Tag: Writing

Anonymous Blogging

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Let’s talk about what it means to be anonymous. Incognito. Unknown.

Sometimes anonymity enables freedom. I’ve read blogs and articles where authors remain anonymous because they don’t feel they can risk having their names associated with what they’ve written, and some of that personal writing is brave and beautiful and amazing.

Other times, going anonymous is a real wuss move. Commenting online, for instance, is a scenario in which anonymity can breed nasty behavior. People feel protected behind their screens, so they type things they’d never dream of saying out loud to someone’s face.

When I started my first blog, I did it without my name attached. I’m a professional writer, and at the time I started blogging, I did not want my clients to discover that when I was taking a break from, say, ghostwriting a book about cancer, I was posting send-ups of fashion ads and bizarro jokes about whatever popped into my head. It was all my writing, and I was proud of all of it, but I felt it was important to keep the professional writing and the fun writing entirely separate. Over time, the line between the two has blurred, and I’ve come out from behind the curtain a bit. That’s what I’ll be talking about in Portland, and I’m curious to know how others have navigated that issue.

Emily Austin posed a great question last week about boundaries: How much do you share about your friends and family in your blog? What about your co-workers? Is it OK as long as you don’t use their real names? Here’s a follow-up question:

How much do you reveal about yourself? What are the levels of self-disclosure between totally anonymous and 100% “out there,” and where do you feel comfortable?

Workshops, Classes, and Clinics — Oh My!

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You may have checked out our speakers and sessions before, but check again! We’ve added a track of Blogging U. classes to both the Portland and Phoenix events featuring a variety of formats, but all of these sessions are hands-on, not lectures. Some classes are the same in both cities, while others will vary based on who’s teaching. Most classes last half an hour, while the more advanced workshops/clinics are an hour long. But enough with the logistics, here are the class descriptions!

Writing 101: Storytelling
Blogging is just another way to tell a story. Join Mike Dang and Mark Armstong, editors of Longreads, for a 30-minute writing class focused on practicing the art of storytelling. A combination of writing, sharing, and providing feedback, this class will get your creative juices flowing. What’s your story?
Portland, 30 minutes

Writing 101: A Daily Practice
In this 30-minute class, we’ll talk about how to build a writing habit, give yourself the space to write, and try different techniques to unlock your mind and tell your story. This session will be led by Cheri Lucas Rowlands, a story wrangler for WordPress.com and Longreads.
Phoenix, 30 minutes

Blogging 101: Planning Ahead
One of the most important things when trying to grow a blog — posting regularly — can also be one of the greatest challenges. What if some days you don’t know what to say? Or don’t have time to write? We’ve got your back! In this class we’ll take a look at some of the programs on WordPress.com aimed at helping you get the creative juices flowing, like Blogging U, Daily Prompts, and weekly Photo Challenges, and we’ll help you set up a posting plan for your blog. We’ll also create a few draft posts and learn to use the post scheduling tool, so that you can put your plan into action! This class will be led by Josepha Haden.
Portland, 30 minutes

Photography 101
Get photography tips, learn how to use the WordPress media editor, and optimize images for the web! Taught by Sheri Bigelow and Ash Rhodes.
Phoenix, 30 minutes

Design 101: Customize
The first thing people notice when they visit your site is how it looks. In this workshop, bring your laptop or tablet and begin the process of making your site feel more like you by using the customizer to update things like taglines, fonts, and theme options. Taught by Kathryn Presner in Portland, and by Kathryn Presner and Erick Hitter in Phoenix.
Portland & Phoenix, 30 minutes

Design 102: Menus and Widgets
Dig deeper into customizing your site. In this session, you’ll use the WP Admin screens to set up custom menus for your site navigation, and widgets to bring more shazam to your sidebars. And yes, you’ll even try out the custom menu widget. Worlds collide! Taught by Kathryn Presner in Portland, and by Kathryn Presner and Erick Hitter in Phoenix.
Portland & Phoenix, 30 minutes

Writing 201: Clinic
For this one-hour session, bring some writing with you (your blog on your laptop or other device counts!) that you think could be better, and participate in a writer’s workshop led by Longreads editors Mike Dang and Mark Armstrong. They’ll guide the group in giving feedback, and will provide their own constructive criticism on how to improve the elements of your writing that you want to improve.
Portland, 1 hour

