The last month or so of my life has passed in something of a whirlwind of important events, study and insomnia! I managed to miss an exam due to illness so I’m still studying, but I don’t think any more [...]]]> Photo Credit

The last month or so of my life has passed in something of a whirlwind of important events, study and insomnia! I managed to miss an exam due to illness so I’m still studying, but I don’t think any more of my friends are planning on getting married in the next few months, and hopefully my immune system has managed to recover itself. As for the insomnia, I think I’m just going to have to get used to the experience of a warm summer!

I have:

* Discovered that Converse really are amazingly comfortable, and wondered why I hadn’t embraced them sooner!

* Had an amazing time at a fabulous wedding, indulged in many in-jokes, drank a ridiculous amount of vodka and loved every minute of it!

* Gained a taste for Polish food, and bison-grass vodka mixed with apple juice.

* Ordered a new laptop which will hopefully help re-ignite my blogging somewhat (plus give me the ability to watch cat videos in the living room smoothly and clearly without wearing down my phone battery.

* Significantly improved my life with the purchase of new pillows.

* Impulse-purchased far too many Kindle books.

* Cleared my head a little.

My Google reader is nicely up to date (though I’m sure this will slip again) and I’m feeling happy and inspired!

It’s getting in the way of everything at the moment!

I have a couple of exams coming up, so when I’m not at work, I’m studying, and in the midst of all of that arranging a trip to Poland [...]]]> Photo Credit

It’s getting in the way of everything at the moment!

I have a couple of exams coming up, so when I’m not at work, I’m studying, and in the midst of all of that arranging a trip to Poland to see an old friend get married.

My Google reader states I have 1000+ posts to read and I can’t seem to make a dent in it. If it wasn’t for the Boy doing far more than his fair share of the housework at the moment, the flat would be positively vile right now! Almost all of my time is spoken for, and not by blogging.

I will be back, properly, soon. I promise! xx

I realise the picture isn’t really that related to the subject of this post, but I thought it was cute.

I realise this is a subject that’s been Photo Credit

I realise the picture isn’t really that related to the subject of this post, but I thought it was cute.

I realise this is a subject that’s been covered by other bloggers, but one of the things I love about blogging is talking about it, so I wanted to add my views to the mix. I may not be an expert on blogging itself, but my RSS reader is full to bursting and reading blogs is a major part of my daily routine.

A few weeks ago now, a very prominent blogger turned off her comments. Others have done this in the past, some with more of a fanfare than others, but in this instance it had a hugeimpact on how I view her blog. Previously, it was a great community. The comments were just as interesting as the posts, and at times the insight of the readers was more useful than the information in the post itself. Overall though, she had a real community amongst her fans and although attempts have been made to maintain that community on Facebook, so far it just isn’t the same as it was when readers were able to comment and exchange ideas on her posts. My personal opinion is that this community was too valuable to “sacrifice”.

I also think it’s a bit of a shame as I “discovered” some of my favourite blogs through her comments, and it’s a shame this source of new reading material is no more!

I feel I must reiterate here that I don’t consider myself an  authority on anything blogging related, and that I would not presume to tell anyone how to run their own site. Everyone is free to run their sites as they wish and shouldn’t be “reprimanded” for admin decisions that don’t suit everyone, I’m just sharing my reaction, as a reader, to bloggers turning off the comment function.

For me, some blogs “work” without comments. A blog consisting entirely of outfit posts for example, in my opinion can even benefit from a lack of comments. It shows that the blogger isn’t “fishing for compliments” and allows them to avoid the kind of negative feedback that can so easily be posted on this type of blog. Since the vast majority of comments on this type of post are simple compliments on the outfit, which, whilst nice to receive, don’t add any value to the post and don’t really inspire much conversation other than thanks, I really don’t miss the comments on posts such as these, and I rarely read them when they are there.

Similarly if your blog is obviously a diary, written for you rather than for an audience, that just happens to be public, then I think turning off the comments (or making it so that only friends can comment) helps to reinforce that distinction.

