lots of practice needed, but I am happy to be going to try and get better. The idea that I want to get more active, also shows that I have passed a brick wall, which had stopped me for so many months. I hope I have the drive, as I aim to make myself better both at Graphics work, and at my day job, at a call centre. I think that it will take more than crossing fingers and praying. I have needed to get my head sorted for a long time, and hopefully I have turned a corner, and will be my own future.

Monday Madness

~ Sue ~ Leave a comment

The start of another week. Already. Sometimes I wish that the time would slow down a little, as it seems to go too fast. It feels, especially at the moment, that I spend most of my time procrastinating or lying in bed. Lying in bed, procrastinating. *sigh* I have no idea why I am like this, but it means that I feel the passing of time so much more. Mostly, because I have these ideas, which go nowhere because I am too lazy to put these ideas into action.

There is a good thing. I am currently very energetic (possibly thanks to the coffee). So I am painting things for my Christmas cards, drawing sketches for a project I am helping a friend out with, and I even tidied up a little. This is crazy. I am NEVER that motivated, so I have to make the best of it whilst it’s here.

So I am watching Rosianna and wishing that I had friends who used the internet and valued it as much as I do. Yes, I value the internet. It is there for every purpose. It is there when I need to let any aggravation out. And, if needed, I will get feedback from the internet when I want it. And the thing is, I don’t know anyone who thinks that me having two blogs is a good idea, they don’t see why I would want to record myself for youtube. Sometimes I would like to spend more time with people so that we could encourage each other to make better web content. Because, that is what most of what we do online is. Creating content.

Even if you post a Facebook comment once in a blue moon, or you write a daily blog, you are packaging a piece of yourself for the world to see. To me, I think it is great, but I know a lot of people don’t think outside their own profile page. I think it is amazing that we can document our lives through these avenues of expression, and that other people can see what we have to say. I created my original blog over on LiveJournal, way back in 2005. And it came with me, on a large portion of my life. I know that if I had written such thoughts down in a book, the book would be lost as would the thoughts. So it is nice to have them to document who I was at that point.

I think that is where the perception of ‘time’ hits me. I look back at what I have done, and it doesn’t feel so long ago, and then I look at the date. I realise how much I have done between then and now, and just reflect on it all. Which is great. I mean, I blogged about when I used to self-harm. And as uncomfortable as it was to read all that, it is great to know that I can deal with things a lot better these days. It makes me feel like I have achieved something fairly major in my life. And that although, I had shared my feelings over the internet, it really doesn’t mean anything to anyone other than myself.   It shows me that I can do things, if I stick to it. And that, is sometimes just what I need to hear.

Pending NaNoWriMo 2011

~ Sue ~ Leave a comment

It is quickly approaching that time again when thousands of writers undertake the task of writing a 50,000 word novel through the month of November.

Yes. November is NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). I did attempt this challenge last year, but I think I got to about 18,000 words and I just got so stuck. I missed a day, and then two days, and then it all pretty much fell apart. I think it is an interesting challenge, and it would be such an achievement to reach the end of November knowing I had written a novel. Please visit this site to sign up, or for more info.

So in my second year, I have decided to start to prepare to writing every day. So am going to do a Post-A-Day, in a bid to inspire myself. I think it will be a big help this year, as last year I was going in blind, and was unsure of the actual volume I had to produce. As much as you try to imagine having to post over 1,500 a day, it is hard to picture until you actually do it. As you will know if you have read this blog before, I have no problem with speaking my mind and writing about anything. So I can’t imagine this post a day thing to bother me. But I say that. I do post frequently, but it comes in spurts.

So, wish me luck on both post-a-day and NaNoWriMo. And if you read this, let me know if you take part in anything to try and challenge yourself.

Homesick

~ Sue ~ Leave a comment

After all the carry on getting the art blog up and running, I have been posting over there and have inadvertently left my internet home (ie- here). I didn’t mean too, it just happened. I wanted to update something, at it was easy to update over there because of this ( http://splittingink.blogspot.com/ ).  And no matter how much I use blogger, I am always a WP lover first.

