HELP WANTED!!!

To all my readers and even the "yet-to-be-readers" of my blog: HELP WANTED!!!

I come here in search of advice. Yes, yes, even a proud and bossy Aries like me admits the need for some feedback and counsel here and there.

Let me begin from the start. A few days ago, completely by chance I came upon this great article that a very well-to-do blogger wrote. He gives great advice to bloggers and offers a lot of very useful tips. In this article the writer ends up giving his reader a little something to do - a little homework so to say. As I love action, I decided that I would give it a go and do the following homework he passes. Here is the suggested exercise:

EXERCISE:

The best way to really get a feel for what makes blogs so special is to go out and read a few.

Find as many interesting blogs as you can and note the following:

1. What appeals to you

2. What does not appeal to you

3. What sort of content they provide

4. How often they update

5. What sort of reader reaction they get

And so I spent all day scouring almost a hundred blogs or so  - some that captivated me the very second I clicked on it and others that were totally uninteresting or major fails (like one in which the blogger would every single day post a “cat of the day” picture along with a short story on that cat’s life – retarded!!!!) I finally concluded the above exercise. Here it goes:

1.               What appeals to me:

• When the writer gives counsel that I can apply. 
• Uses stories. I specially LOVE what I call “story blogs” in which the blogger tells personal things of their life.
• Is funny. 
• Uses bullets/numbers things up/clear paragraphs. 
• Doesn’t only show the “rosy side” of the story but also tells embarrassing things and experiences that went wrong in his/her personal life.

       2. What doesn’t appeal to me:

• When the writer takes too long to update his/her posts. 
• Generalizes too much. 
• There isn’t a continuation on an older post.

      3. What sort of content they provide:

•  Sex, relationships, differences in men and women, relationships, etc.
• Health care, dieting, fashion, etc.
• Personal life stories.
• "How - To's" 
• Self Help. 

       4. How often do they update:

• Every day
• Once a week
• Once every two weeks
• Varies...no way to know for sure 

       5. What sort of reader reaction they get:

• A lot of women in this site. Some men too. 
• Has many faithful fans. 
• A lot of comments. (Note: blogger answers most comments back – that must be a rough thing to do!)

 As I was doing this exercise a whole bunch of thoughts popped into my head. I can't say that they were completely new ones that came just out of the blue because that wasn't the case. I had actually been thinking about a lot of things but while doing this exercise I had the opportunity of going ahead and putting these thoughts on paper since I was already "com a mão na massa". After writing it all down, I went to organizing them even better yet. After that I still let it rest for over a week and commented the idea with a few of my friends/students/family which happen to follow my blog: some are avid readers, others just enter here and there whenever they suspect they might end up in a story (which is usually not the case much to their disappointment...or relief!). Anyways, after getting quite a bit of feedback on my new idea but still quite unsure on whether I should go ahead with it or not I decided that no one would know better what to do than my readers who frequent my blog. And so that is the story behind my cry for HELP!!! So here is the deal:

1.               I will open a new blog. Basically it's going to be a diary blog where I will type down the pages of my old diaries starting with the first page of my very first diary. I'll also scan old childhood/teenage pictures to add in the fun. As I already do with this blog, I will change the names of the "not so innocent" to preserve their privacy. I will post three times a week, three different posts:

1st – A page of my diary/journal. (Note: I will always type in sequence without skipping any pages).

2nd – A scan of an old photo. Story to go along with it - might be of the person in the photo, what happened the day it was taken, etc.

3rd – A personal remembrance. Some memory that comes to mind which belongs to that week’s timeline.

2.               My present blog, "Welcome to My Life":

I still am not sure about this idea but it popped in my head and I've been considering it more and more each day even though it sounds kind of quirky: I will post a picture of myself everyday - be it when I just woke up, inside the overcrowded bus, cooking my 11:00 pm dinner, watching my favorite reality show, sleeping, going out to work, etc. For this I will also try new makeup tricks, styles of clothes, hairdos, shoes, etc. to keep it fun and different - though it's not also like as if every picture that I post I'll be wearing makeup and dressed up in the latest fashion... most of them will be the plain, "al naturale" pictures.

Other than that I will continue posting about the following subjects:

·         My love life

·         My students and their stories

·         Funny moments as a teacher

·         Teaching English tips

·         Things I do when I am not teaching

Well, now it's up to you!!! Please let me know your thoughts, ideas, critics, suggestions, etc. etc. As soon as I get 50 people's 2% I will go ahead and implement the above ideas (of course, based on your feedback!).

But even after that I will still be more than glad to hear what you have to say. Other than posting a comment you can also write me a Facebook message, scrap, send me an email at christy_shine00@yahoo.com or even tell me your mind on the matter personally. 

Waiting to hear from you!!!