I want more Comments!

No, not me, you. Don't you want more comments on your blog? LOL...

OK, let me make this clear about this series on blogging tips and trips, I'm no expert. I've only been blogging for less than 2 years so what I'm sharing is just from the little I know. I'm also not a professional blogger by any means, only a writer building a platform and so my tips may be biased toward branding and building networks. On that note, two quick links;

- Darbie won an eBook of A Love Rekindled from the Lost and Found Blogfest and reviews it 10 out of 10.

- Raquel Byrnes novel Purple Knot releases today and you can get a copy from White Rose Publishing.

Now to today's post, how do you get people talking after a post? I am an equal opportunity commenter if I do say say myself, and while I try to leave genuine and pertinent comments, there are those posts that make me go yummm...On those posts, I could type a whole post as a comment if I had all the time in the world. What are the common things I've discovered about those posts, or in some cases, those blogs, and what can you do?

1. I am sure we all know the very first rule? Leave comments on other blogs! LOL...I cannot repeat this enough. Personally I go around lots of blogs even on days time is too short to leave loads of comments. So how do I choose the posts I end up dropping comments on, or those that get comprehensive and personal comments? It is on those blogs and for the bloggers who I've noted as leaving similar and regular comments on my blog. My advice is leave comments, and make the comments count. Try to read the blog, if that is your first time, scan a couple or more posts, read the ABOUT ME profile, and then drop a note.

2. Write interesting posts: These are posts that address issues that touch me in one way or another. It could be that they're talking about a hot button issue, or it could just be a journal entry that shows it was written for the heart. Examples includes posts that provide information I haven't heard before, that tackle an issue from an angle I had not personally considered before, or uses some funny graphics to spike the personality of the post, making it impossible for me NOT to comment.

3. Remove your word verification: This is connected to the whole blog this time and not to individual posts. I seem to have a sort of dyslexia when it comes to the captchas required for comment verification, and it may take me up to two or three tries to get it right. I avoid the blogs I know that have captchas so as to save time when my blog round ration is limited. The worse cases are where the captcha does not show immediately until the click post comment. What happens is that I click comment and X out not knowing the verification is not finished, thereby losing my whole comment. I tell you, such an experience doesn't encourage me to comment often on that same blog.

4. Check out your comment system: Please please, please, make sure your comment system is working. Sometimes, using the word verification throws the comment box out of whack. Check it yourself by leaving a comment as Anonymous or name and URL instead of your Google account. There are blogs where I can't leave a comment if my name depended on it because the system is whacked. Also make sure the link to leave a comment is in a place people see easily. It should either be under the heading of the post, or directly under it. Please don't make me have to click something first before I can find your comment link or box. Thanks!

There are a few more points but I'll leave them for the next post. For now, it is tadaa! Enjoy your weekend, everyone. Next time you see me here or on your blogs, we'll be on our road trip. Idaho here I come...

Tag - What is in my Bag?

So I was among those tagged by Sisi Yemmie to do this meme where I have to show you all my regular bag, and what I usually have inside it.

So I use two bags interchangeably but this meduim sized black and brown print Nine West gets more action cos it doesn't select clothes. LOL...I can't remember if I said that correctly. Anyway, you have seen the other bag I carry if you read my post on Relationship 15. Now to the contents of the bag. True confession, I like a chunky bag and always stuff things in :).

Beyoncé - Run The World (Girls)

So this is not much of a debate as a roundtable - me sharing my thoughts and asking you to do the same. In her last single, Beyonce is basically saying that girls, we run this world. Below is the video. But my question is, DO GIRLS REALLY RUN THE WORLD?

While I do not grudge the song, or even the motivational wallop it packs, it would be small minded of women to think we've got to eldorado. It is still a man's world, and the glass ceiling is firmly in place! If we begin to reason in the lines of Beyonce's lyrics, we'll miss the way, and may even be lulled to complacency. Some of the questions to keep in mind are,

- In majority of the professions, do women earn the same as men?
- In government, are there equitable numbers of women represented?
- Do as many girls as men get the same level and standard of education?
- What about healthcare, especially in sectors where women are predominantly affected?
- Do women have the same access to capital to boost their economic capacity?

