Melanie is filling a hiatus in Blogging Insights by asking;

I had this topic I wanted to explore via Dr. Tanya’s excellent series “Blogging Insights”.   Since she hasn’t come back (yet), I thought I’d just dive in and ask the question anyway.   This post isn’t to be considered ‘legal’ because I didn’t ask Dr. Tanya if it’d be all right to do it.  Enough hair-splitting. 

My “Blogging Insight” question deals with  

How thick a skin do you need to be a blogger?

When we put out our writing for others to read and invite their comments, we also have to be ready for some criticism coming our way. Or some unfavorable comments.

I think a blogger needs to be level-headed and cool. If as a blogger I react to every bit of criticism or to unpleasant comments, I won’t be able to blog for long.

Topics which a blogger writes about, also play a role in inviting fiery discussions. So if one doesn’t want heated exchanges, one should stay away from these topics, like politics, or religion!

“Bonus question”  How important is being understood?  

The full impact of a blog is only when the writer and the one reading it are on the same page. If the writer is not able to clearly write, there could be many ways the writing is interpreted. If that is the aim of the writer, well and good. But if the writer is saying something that’s not being conveyed, then obviously the meaning is being lost.

I do try to write clearly and concisely. As most bloggers have found out, too lengthy posts are not favored by most people, I too have reduced the length of my posts. I find poetry to be a better medium to convey my thoughts. So far I haven’t had any complaints about people not getting my drift.

As far as the commenting goes, I do feel that many people are not commenting on my post as they were, say a year ago. This is an overall change in the blogging world and it may be the new norm.

As Di also mentioned, the time we spend creating a post has nothing to do with how well it is received.

Thanks, Melanie for these thought provoking questions.

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TODAY’S QUESTION 

How would you describe blogging to someone who has never heard of it before?

First of all, I wouldn’t have to turn any stones to find someone who hasn’t heard of Blogging. In my country, Blogging is not all that popular. Even the educated people aren’t that much into blogs and blogging.

Since everyone, including the semi-literate people, know of Facebook, I would explain Blogging to them as;

Blogging is a form of social media, like Facebook. We write what we think, feel, and want to express on our blogs in the form of a post. We sometimes add photos, images, or videos in these posts as well.

The purpose of a blog is to give us a platform to write whatever we want to write. It gives us the freedom of expressing our thoughts and ideas. We can tell stories, write poems, or bare our innermost emotions and fears in our blog. It is our place to write whatever we want.

We also have the option to publish our blog for others to see or we can keep it private so that only we can read it.

Basically, it’s like keeping a journal, which can share with other people or keep it private!

I hope a person who doesn’t know anything about a blog, gets a clear idea of what a blog is from this post.

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Tanya is the host of Blogging Insights

TODAY ‘S QUESTIONS;

 

Before you have written a prompt post, if you read someone else’s response that has the same idea as yours, do you abandon the project, modify it, or continue as before?

Hmmm, very interesting question! I try not to read responses from others to the same prompt. But as a lot of bloggers that I follow, also follow the same prompts, it does happen. So if by chance I am going to write something very similar to another person’s response, I will go back to the thinking room and come up with something different. Sometimes if the prompt is pointing to a definite direction and one can imagine that most people would be heading in that direction, I don’t attempt it because I feel I won’t be able to bring anything new too the table.

The interesting thing about prompts is that we mostly see something different and our responses very accordingly. I’ve seen this with my WDYS prompts. I write my own response at the end, while doing the roundup post. And I do get my own ideas about what to write. Sometimes it is influenced by all the other contributions and at other times, it has been there since I posted that image.

We are all fans of Q&A prompts. How do they spark creativity in you?

I love Q&A posts. It invokes a personal response. Just like Blogging Insights. It also doesn’t requires lot of creative thinking. You just need to answer the questions. One can add a bit of humor and tell a tale or two, but mostly they are straight forward.

However post like “Fibbing Friday” involves a lot of creative fibbing/ lying. I am quite a failure at this type of posts. Perhaps an inherent flaw in my personality can account for this.

Rory, of “A guy called Bloke” often asks interesting questions and those can stretch the creativity! Sometimes one has to answer in a way as to avoid answering at all, if you know the sort of questions he sometimes asks!

Thank you Tanya, for these interesting questions.

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Tanya is the host of Blogging Insights

TODAY’S QUESTIONS 

Do you like reading posts written for prompts? If so, what kind? 

As more than half of my blog posts are written in response to different prompts, I really love prompt posts. Mostly the prompt posts have just the prompt. Some bloggers give a background to the prompt or maybe tell us where the photo was taken.

I like reading and responding to both the visual and written prompts. Sometimes the prompt post pose a question or a situation and we have to work with it.

When you publish a piece in answer to a prompt, do you read entries by other bloggers? If so, do you read them before or after you have written your own?

I run two prompts, one is an image prompt and the other is a query. I read all the responses which are posted in answer to both the prompts.

When I respond to a prompt, either an image or a word, I like to do my writing before I read any of the responses others have written. This lets me use my thoughts and interpretation for writing my post. Later on, I would read the responses by other writers.

Sometimes more than a few writers come up with similar ideas for their posts in response to the prompt, that’s why I prefer to write mine before I read any responses.

Thank you, Tanya for these interesting questions.

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