Writing 201: Clinic
In this open and informal discussion session, WordPress.com editor Cheri Lucas Rowlands will talk a bit about what makes a great post. Be sure to bring your laptops, notebooks, or drafts to work with: you can ask specific questions, learn about others’ techniques, and brainstorm story ideas with the group.
Phoenix, 1 hour

Design 201: CSS Basics
How many times have you heard, “You can change that with custom CSS,” but you didn’t know how to get started? In this half-hour class, learn the basics of working with CSS as our teachers walk you through the process of making some simple CSS changes on your blog. You’ll want your laptop with you for this one! Taught by Kathryn Presner and Michelle Langston in Portland, and by Kathryn Presner and Erick Hitter in Phoenix.
Portland & Phoenix, 30 minutes

Design 202: CSS Clinic
You understand the basics of CSS, like how to change a color or the size of your headlines, but what about the more complicated stuff? In this open clinic session, come prepared with your CSS hopes and dreams, and our teachers will walk through how to make people’s dreams come true in a classroom setting so everyone can learn together. What kind of dreams can be solved by CSS? Move your sidebar to the other side, add a new border around all your photos, hide elements from being displayed — dream big. Led by Kathryn Presner and Michelle Langston in Portland, and by Kathryn Presner and Erick Hitter in Phoenix.
Portland & Phoenix, 30 minutes

The full session schedules are posted on the city event pages for Portland and Phoenix. Don’t forget, your ticket includes a year of the WordPress.com Premium upgrade or the VaultPress backup bundle, so get your ticket today!

Drafts: Dead Ends or Hidden Gems?

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Let’s talk drafts. Do you ever peek at them and wonder why you didn’t press publish? For some reason, I always ignored my drafts folder, but recently one of the titles caught my attention and I realized I was on to a great idea when I started the post. I don’t remember why I abandoned it, but I opened that baby up and finished. I think it came down to timing, I just wasn’t feeling it back then.  Sometimes it can be a touchy topic, and I need to sleep on it before I commit. Often times, in that situation, it just feels great to get thoughts out of my head… and then I end up deleting it. But the overall experience motivated me to check out my other drafts as well. Some are hits, others still need to cook a bit.

My takeaway is that I’m going to use my drafts folder as a holding place for ideas that aren’t quite fleshed out. I can start the posts, add in my thoughts, and when I’m ready – or in need of some content ideas – I’ll have a head start!

How do you handle your drafts? Do you delete them or pick up and finish?

Poetry in Motion

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Are you a poet who doesn’t know it?

WordPress.com’s Blogging U begins its Writing 201: Poetry class tomorrow. Lasting 2 weeks (with weekends off), each day the course will provide a prompt for a poetic experiment that you can share with other class members via your blog and discuss on the private course site, the Commons. Despite the 201 label, you don’t need any specific writing experience, just an interest in trying poetry for yourself in a no-pressure environment. If you miss a day, nothing bad happens. 🙂

To prove how painless it is to try out a Blogging U course, I’m signing up myself. Will it be potentially embarrassing to share poetry on my personal blog? Yes, possibly. I’m not a poet by any stretch, as evidenced by the Doctor Who-themed song I posted once that was a result of a Coursera songwriting course.

Based on what I’ve seen in the Blogging U Commons from past courses — I’ve not taken one myself yet, I’ll be a newbie just like you! — I have a feeling that it will be a lot more fun than the student assignment forums in that Coursera songrwriting course, where people seemed to be really anxious about “getting it right” and tended to sound really stressed out. In the Blogging U Commons, everyone is there to have fun, learn a little something, and create blog posts in the process.

Who’s up for 2 weeks of writing poems? Silly or serious, anything goes. Will you take the challenge and join me in Writing 201: Poetry for the next two weeks?

I leave you with a poem that was written by a trumpet player in my high school band that has stuck with me for going on 30 years now:

Roses are red
Violets are blue
You think this will rhyme
But it won’t

Blogging U logo 
Sign up for Writing 201: Poetry now!

(And tell me in the comments on this post so I can keep an eye out for you in the Commons!)