Sample narrative weblogs:

http://tammypowley.com/
http://www.superherojournal.com/
http://www.dooce.com/
http://tappingflamingo.blogspot.com/

Free places to blog:

http://wordpress.com/
http://www.blogger.com
http://blog.com/

How-to Blogging Videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWYi4_COZMU (wordpress)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWy4hJgOedU (wordpress)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31Of-Shuyu8 (blogger)

Memoir how-to’s:

http://theamericanscholar.org/how-to-write-a-memoir/
http://www.creative-writing-now.com/how-to-write-a-memoir.html
http://www.oprah.com/omagazine/How-to-Write-Your-Memoir-by-Abigail-Thomas
http://www.rd.com/money/great-tips-on-how-to-write-your-memoir/
http://ashleyanderson.suite101.com/how-to-write-a-memoir-a171259
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5340618
http://teacher.scholastic.com/writeit/memoir/

For some inspiration, go to TED.com and watch this video of Carmen Agra Deedy who tells a funny story about her mother.

How to track stats is also a topic we will discuss. You can get some free stats counters at these sites:

www.blogpatrol.com/index.php

www.liveblogstats.com/

tracker.icerocket.com/

www.googlerankings.com/

Trends and key words will help you keep track of web trends, which can aid in driving traffic to your blog:

http://www.google.com/trends

http://buzz.yahoo.com/

www.google.com/press/zeitgeist.html

Finally, we’ll end with some brainstorming on what exactly to blog about. I found a really good blog post on that here:

www.ihelpyoublog.com/20070316-101-great-posting-ideas-that-will-make-your-blog-sizzle

Joining social networks can help you create weblog traffic. These two are very popular:

• Twitter.com

• Facebook.com

It is helpful to have either a photo of yourself or an avatar when creating a weblog or participating in social networks. Some options for photos are to include a head-shot, like movie stars do, or you can edit a photo and just show part of you to make it interesting,  like crop just your eyes and use that.

For an avatar, there are lots of free options on the Web:

• Become an M&M
• Yahoo!

Once you have your avatar created, you can take capture it by using the print screen option on your PC (using the Print Screen key), and then paste it into an image editor. Lviewpro has a free trial version you can download and use for this.

First, some A-List bloggers:

• The Manolo
• Engadget
• BoingBoing
• Michelle Malkin

Find more at Technorati.

Free blog networks to consider setting up your first blog:

• WordPress.com
• Blogger.com
• LiveJournal.com

This is an easy to use RSS reader: Bloglines.com

• Robot Wisdom
• Dooce.com(a journal blog)
• The Jewelry Weblog (a filter blog)
• The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton(combo blog)
• Problogger

Places to Find Blogs:

• blogsearch.google.com
• Technorati
• Blogpulse

Other Sites to Check Out for Fun:

• About.com Jewelry Making
• Naughty Secretary Club
• The Impatient Blogger
• Textism

I don’t think all of these are a must, like the snarky suggestion, but they all have some merit and are worth considering, especially if you are trying to figure out what to write about.

Today, someone showed me this article from usability guru Jakob Nielsen, so it is something I think I will start pointing my classes to for those who are interested in finding out more concerning blog-related writing. I don’t necessarily agree with 100% of what he says, but most of it I think has some truth to it, and he is considered an expert in the topic so his theories are worth knowing about: Writing Style for Print vs Web.

wordpress.com

blogger.com

livejournal.com

For this class, we are going to set up a free wordpress blog, so go to WordPress.com right now to sign up for a free account. Once you have your account set up, we can start setting up your first blog.

 You can actually run more than one blog per account, so if you decide to make something totally different later, you can still use the same account. Therefore, it is important to remember your username and password when you set up this account.

***********************************************************************************************************

Once you have set up an account, before you start making a blog, think about the questions you were to answer for homework:

• What is my purpose for blogging?
• What type of blog do I want to write? Filter? K-blog? Journal? Combination?
• What do I want to blog about? Can you word this topic into phrase, tagline, or subtitle?
• What would I like the title of my blog to be? (This can affect your URL.)
• Do I want my blog to be public or limit it to a select group who will need a password to access it?

Use your answers to create your first blog. You’ll need to come up with a unique URL, a title, and possibly a tag line.

*****************************************************************************************

Once you have a WordPress account, you’ll need to check your email to activate it. You will be prompted in the email to set up areas of the blog like the theme (the template or how your blog will look); your settings (adding a tag line, changing time zones, setting comments for approval); and of course, writing your first post.

