Blogging Tip From My Little Corner

I was spending a little time going through my RSS reader today and I ran across the message below on whoissugar, the blog. Sugar is also a YouTuber that I follow so I really felt bad when I saw this post. Unfortunately, it is not the first time that I have seen this cry and it won’t be the last. So, for those of you bloggers that do visit me on occasion, I wanted to give a little tip for avoiding this issue.



DO NOT USE ONLINE BLOGGING TEMPLATES AS YOUR ONLY METHOD FOR BLOGGING.

Basically, you need to use a desktop option for blogging that can also download from your blog when you do choose to use the web client or mobile device for posting.

For Mac users, the program that I use and recommend is MacJournal by Mariner. I have all 249 posts from this blog as well as several posts that I have in progress or ready to go. The program has all the needed credentials for my blogged stored away so as soon as I am ready to go on a post, I tell it to send it off and that little man appears next to the post letting me know it has been uploaded. I purchased MacJournal after I had started blogging so I was happy to see they have a download from blog feature that will download from 1 to all of the posts you have already published. I can edit and reposts any of these at any time so I never have to worry about blogger loosing my posts. For extra security, my data is backed up using Carbonite.



If you are a windows user, Mariner also a version of this software for you, WinJournal. I am pretty confident it works just like the Mac version with whatever tweaks needed for the Windows platform. I would also suggest using Microsoft’s Live Writer. I’ve never used it but I saw a demonstration of it at Blissdom 2012 and it would be my go-to solution if I were still a Windows user.

Backing up your work is important for any of us that use computers. For other writing projects or documents that you need to retain, I recommend Google Docs/Google Drive (Google is in the process of rebranding this service), Evernote, and Carbonite. Don’t become a victim of lost intellectual property. Some of the options I have given are free, some are not. Being able to retrieve lost data is well worth the cost.

Just How BIG is My Problem?

Many of you already know that I have put myself on a book diet for the 2012 calendar year and I’ve committed to reading 100 books this year. Each time I tell someone new of this goal, they look at me in amazement. But what I try to get them to understand is that I’m trying to catch up with my book buying habits. I have way to many books in my possession that I have not gotten around to reading and it is entirely too irresponsible to continue buying when I’m not keeping up with the consumption of what I have bought.

So, how bad is it?



Sometime last year, Amazon granted us the ability to organize our Kindle books/documents into folders. I figured now was the perfect time to really sit down and figure out how many books I have unread while I organized. I really needed to do this as I also have the habit of downloading the first chapter samples so I can decide later if I want to buy the book. I needed to get all of those samples out of the way. Next year when I lift my self imposed book diet, I will start going through the growing list of samples to determine what will be bought and definitely read in the future.

For now, I have 32 unread Kindle books, 39 un-listened to audio books in my iTunes account (most bought from Audible), and 128 unread or partially read physical books in my home (as catalogued in my Delicious Library program). I also have a read again list going but I won’t even think about those books for now. For those of you quick on your feet, you’ve already added up my damage.

Yep, I have 199 books to read. Books that have already been bought or gifted or obtained for free. Most have been bought. I don’t even want to think how much money that means I have spent with no return. BUT, that return is to come soon. Unfortunately, my book diet may need to last longer than a year, but we’ll see how things look as the holiday book sales approach. And just as a comparison and to prove that I actually do read some of what I buy, my total book collection sits at 493. This does not include technical books that I’ve been holding on to. So there! I know I still have a problem.

Please tell me that some of you are just as bad.

Weekend Projects

I’m determined to get something done this weekend. Since there is no way I will finish the cardigan, I decided to cast on a hat. Using my laptop to surf the internet a little bit while listening to an audiobook. Trying to get my May reading off to a good start.