Almost sounds like a line from a bad romance novel, a really, really bad romance novel. But dammit, I am going to get back on top of things. I am going to be using the internet a lot more over the next week, mostly because I HAVE NO MONEY!! Yes, the typical aspect of internet usage, it peaks as it gets closer to payday. Coincidence, I think not.

Anyway, if you have a sec, click on the link above, to go visit Splitting Ink, a collaborative art blog I am doing with my friend Paul, and his mate Darren. It is something we are trying to do, to try and get ourselves motivated to create new things. I post on a Monday, so I will have to complete a piece of work, and write an accompanying entry, to be posted early every Monday. Should be interesting. As you are well aware, I do try to post at least once a week on here, but I hope it will start to become more frequent again.

Fall Behind?

~ Sue ~ Leave a comment

When you are in the habit of updating things regularly, you get into a habit. You can mentally check off the things you are doing, and get them done rather quickly. But when you fall out of habit, it is hard to start back up again. Well, not hard, in that the task it hard, it is finding the time to do everything.

This is a position I am finding myself in right now. Where I usually do so much online, that I find it taking up a large percentage of my day. Which is fine, until I began to pick up other things to fill my time, and the original activities kind of get pushed to the side. It is not that I am enjoying the tasks any less. It is more that I am finding less time to do what I want. Which is a pain.

Also, I have been in a much better mood than I have been lately, and I think that is a major factor in my writing and what I decide to do with my time. If I am depressed, I find nothing better than locking myself away, and writing away to myself. It is release. But when you have nothing to release from, and you want to be out enjoying the world, it becomes a different scenario. I think that is a big reason as to why June has been a quiet month on every website I go on. I have been doing things other than sitting in front of a computer all day. Which is sad really, because I have so much I want to talk about, either on here, or on YouTube, and I don’t seem to have the time to prepare them. So instead of a well thought out topic, you get an apologetic, ramble of  word vomit, thinly disguised as a blog attempting to make a point. Something which it fails miserably in.

Hopefully this is the last check-in post for a while, and things should be back to topical goodness as soon as I can afford to spend the appropriate amount of time on it. If I can’t, then I feel I should issue a warning about the word vomit. But, then I think, it is a blog, it is personal, and it is mine. So I shouldn’t really need to disclaim or apologise. But yet, I feel my grovelling is necessary. *sigh*

Watching Paint Dry Kinda Life

~ Sue ~ Leave a comment

And I’m not kidding.

The very few pieces of opinionitive dribble I can post online is barely enough content for a Tumblr post, let alone a legit blog post. So, I have stayed away. Been stressing out over things which don’t work. Like technology, which as usual, has decided itself, that I do not require it to work. First it was the Blackberry screen breaking, then it was the Sky box perma-No Satellite Signal-ing. So I got fed-up with technology and just watched American Dad instead.

Except, I quickly became bored, so I left the computer alone. But most people haven’t noticed an absence, thanks to that wonderful thing known as a Tumblr queue, which makes it seem like I am NEVER offline. Basically my Tumblr Blog( here) is made to post 17 things in a 24 period. This means I can go on Tumblr in bits and just add things to a queue, and Tumblr will post till it runs out. Pretty straightforward, and pretty much the only reason I have the appearance that I am always online.

Other than confusing people, who think I never sleep, it has no other real purpose. It just allows me to bookmark things I like, and have a few sentences of rambling without feeling guilty that it isn’t a proper blog post. To me that is the point of Tumblr, and by any means, it is a perfect introduction to the world of blogging. So if you have started a blog before, and are struggling to keep it updated, start a Tumblog, and use it’s many tools to get you into posting regularly. Saying that, I don’t feel right lengthy blog posts on it. Maybe it’s because I have about half a dozen other blogs that I should update first.

And I think that I update 2 on a regular basis. Which is a rather appalling success rate, come to think of it.

Verdict: This post contained the word blog too much.

Funding

~ Sue ~ Leave a comment

After a discussion with a friend at 4am this morning, via Skype, it has become apparent that I need a good idea for helping me get out of the monetary rut that I seem to be permanently stuck in.

