Strategery

Why do you blog? Some people have goals about how many blogs they will visit and comment on, how many link backs they will make every week, and how many how many how many.

I tried that. For about a month.

It was stressing me out, and making it hard for me to want to write here.

At the University of Florida (and I suspect it is similar in most colleges), there were two main plazas that most everyone walked through on their treks from the dorms/parking lots to their classes. The Hari Krishnas would serve yummy vegetarian glop for a dollar donation on Fridays. The "Redcoats" would stand up on buckets in their maroon suit coats and yell at the girls in short shorts that they were the whores of all the earth, and the boys were informed their fornication would lead to their everlasting damnation, etc. And usually Yoga Guy was out there on his mat, too.

It was a rare day where I wouldn't see someone that I knew as I walked through. The plazas were a place to hang out and relax, a place to listen to people argue, a place to lay under the trees and look at the clouds or just lean up against a tree and read.

Blogs are that same type of thing for me. I'm on my way to email, or renew my seriously overdue library books, but I take a few minutes to hang out with you guys on my way there.

That's what I'm going for on my blog. I haven't checked my new visitors vs. returning visits, duration of visit, how the person got here. I understand that such stats would be useful if this were a business. But it's not. This is where I hangout. Stay as long as you like. Come back when you can. I'm not worried about it.

I comment when I'm interested in the topic and have something to say. When I follow someone, it's not part of my master plan to have X number of followers by X date. I follow someone because they intrigue me in some way.

I understand the usefulness of branding and online presence. I think it's great for people who can think like that, but it freezes me up. The blog is fun. That's my motivation.

Why do you blog?

Thanks for reading and commenting. Getting your take on things is the best part! 
Glutton for Punishment?

Branding: This is How it's Done.

So this post was supposed to be a quick plug for PARANORMALCY, so I can have a chance to win a free copy. But then I was thinking- why do I even want this book? I mean, no one I know has read it, unless you count Kiersten and I don't really know her, and she's a bit biased, isn't she? I mean, she could be just telling us it's a great book.

So what am I basing my hopes about this book on? First, Kiersten's blog is hysterical. She comes across in a very real way, and I think we could be friends in real life. (And I want you, dear blog friends, to know that we are friends. I love when you say hi.)

Second, the cover. Nice dress, the grass seed things in the foreground, the stormy clouds in the background. Just kidding. The real hook for me is a nice girl next door outside in a storm. There's conflict. And it fits a genre I already like.

Third, the blurb.

Sixteen-year-old Evie's job is bagging and tagging paranormals. Possessing the strange ability to see through their glamours, she works for the International Paranormal Containment Agency. But when someone--or something--starts taking out the vamps, werewolves, and other odd beasties she's worked hard to help become productive members of society, she's got to figure it out before they all disappear and the world becomes utterly normal.

Normal is so overrated.

I love the phrase 'bagging and tagging'- like she's a scientist measuring the wolf population. I want a 'Save the Vampires' sticker for my car. Ok, I don't like bumperstickers, but I would slap on a window decal in a heartbeat.

Fourth, I just read Lips Touch, Kiersten's latest book recommendation, and I loved it. I wished each of the three stories was a full length novel, actually. And the art inside was gorgeous. Which makes me trust her a little. Maybe she knows what makes a good book. We shall see.

There've been some good blog posts out there on branding. Try here with Tribal Writer and here at the Querytracker.net blog.

Anything else to add, blog friends? What makes you want to read someone's book/stalk them in a totally fun and lighthearted way?
Glutton for Punishment?