Survey: Are Blog Awards Useless?

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Veegaland awards

Each day, WordPress.com bloggers nominate each other for at least 22 awards. (I arrived at this rough estimate by searching posts tagged with “Awards” and counting those published in 24 hours.)

So far, this blog has been nominated for three, and The Liebster Award is by far my favorite, as it reflects the philosophy behind this blog. As YA writer Annie Cardi said, “The Liebster is designed to encourage bloggers who are new or don’t have a huge following, which I think is awesome.”

So, if it’s such a fantastic way to encourage bloggers, why is the response rate to nominations close to zero? So far, I’ve nominated a total of 28 blogs and only one—fellow fountain pen enthusiast Jack Spratt—decided to pass the award through. That’s a whopping 3.57% response rate! (Disclaimer: I’m neither upset nor bitter.) [Edit: Xarglebook apparently responded as well, increasing the response rate to 7.14%.]

WASTE OF TIME?

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He Said, She Said: Stephen King’s Advice on Dialogue Tags

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king-onwritingI think we all agree that dialogue tags are necessary for readers to know who’s talking. But writers are divided in how we use them:

Some, including Raymond Carver, simply use “he said, she said”; others apparently invent a million different synonyms for “said”; still others try to find balance between the two extremes, sometimes even fifty-fifty.

Yesterday, yet another writer, Jack Woe, jumped into the fray:

I’ve read quite a few blogs about the evilness of dialogue tags. For example, Joe Moore wrote in The Kill Zone how new authors are overusing the alternatives of said.

They go to: exclaimed, murmured, screamed, whispered, pleaded, shrieked, demanded, ordered, cried, shouted, and my all-time favorite, muttered.

Thing is, I as a reader, don’t care. I just don’t read dialogue tags — at all.

He’s not alone. To me, modifying such a perfectly fine tag as “said” is like Pimp My Ride gone bad. (Tip: Read that sentence again in Samuel L. Jackson’s voice.) Continue reading →

The Liebster Award

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liebster-awardLadies and gentlemen, the third award for this blog is in! This is my favorite so far; this weekend I’ll show you why.

For now, I’ll just say it’s a great way to celebrate up-and-coming bloggers—in line with the mission of this blog. If you’re interested in the history of the Liebster Award, click here.

Thank you Susan T. Sweeney for nominating me. I’m simply going to steal her description:

[It's] like a chain letter. You nominate blogs with less than 200 followers, ask them 11 questions. Have them post 11 facts about themselves, and then you nominate 11 blogs (also providing them with your own questions). Then thank the person who nominated you. From what I can tell it’s a cool informal way to say ‘I think your blog is interesting and fun, good job.’

If you haven’t already, please check her blog for more interesting quotes and images like this:

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Find Your Element, Overcome Obstacles: 3 Success Stories

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The Element cover“We all have distinctive talents and passions that can inspire us to achieve far more than we may imagine,” writes Sir Ken Robinson, Ph.D., in his phenomenal book, “The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything”.

He encourages every one of us to find our Element, “the place where the things you love to do and the things that you are good at come together.”

Some call it “the sweet spot.”

Unfortunately, it’s not always easy. I know that the “necessity” to settle into a routine, to choose job security over job satisfaction, can prevent you from doing what you love. You drift further away from your Element each day, thinking it’s the safest route to take—while the opposite is true. Continue reading →

Update: ‘About’ Page, New Design

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Instead of writing, I’ve spent the weekend:

  1. Changing my domain;
  2. Rewriting my “About” page to include the philosophy behind my blog—and my domain;
  3. Implementing a new design, which involved CSS editing, uploading new images, new fonts, etc.

What do you think? Please let me know in the comments.

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Yes, Neil. I know. Right away.

The Georges Say Cut the Crap and Write Better

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In his 1946 essay, George Orwell warned us that inflated prose can muddy our writing so badly its meaning becomes vague. Pretentious diction, it seems, serves no other purpose than to make the writer appear more important and knowledgeable.

The writer either has a meaning and cannot express it, or he inadvertently says something else, or he is almost indifferent as to whether his words mean anything or not. This mixture of vagueness and sheer incompetence is the most marked characteristic of modern English prose, and especially of any kind of political writing.

Another George, the legendary George Carlin, didn’t need a lengthy essay to express the same concern. Filled with Carlin’s typical charm and wit, this hilarious performance is guaranteed to both educate and entertain:

As a final note, considering the current state of humanity, I think we could use more people like both Georges.

That is all.

The Sunshine Award

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Jimbaran_Bay_Sunset

Thank you TPG for nominating me for this award. It’s only the second time this blog has been nominated for anything, I think.

The rules for the Sunshine Award are:

  1. Post the sunshine award logo;
  2. Accept the nomination and link back to the nominator;
  3. Answer the questions;
  4. Nominate ten other blogs (or sites) and inform them of the award.

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