Whereby figurehead women in entertainment (like Beyonce herself, Lady Gaga and Oprah) may be making waves, we have to look at the bigger picture. We're not superwomen, and we don't rule the world. YET!



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Picture from ru-crazy.com

Guest Author: Geraldine Iheme - Disfigured Emotions

Geraldine Iheme got my attention when I began to see news of her book launch around the interwebs. I got to find out that she was a former Big Brother housemate but my interest was more in her writing and publishing journey so I contacted her on Twitter and we set up this interview.

Gerry is a Christian, reserved, friendly, observant, fun-loving and sweet. She loves exploring her creative and artistic skills and reads, writes, plays the guitar or piano, and loves spending quality time with her family and friends. She is from Nkwerre, Imo State but was born in Lagos on the 18th of June, to Chief Augustine and Chief Mrs. Uchenna Ethel Iheme. She is the second of four children, attending Corona Primary school in Victoria Island and then Igbinedion Education Centre (Secondary School, for two years, before she finished at Christ The Cornerstone International School in Ikeja, Lagos. She's  a Law graduate from Igbinedion University, Benin. As part of the Big-Brother Africa Show 2009 tagged THE BIG-BROTHER REVOLUTION held in South Africa and aired round Africa, she was the 19th house-mate to leave the show, staying a total of 10weeks in the house.

When did you start writing?
I love writing. I started writing at the age of seven. I would take empty note books and write short stories with funny drawings and happy endings. Then I would force my family to read my stories. They always encouraged me. I loved to read as well and that stirred up my appetite to write. In secondary School I enjoyed writing Essays, because it gave me an opportunity to explore and enhance my writing skills.

If you could jump in to a book, and live in that world.. which would it be?

-I would jump into the book "The Concubine" by Elechi Amadi and experience the world of Ihuoma, Madume, Emenike and Ekwueme in Omokachi Village. It was set in a time before I was born. The Story of Ihuoma reminds me of the stories my mother used to tell me when I was a child. It would be exciting to experience that world, where houses were made of mud and women wrapped their bodies in very little cloth.

My name is Myne Whitman and I am a Blogaholic.

Update:

Sorry for scaring you guys. I am much better now, thank you all for the kind wishes.


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Answering your comments from my sick bed with my BB.

But don't worry, I'm back home now and Atala is the best carer.

Road trip down the Pacific West Coast postponed till next week.



***Sickbed picture removed due to several complaints via emails and phonecalls.

Find your Blog Niche

In the comments of the last post on what makes a good blog, Afronuts and LTM talked about the focus of a blog, or the topic/theme by which the blog can be defined. You can also define this as the niche into which your blog falls. Can people think of your blog and match it with a particular area? This could be personal life, poetry, travel, gossip, films,parenting, food etc.

With that said, you don’t have to lock yourself in a box, most of us are quite versatile in our day to day lives, and your blog can be a showcase of this. This is where what I talked about in what makes a good blog comes in again, you must have a defined voice so that whatever you decide to talk about, it still fits into your reader’s perception of you and your blog. With this, there are several ways to define your niche for your blog users.

So you’ve chosen your URL, your title and your description. What next? How do you go about choosing the topics to blog about? How do you know which ones not to? These questions might help.

What is your URL address, blog title or description?

You cannot have a URL or title that says Women’s Lingerie and then you blog about Auto spare parts and mechanics. See, when I navigate to a page called Jewelries.blogspot.com, I should know what to expect. According to those who know, a good blog title should be short, unique and catchy. I didn’t know all these when I set up my blog, so my title is a bit long though by luck I made it into unique and catchy(yeah!).

So, Mynewhitmanwrites.com is my URL and is the same as my blog title. Some people have different URL and title and that is OK too, maybe you want something short for your address, and then you can expand on that in your title. For example, our Madame Sting’s URL is nigerianscorpio.com and her title is “The Smile of a Nigerian Scorpio”.

