Weekly Photo Challenge: Summer

image by reflectionsinapuddle

Summer is my favourite season, especially because it’s short where I live. It hasn’t fully arrived yet; besides it’s been raining for a few days, and there wasn’t a lot of opportunity for good photos.

As a side note, if you are wondering what’s happening to my blog, why my posts have become sporadic, and why I rarely visit other blogs or leave comments, it’s not because of lack of interest on my part. I am still passionate about blogging and writing, photography and books, and I still enjoy visiting my fellow bloggers, but it seems like my work is taking over my life. Although I don’t foresee any improvement in the near future, I don’t want to close the blog just yet and will be posting from time to time, when time permits, and if I have enough energy to be creative. Cheers! 🙂

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How often do you check your spam folder?

I check my blog’s spam folder regularly for an occasional legit comment. Well, this time around it’s happening to my comments on other blogs, unfortunately.  So if you see I liked a post on your blog recently, there is a good chance you’ve got my comment in your spam folder.

If you are experiencing similar inconveniences, here is a remedy recommended by Cee Neuner in her comment to my previous post.

“You are being caught up in Askismet spam. Here is their contact form. Write in “my comments are going to other people’s spam”. And a form will pop up…just fill it out and you will be fixed in a couple of working days.

http://akismet.com/contact/

In the meantime, you can put out a blog that asks for everyone to check their spam mail and accept your comments…and from that point on that person will get your comments and you will be able to comment on their blogs too.”

Thank you for your great advice Cee! And thank you all awesome bloggers who responded to my previous post and unspammed my comments!

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Help! Unable to post comments on other wordpress blogs

I am not sure what’s happening to my wordpress.com account, but for a couple of days I’ve been unable to post comments on other blogs. I enter a comment, then click the “post comment” button… and nothing happens. I am back to the top of the post, and when I scroll down, my comment is not showing. I hope it’s just a glitch and not a conspiracy 🙂 My sincere apologies to all the bloggers whose posts I read regularly and leave comments for; I am not ignoring you. I suppose it’s a wordpress issue and I hope it will be resolved soon. 🙂

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A Tinge of Blue or How to Conquer Blogger’s Fatigue

image via morguefile

After actively blogging for about half a year and having tankloads of fun, I suddenly got hit by blogger’s blues: I am not as enthusiastic about blogging as I was just a couple of weeks back; an occasional thought of throwing in the towel crosses my mind; I ask myself once in a while: what’s the point? And is it really worth my while? In other words – I FEEL TIRED.

I understand it’s just a phase, which shall pass, and all the colours of rainbow will return to my blogging puddle. Eventually. Meanwhile, I am trying to think of remedies for this condition.

1. Time-machine: Going back in time to the blog’s humble beginnings and recalling the motivation and inspiration behind it. What was the blog’s initial focus? – To provide a creative outlet and find a spot under the blog-o-sun. I don’t think I lost my focus. What’s lacking then? Maybe because some days it feels more like a chore than fun?
2. New direction: Writing a post on a different topic or posting a video or doing something totally different than usually. I could write about topics I haven’t touched yet like fashion/makeup/politics/dating/war criminals/cooking/celebrities/religion – but the problem is I don’t feel like it. A video might work, although that would take more time than any other type of post and I will end up even more tired.
3. Fresh look: I have already made some changes to the right-hand side panel and poked around trying on new themes. I may try changing the header, although I really like the swans. Or is it too much water? According to some oriental views, excessive water can make you feel depressed.
4. Editorial schedule: Writing NO MORE than two scheduled posts a week can provide some sense of control. And only after that writing more if time permits. But the very fact that I am writing this unscheduled post (while thinking of another two) demonstrates how hooked on blogging I am.
5. STOP WATCHING THE BLOG STATS and FRETTING OVER THE BLOG TRAFFIC.
6. Partner(s): I’ve been mulling over this concept for quite a while, but I am still not sure whether I like the idea of partners or multiple authors. It certainly works in business, but does it work for personal blogs? I’ve seen some examples, and I think where multiple-author blogs gain in numbers, they lose in individuality. I also noticed that blogs run by sisters, brothers, a married couple or two friends are doing better than blogs with three or more partners/contributors. If you’ve got any good examples of multiple-author blogs, please do share.
7. Guest posts: That may work for blogs that already attract huge crowds. Mine is not there yet, and I doubt it will ever be. As a reader, I actually tend to skip guest posts (same as reblogged content), believe it or not.
8. Reblogging: That’s like re-tweeting, although less conspicuous. It would surely look odd if two or three blogs that I follow reblogged the same post. Plus finding posts on other blogs worth reblogging may take some time. Yet there is no denying that reblogging can be useful.
9. Awards: I have a very positive view on awards as they help build a sense of community and strengthen ties with other bloggers. On the flip side, the process itself may become quite onerous. I totally understand why some bloggers don’t do awards. And I totally understand why other bloggers enjoy them. There are a lot of creative ways to show your appreciation for the award, ranging from a simple thank you comment, to reblogging the award post, to including award badges with links on a separate page or side bar, to writing a full-fledged post that follows the rules to the letter. I also noticed that some bloggers ignore nominations entirely. That’s fine with me: bloggers are very busy people and I know it firsthand.
10. Taking a break: As simple as that. You might lose some traffic and comments in the process, but when you are ready to return, you and your readers will really enjoy your fresh perspective.
11. Things that make me tired: I’ve been reading a lot of blogs lately. And I have to admit I avoid really long posts like a plague. This post is about 800 words. And it already feels long to me. So, if you are still reading it, you are my hero! Thank you!!!
12. Things that don’t make me tired: Punchy headlines; inverted pyramid format (used by journalist when the most important information comes first, less important second – it doesn’t always work though); intriguing opening with a hook; great photos or art; sound bites (a short quote and a photo to go with it); and simply awesome (not very long) posts.

Do you get bogged down in some aspects of blogging? How do you conquer blogger’s blues?

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