A New Direction

As you can tell by the lack of posting, I've reached something a blogging crisis on my new blog. Basically the problem is thus. Being a writer, I had set out to write a writers blog. What do writers blog about? Why they blog about writing, what else? The problem is that I really want this blog to not just be about me, and for me. I want the blog to help or entertain the people who visit it. I know, what a novel and noble concept. For that to happen, I sort of need to be able to give advice or instruction about the writing process, and seeing as I'm kind of new to this who journey myself, I don't have much advice or instruction to give. The best I can do is point you to others who are a) a lot smarter than me, and b) better writers than me. I could always try to parrot their stuff and call it my own, but that doesn't' seem very nice, or ethical. Darn having ethics!
So what to do. I really like blogging. I like putting my thoughts down on ‘paper ‘ as it were. My previous blog was a lot of fun. There's no way I can blog two to three times a week about writing. That just isn’t happening. Ultimately, I'd like to use my blog to connect to people all over the world wide web who share some common interest. I'd like to make some new friends and keep up with the old ones.
So this is what I've decided to do. I got the idea from a fantastic blog by Kristen Lamb on why writers shouldn’t blog about writing. Taking that advice, I’m going in a new direction. I'm not doing a Writing blog anymore. I am now doing a Ted blog. What topics can you expect on a Ted blog? I'm glad you asked. I will talk about whatever I'm passionate about, and because I'm a living, breathing, growing human being, those topics are likely to change from time to time. You can expect to read about Video Games, Movies, NFL Football, and being a Dad to tween and a baby. I'll also occasionally talk about what I'm learning about Writing, and how I'm growing in my relationship with God. Not everything will be of interest to you. I have some friends that I talk to about Sci-Fi, but they aren’t much into football. That’s okay.
What I hope is that you'll enjoy the blog, occasionally be informed, and always entertained.

The Best Time to Post

Image: healingdream / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

One of the guys I follow on Twitter was asking me if I had any advice for Bloggers. I can’t claim credit for this one, but it is a good tip nonetheless. I learned it from another blogger, who probably learned it from another blogger and so on and so forth.

The blogging tip was this:

Always use a scheduled post time set to 11:59pm. 

Why 11:59pm?

First, we have to look at the facts. Most blogs are read during the day while people are at work. It shouldn’t be that way, but it is. We have to accept reality as it is. There are two major times people check blogs and their feed readers: when they first come into the office, and at lunchtime. Some may also check during an afternoon break if one is provided. I remember a reader of my blog once telling me that when his boss took a smoke break, he felt like he should take a blog break.

Second, if you read this blog then it is likely that you speak English, and that you write in English, so you are looking for an English speaking audience. That audience predominately lives in North America (USA and Canada), England, and Australia. 11:59pm

By posting at 11:59pm, you are going to catch Australia just as they are going to lunch. That’s an ideal time for them to be checking blogs. Most feed readers that people use to follow blogs list their content from newest to oldest. Since most of the other blog authors are asleep at 11:59pm, your post will at the top, or very near to the top of the feed reader as England, Canada and the USA are enjoying their first cup of coffee and checking their feeds.