Don’t despair that you’ve already set up your URL and title, they can both be changed. However, I won’t advice you to change your URL, (too much drama), or your name (me being selfish cos I don’t want to have to lol…). What is easier to change is your description. This is the bit that comes under the title. Mimi B of My world as I see it describes her blog as “The mullings (and sometimes rantings) of a 20 something year old, moody melancholic, book loving, God adoring Nigerian girl.” The description thus tells us what to expect, and leads me into the next question.

What is your purpose for blogging?

On my blog, I tell you in the description that I will be sharing thoughts on life, love, books and Nigeria. Someone once wrote to ask me how they can become a successful blogger like me. Before I shared a few tips, I reminded them that if your blog is like your diary, you might not want 600 followers. But if you’re like 9jaFoodie of Mordern African Cuisine and you’re passionate about spreading the word about African food, then you can go all out.

Here, my purpose is to write, and to share my stories, online or as books, and I want to share them along with my Nigerian self. Since I don’t want there to be any limitations, I promote the blog as much as I can, in several places, and for various audiences. So knowing my purpose makes it easier for me to chose the topics I blog about, the people I network with, the kind of guest posts you’ll see here, among other things. My niche may thus be wide, but there are still things you won't see in this blog, like Auto Spare Parts? LOL...

OK, I'll stop here today. Let me know your thoughts in the comments and maybe you'll be linked in the next post. And please use the Facebook and Twitter buttons to share if you liked or found the post useful. Thanks!

Debate Tuesday - World Ends May 21, now Oct 21 (Harold Camping)

Last week, the news spread through the whole of the United States, and I guess the rest of the world too. Harold Camping who runs an independent Christian Radio had predicted that Rapture would happen last Saturday across the world at 6PM local time in different places. He said that after rapture on May 21, the world would experience a total meltdown on Oct 21.

Anyway, he has now reversed his prediction to say that what happened on Saturday was a spiritual judgment and that the previous date for the Apocalypse is now the end of the world.

Read the article from Associated Press

So what's the debate?

Do you think the press should continue hyping this guy's predictions? Should people take him serious? And not just him but other prophets with a doomsday mentality. I wonder about his followers, some of whom sold, or gave away the last of their earthly belongings. How do they think now?

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Picture from Kansas City News

Guest Author: Jacqueline Maduneme - Ada's Daughter

In my wanderings around Youtube I came across a book trailer and was captivated by the concept of the book. A lot of Nigerians do not like to discuss issues like pedophilia, incest or rape, and prefer to sweep such matters under the carpet when they occur. Ada's Daughter was handling a topic that is rarely talked about in Africa and so I found it even more intriguing when a little research showed that the author was Nigerian born. I contacted her and she agreed to give me an interview. Read on...

What inspired you to want to become a writer?

I started writing when I was about 10 years old as a way of dealing with what was going on in my world at the time – almost like keeping a diary, except that I didn’t necessarily write about things that were happening to me as much as my writings were about my emotional responses to them. Now I write because I have stories I want to share with the world and I want to take readers on these incredible journeys through my stories.

What is one book everyone should read?

I’m torn between Purple Hibiscus by Chimamandu Adichie and A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. The former is a provocative exposition of the role of family in the formation of a child’s life and the latter gives a stark picture of what it means to be a woman in a culture where they are valued for distorted reasons, but both books are moving stories about the power of love and the struggle to survive. They both tugged at my heart deeply because of how each reflected in one way or another my own experiences.

Please tell us in one sentence only, why we should read your book.

Ada’s Daughter is a mesmerizing and thought-provoking story that goes to the heart of what survival means – filled with what I can only describe as God-inspired courage and strength, and providing a path to both self acceptance and personal growth for others.

Any other books in the works? Goals for future projects?