Posts containing instructional information however, such as tips for… anything really, I think lose a lot when there’s no reader participation. After all, what works for one may not work so well for another, so it’s good to know when others agree with the information before you act upon it. Similarly, I always look to the comments on review posts, as sometimes one blogger’s experience of a product or service is not representative of the usual quality.

In general though, I think once you remove the interactivity of a blog, it has to be reallygood to keep me reading. For me, conversation and the ability to respond instantly is such an integral part of reading blogs that when that’s taken away, my interest often wanes. I may have a love of all things electronic, but I’d much rather read a glossy, tactile “old fashioned” magazine with professional photography and copy than it’s Online , amateur equivalent. I know that sounds quite harsh, and that there are bloggers out there who produce content just as good if not better than that which is featured on the pages of Grazia and Vogue, but I’m a big fan of the printed word, and it’s really the interactive aspect of blogging that draws me away from my preferred format.

That’s my 2p on the issue anyway! What do you think? Does turning off the comments function turn you off reading a blog?

I haven’t quite finished playing around with the look and feel of the site yet, but things are coming together so I thought I would post a rundown of the changes that I’ve made so far. I’m not happy with the final look, [...]]]>

I haven’t quite finished playing around with the look and feel of the site yet, but things are coming together so I thought I would post a rundown of the changes that I’ve made so far. I’m not happy with the final look, (I’m still not sure I like it being quite so pink for example) so it will probably keep evolving for a long time, possibly until I can afford to pay someone to create something more professional-looking. If anyone knows anyone starting out with really cheap rates, please feel free to pass me their details!

* Graphics – If I’ve learned one thing since starting this redesign, it’s that I have very little artistic talent. Right now the “artistic vision” behind the site design boils down to a simple “I bought a few stock images and I like stars”. In fact, much of the time I spent on this involved finding the font I wanted to use.  I intend to use it in post headings as well as the top banner, and any printed material such as business cards that I may eventually get around to creating.

* Advertising – I have now removed all graphical adverts from the sidebars. They weren’t generating much revenue (certainly not enough for me to reach payout levels any time soon) they were just slowing the site down and looking ugly, so they had to go. As soon as I deleted them the page began loading much faster! I still have some text links in there. Unlike the bigger column ads I do get some regular revenue from them, which I must calculate at some point to see if I’ve achieved my target of covering my hosting costs.

* Layout – With the ads gone there seemed, to me at least, to be too much sidebar content to fit into one bar, but not enough for two side-by-side, as it made the site look off-kilter somehow. (I’m not a designer, I don’t know how to talk about these things properly!) Going back to a sidebar at each side seems to have balanced the page out better though again, knowing me, I might change my mind later and mess around with it again!

If anyone has any suggestions regarding any of the above, please let me know – creating logos and graphics is something I’ve never studied in depth so some input from someone with a better “eye” than me, or more educated on the subject would be more than welcomed!

Right now I have quite a backlog of unfinished posts, and the main reason many of them remain unfinished is that I lack the appropriate pictures to go with the words – particularly opening or titular images. [...]]]> Photo Credit

Right now I have quite a backlog of unfinished posts, and the main reason many of them remain unfinished is that I lack the appropriate pictures to go with the words – particularly opening or titular images. Because of this, I have decided to take a break (or possibly semi-break if inspiration suddenly hits) from posting to work on developing a set of title graphics that can be used with frequent and / or upcoming posts and also to create a matching header for the blog.

I don’t think it’ll take long, but I’m immensely busy for the next week or so, particularly at the weekend, and I’m not a graphic designer by trade or particular talent, so I wouldn’t like to take a guess right now on how much of my time this little project will eat up.

Creating a more cohesive style for this blog is something I’ve been meaning to do for a long time, and I’m hoping a prettier, more professional-looking space will make me want to write even more!