Spend some time setting up your blog before you start writing.

Starting with your theme – Click on the different themes available to view a sample. If you like it, click on the “activation” link in the corner of the theme you are previewing. This will change the them of your blog to match it. You can change this later and not affect any of your posts, so don’t worry about changing your mind later.

Now for settings – When the Write Post window is open, you’ll find a “Settings” link in the right hand corner of your screen.  Click on this link, then click on the Discussions like, and select the option “An administrator must always approve the comment.” This way, spammers can’t just post away. Comments will stay in the comments area of your dashboard until you release them.

Writing your first post – See the next section below. I suggest writing your About Me page first.

*****************************************************************************************

When you have the prelimaries set up, you should write your About Me page next. Try to include the image you were asked to bring as well. If you aren’t sure what to write, look at some of the blogs you have listed in your Bloglines.com account for ideas.

You can also find some examples here:

My About Me page at Crafty Princess Diaries

Heather Armstrong’s About page at Dooce

Margot Potter’s Profile page

Disapproving Rabbits About page

To write your About Me page, you are actually making a static page, so click on the Manage link in your dashboard. Then click on the Pages link. You should see a sample post there already. Select it and start writing away.

*****************************************************************************************

Adding images is very important to blogging because the web is a visual medium. People read differently on a computer than in a book. Rather than read in a linear pattern, they tend to read by skipping around, skimming, and clicking; it’s much more fragmented, so keep this in mind when writing.

When you write for the web you want something easy to read:

• Short paragraphs
• Related images
• Bulleted text
• Hot links

These all help the reader jump around and creates more of an interactive reading experience.

To add images in WordPress, you have a few different options:

• You can use the insert/link option available by selecting the green icon at the top of your post window (move the mouse over the icons and you’ll see what each is for). To use this option, you’ll need your images stored some place else on-line. If you have a web site already, you may have images over there you can link to. If not, you can use a free service like photobucket.com and load them over there. This is helpful too if you want to use images on more than one blog or site (like myspace).
• You can also upload images directly into your blog using the “Add media” located directly above your post window. Free WordPress blogs have a min. of 3GB for images, so keep this in mind. To upload an image, select the icon that looks like a box that is directly after “Add media.” A window will come up covering your post window, and here you’ll have the option to browse for and upload an image or also you can add a link to an image already on-line some place. If you have trouble with seeing all these options, your screen resolution may be too small. It should be at least 1024×768 pixels. You can change this on your desktop by right clicking and scrolling down to Properties and then selecting the Settings tab. Also, sometimes you may just need to try it again. I’ve noticed this feature can just be weird sometimes.

*****************************************************************************************

Other Blog Items to Set Up:

Once you have your About Me page, your basic settings established, theme, and have tried to upload a picture, there are some other items you will want to set up if you have time in class; otherwise, you can do these at home, all through the dashboard area:

• Blog roll: Under Manage and then Links you’ll see a place to set up a blog roll. If you have some blogs marked in your Bloglines, then you can already starting adding them to your blog roll. But, generally a blog roll evolves over a period of time, so don’t feel like you have to have a complete one right away. At least 10 links is a good min. number to include. 
• Categories: You can also add categories as you go, even if you are in the middle of a blog post. However, if you know of some you want to add, go to Manage and then Categories. You’ll see one category there called “uncategorized.” That is your default until you change it.
• Users: If you plan to have more than one person writing on your blog, then you will need to set this up. Select the User link in the top right-hand corner of the page. You’ll see a place here to add them, but they will first need to have a WordPress account.

*****************************************************************************************

Setting Up Blog Posts to Publish on a Certain Date

Though not every blogger will find this necessary, sometimes it is nice to be able to write blog posts ahead of time, so you don’t have to blog every day. WordPress has a feature that allows you to write a post and then set it to publish at a designated time and day. This can save you a lot of time, so it’s worth checking out.

If you look to the right of your screen while you are inside a “Write Post” window, you’ll see  an option that says “Publish on” and an “edit” link next to it. Click on “edit,” and you’ll see an expanded area that allows you to change the month, day, year, and time of your post. Change these to whenever you want your post to publish, make sure the Publish Status window is set on Publish, and save your entry. When you view under Manage -> Posts, you’ll see the future times/date that you set it to publish.