Yes, I have two books in the works. I have a passion for books that educate and inspire at a personal level. The first book is about the journey of one woman to take control of her future and reinvent herself, and the colorful characters – some good and some bad – that she meets along the way. The current working title is Devils in the Crossroad, but that may change as the book develops. The other book is a practical guide to people in abusive relationships, drawing from my own experiences.

Live Bull Riding Event - PBR Seattle

Atala and I went to see a live bull riding event a few weeks ago after ticketmaster sent us a newsletter. None of us had ever been to anything like that and it sounded interesting. Personally, I had read loads of romance novels that had their heros as cowboys, with many of them being part of one rodeo event or the other. So for me the fascination wasn't new, just the opportunity. Seattle being on the west coast seems to have its number of ranches and the PBR - professional bull riding regularly holds events here.

What did I think? Honestly, it was an amazing event. The PBR put up a rollicking good show, from the pyrotechnics of the opening ceremony, to the final bull and the declaration of the winner. The contestants had the challenge of staying on a bucking live bull for 8 seconds each. The whole atmosphere was adrenaline charged, the cowboys were handsome! (hehehe...now I understand how the western romance authors couldn't resist) and the hosts great. The MC was hilarious, at a point the guy was actually dancing Beyonce's "All the Single Ladies", lol...

Then there was the bull fighters whose job is to scare off the bulls after the rider had fallen off, I found them really brave and good sports. Other high points of the show were the stubborn bulls who after they had bucked off the rider refused to go back into their corral. One particular animal ran around the inner arena for almost five minutes before a cowboy on a horse lassoed him. We thought that was it but the stubborn thing got loose and tried to upend the stand where the hosts were, lol. Finally, they got him and shooed him in. I caught the whole thing on camera. I also managed to video one of the contestants riding a bull.

Enjoy the video and pictures below, and have a great weekend. Mwah!

What makes a good blog?

So blogger has given me my posts back, though the comments seem gone forever. Enjoy...

It’s interesting how we all write differently and our blogs are so different from each other. I follow a lot of blogs and my typical blog round every two days or so is about 50 blogs. And on each blog, you see a different topic, a different style of writing, a different personality, a different story, a different life. And this is one thing that has kept me excited about blogging in my year plus of starting this blog. For me, it goes beyond having my own blog, posting my own stuff and expecting and replying to comments. As a writer who loves reading, I am inspired by the different voices and stories, it gets the wires in my head sparking – but in a good way :).

Of course, there are the similarities too. After all, we are all human and sometimes life throws the same experiences at us. For example, a lot of our student bloggers are looking forward to exams, a couple or so are looking for jobs, a similar number just got jobs, yay!, and I can remember some of months ago when a few bloggers popped out them babies. So yeah, it can sometimes seem like you’re reading the same thing over and again, especially when it comes to memes. I know I’m the chief culprit at that, 25 Question Tag anyone? Lol…

Now to the topic of this post; what makes a good a good blog is being able to stand out. It is imperative in this milieu of different and similar voices that a blogger strikes that note of uniqueness. For those of us that love blogging, that love people reading our posts, and love those comments, the truth is that if your blog does not stand out, your visitors may not return. I know there are a few bloggers who even though their blogs are not marked private would prefer it to be as undiscoverable as possible; I’m not talking about those. I’m referring to some people that get one comment per post, and wish it were five. Or look at their 10 followers and wish it were 100. What do you do? You need a good blog, a blog that stands out.

But how do you make your blog stand out you ask? By being yourself. Yes, you can look at what other popular bloggers are doing, and try to note some things to try. But don’t try to write like them, and even worse, never copy their work! That’s plagiarism, especially if you do not attribute it. If you do not have time to write a post, leave it, it’s not that serious. If you try to post everyday because the other person is doing it, you may end up burnt out. However, if you have it in you to post three times a day, go for it, just make sure there are some ads on your blog to at least buy pure water, :)

I’ll stop here for now. This is just a preamble, I’ll be writing more blogging tips and tricks in the coming weeks. Leave a comment or question and I might mention it in the next one.