This week I have some links to share that have been exceedingly valuable and inspiring to me recently.

Freelance Writing

Rachel Phipps’ blog features an excellent article; “Photo Credit

This week I have some links to share that have been exceedingly valuable and inspiring to me recently.

Freelance Writing

• Rachel Phipps’ blog features an excellent article; “How to Set Your Freelance Writing Career in Motion: 11 Tips to Get You Started“. If you’re interested in freelance writing this is a must-read, and be sure to check out all the links too, there’s some really valuable resources there.
• Yes and Yes’ “How to Rock Freelance Writing” is also a wonderful resource, interview-style with some great insider tips.

Blogging

• “Clever Blogging Tools of the Trade” is yet another brilliant post from one of my favourite blogs, Frock and Roll. Corrine has also started a new series of posts; “The Blogger’s Guide To Search Engine Optimisation: The Non-Confusing Way!” which is a really great guide, very useful if, like me, you want to try “proper” SEO on your blog but don’t have the time to study all the ins and outs of it. Part 2 is here.
• Kikolani also has a guide to help you “Increase Traffic and Authority by Listing Your Blog“, which is an excellent starting point for  blog promotion.

As you might have guessed, I’ve been thinking about blogging and writing a lot this week, and I’m working on quite a few things “behind the scenes” at the moment, including those design tweaks I’ve been talking about for months – they will appear at some point!

What’s inspiring you this week?

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Photo Credit

In the last few months this blog has gone through a bit of a “dry spell” in terms of content, mostly due to the amount of time I’ve had to devote to [...]]]>

Photo Credit

In the last few months this blog has gone through a bit of a “dry spell” in terms of content, mostly due to the amount of time I’ve had to devote to my course. It’s made me really think about where I want to go with the site though, and I’ve decided that a major overhaul is in order.

* My Own Photography- I see so many gorgeous images in blogs / sites like weheartit and flickr and I think now is the time to try my hand at creating some myself, so I hope that there will be fewer borrowed images and more original ones shortly.

* More Personal Posts- I’m not planning on turning this into a diary, I have a much-neglected livejournal for that, but I’ve had some experiences in my time that would make good blog posts, and I’d like to share them with others.

* Style / Fashion Posts – I have a bit of an odd relationship with fashion, which deserves and will get a post of it’s own, but I read and enjoy quite a few style blogs and I love clothes, shoes, accessories, makeup, etc. so I’d like to try writing about style in my own way. I’m not sure I’ll be posting outfit photos anytime soon, but maybe some day I’ll have the confidence to do so.

* Food – It’s one of my favourite things and the few recipes I’ve posted here seem to be amongst the most popular posts in the archives. Now that I have a little more time to experiment in the kitchen, I hope to have some delicious creations to share.

* Geeky Things – Because, well, I’m a nerd and I like talking about techie stuff I wish I could afford, Online topics, fabulously geeky TV shows, etc.

* Books – My first love, long before I became a computer geek, now that I have time to read more I might as well share the book love!

Of course, the new content won’t be limited to just these topics, I basically plan to start writing on a wider variety of topics and putting a bit more of me into it. I think somewhere along the way I lost sight of the fact that primarily, I blog because I love writing, and the most important thing is to keep enjoying it. It took an enforced break for me to realise it, but now that I have, I feel refreshed and full of ideas!

Is there anything you think I should be writing about? Anything I’ve mentioned in passing that I should expand on? Let me know!

This is a quick announcement to say that I will no longer be advertising posts here on my personal twitter account, @Vixel, but on a new account reserved entirely for post [...]]]> Photo Credit

This is a quick announcement to say that I will no longer be advertising posts here on my personal twitter account, @Vixel, but on a new account reserved entirely for post announcements and occasional other blog-related matters:

@sparkleposts

Of course, I still welcome followers of my personal account, but that will be for general life updates. If your primary reason for following me was for the blog updates, please follow @sparkleposts to continue receiving these.

Thank you!