Obviously, the easiest solution is to get more money, but what is the best way to do that? I have already tried to find a second job, something that is difficult, seeing as a lot of people have difficulty finding just one job in the times we live in. *sigh*And I have been doing design work, but as I touched on yesterday, people want things for free and are unwilling to pay.

So…after much thought, I decided to look in what is doing well. And, the solitary success of recent times, is this very blog. Which, at the moment is happily averaging at 40 views a day, without me posting anything. So, thank you people who are reading, as it seems there is a few of you. But, as with any site that goes well, advertising comes along, and becomes part of things.

I have two choices, the first is to ‘monetize’ with Google. Where they will place appropriate adverts on my site, and clicking on their adverts, makes me some money. The other, is to ask for advertisers myself. Ask people if they would like to be associated with this blog for a small, undecided, fee. This would be more cost-effective to myself, as everything would be created by me, so there would be no middle-man to pay.

I am sceptical about it all, to be brutally honest. I never started blogging to make money and make it a job. But, it has just come round that my financial situation may require me to do this. *sigh* I’m stuck, I guess.

I have talked to people who run other blogs, and they say that the page views are high enough for advertising to be a good idea. I guess I am afraid that by making me use the blog for profit, that I will lose my passion for it. Beh!

The good thing, is that I have been blogging for so long, that I know that I will update regular, and have done on here for the last 2 years. I think, I am going to have a think about things before I make any more changes.

If anyone wants to add their two cents or even email any queries about possible advertising or anything email me at suewantsaRIOT@gmail.com or simply comment below.

Distraction! Distraction! Distraction!

~ Sue ~ Leave a comment

In a bit to stop dwelling on the fact that I am utter miserable, I am going to delve into something to try and raise the positivity points for a little. At least distract me for a little while, anyway.

*twiddles thumbs*

*scratches head*

Umm… so what do you say when your mind is as blank as my ‘completed’ Standard Grade Chemistry exam? Well, the same as what any other blogger does. Look at news sites, etc and see if you can find a topic that interests you. Failing that you could always post about a Meme that attracts your attention.

What is a Meme? Well, most people associate it with the Viral videos that spread around the internet like wildfire. You know the type, you’ve probably recieved a video via email, on facebook to the point it may even get mentioned in national media. But as far as the blog meme goes, it is more of a theme, or idea that people post, and it spreads to other blogs. A lot of memes centred around blogging, tend to be either GIF (moving images) posts or posting games.

The first meme I probably encountered was over on LiveJournal, which as I have said before, was my first blog, which is 7 years old this year. The homepage has a section called ‘writer’s block’ where members of the site submit questions, and other blogger answer it in a blog post. It is a good motivator, and I have seen myself use the ‘writer’s block’ to write a few times in a week, to help get into the mood for posting. Meme’s are ideal for people looking to get started in blogging, but don’t quite have the processes in place to blog on a daily basis, with different content. Here, the topic is decided, you just have to write about it. This small function of the ‘writer’s block’ is something unique, in that I am yet to see another mainstream blogging service employ such a service.

But if your blogging service of choice does not include something to help encourage posting, there are Meme sites online, where you can pick their topic or task of the day to help you write. The best site I have found for this is The Daily Meme, a site set up to post memes, which help encourage people to write when they are stuck. The Daily Meme, has the site split into days of the week, so that users can pick from a day, and doing it weekly, such as ‘Creative Writing Friday’. Another site which is rather good is The Music Memoirs, which as you can guess, is similar to The Daily Meme, except is based around music, where you create playlists for the season and things.

I have been a user of both sites for a long time, and they have both helped me out of some pretty serious writer’s blocks, so I can heavily recommend them both. And it is no bad thing if you post using a meme, every so often, because a meme tends to allow the writer to show themselves, which is what blogging is about. It also shows, that you are willing to use sources to help you, if you need to.

Also, and probably the most important thing, seeing as I know A LOT of people starting blogs within the last few months, posting a meme on your blog allows it to be slightly more than one dimensional. If all you do is repost other peoples’ Photoshop tutorials, then you aren’t really employing the blog to it’s full purpose. So if you struggle, try a meme, and it’ll help you get to what is at the heart of a good blog. YOU and your opinions.