Blogging Bomb Diggity: 20 Beguiling Years, 5 Basic Guidelines, & 3 Breezy Questions

April 16, 2024April 16, 2024 / Ally Bean / 283 Comments

Steve!!!

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Sometimes I feel cuckoo banana pants about long I’ve been around blogland. I started my first personal blog 20 years ago this spring never imagining I’d write one for more than a year or two.

However my life took a few unexpected turns and I kept going, changing weblogs, refining my focus, learning how to write in a chatty way. Carrying on, in what I’d describe as a Steve-like fashion, despite my doubts and mistakes.

At this point I’m glad I was tenacious. I’ve come to realize that writing this blog keeps my brain clicking and my heart open. Also, my no-fuss approach to blogging means it is, for the most part, fun.

Occasionally someone will ask me, a blogging dinosaur, what I’ve learned about how to keep a personal blog. Over the years my answers have varied, evolved, but can be summarized in the following 5 guidelines.

I base my straightforward guidelines on the premise that a personal blog is about sharing stories/information, creating understanding, and being respectful toward other people.

As with everything in life, your mileage may vary.

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5 basic GUIDELINES FOR WRITING A PERSONAL BLOG

Be specific. Life is in the details so share some. Have an opinion or point of view. Do some research. Ambiguity doesn’t make for compelling blog posts.

Be authentic. Have a personality and have the gumption to use it. Avoid anything that might come across as fake or spurious, readers respond to the real deal.

Be meticulous. Your goal is clear communication, so define your terms, use mostly proper grammar and sentence structure, add a little wordy razzle dazzle to keep it fresh. Reply in a timely fashion to comments left on your blog posts.

Be creative. Add something visual to your posts. Find a meme or snap a pic or use colorful fonts. Jazz it up, folks, don’t settle for blah.

Be kind. Once upon a time I wouldn’t have added this last guideline, assuming it was a given. However people can be tetchy now, so be discerning about what you say and mindful about how you say it.

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Clearly I underestimated how long I’d be at this blogging thing.

I cannot say THANK YOU often enough or loudly enough to everyone who follows along and comments here on The Spectacled Bean. You, my little otters of bloggy friendship, give me the lift I need to keep going in blogland.

YOU ARE THE BEST!

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Questions of the Day

Thinking about personal blogs in general, how’d did you get hooked on them?

If you write a personal blog, what has surprised you the most in a positive way about being a blogger? And what has surprised you the most in a negative way?

If you write a personal blog, when the time comes to end it how will you do that?

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Jottings: A Thursday Morning Change Of Heart + Discerning The BS In Your Writing

March 7, 2024March 7, 2024 / Ally Bean / 241 Comments

Is this not true?

I WAS GOING TO WRITE ABOUT something different today, something that had to do with people on social media, but I got up this morning, read what I wrote, and decided that while the words flowed I don’t want to talk about people.

As in how oddly many of them are behaving lately. As in desperate to get attention by any means, often dipping into the realm of contrived moral outrage.

As in mentally unwell.

And tedious.

Crazy and unhinged even.

And here’s the thing, because I usually have a thing when I make a snap decision, I’m aware that crazy stays the course unless there’s some medical intervention. And while I’m a problem solver at heart, I am not anyone’s psychologist, thus these people and how they behave aren’t truly of interest to me.

So why talk about ’em?

As the saying goes, energy flows where attention goes.

Thus I shall put my energy and attention, and by default your energy and attention, elsewhere, laughing together as we talk about the following fun thing rather than focusing on the dubious conduct of some people.

Yes I’m rising above the hoi polloi, avoiding that which might be considered gossip, leaning into my better nature.

You with me?

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IN ALL HONESTY I DON’T KNOW how I came to be aware of the BlaBlaMeter, a bullshit detection tool, but I’m glad I did.

It’s fun, in a snorts and giggles kind of way.

Here’s what you do: the website asks you to input at least five sentences of your writing as a sample, then it determines the percentage of bologna sandwich in your writing style.

Based on my five sentences taken from HERE, you can see that my writing style scores extremely low on the BS scale. I was told, and am taking pride in knowing that, my score was a mere 0.09% and that my “text shows no or marginal indications of ‘bullshit’-English.”

[An aside: Interestingly enough when I input five sentences from the one time I used ChatGPT to write THIS, the BlahBlahMeter judged that story to be 0.19% and to show a few indications of ‘bullshit’-English.]

Thus I’ll end this post by suggesting that if you are so moved, give the BlahBlahMeter a whirl using your own writing to see what happens.

Make of it what you will.

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Jane! Stop This Crazy Thing! 7 Random Things To Tell You On A Wednesday

February 21, 2024April 25, 2024 / Ally Bean / 268 Comments

The Jetsons predicted the future more accurately than we ever could have imagined.

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1. I am nuts. I woke up remembering that in my dream an arrogant man told me I was a condescending cannoli. Where the heck did that thought come from? It makes no sense, I’m not a cannoli. However I admit I am tempted to start a new blog with that title, just to see who’d show up to read what a haughty Italian pastry had to say.

2. I am delighted. I stumbled over this website that features 25 rarely seen photos from The Sound of Music film set. If you are able to look at these photos, snapped in Austria, and not start singing “Doe, a deer, a female deer | Ray, a drop of golden sun…” then you’re AI, not human.

3. I am laughing. I follow a few humorous accounts on Instagram [that I believe might also be available on other social media]. I’m entertained by: Call Me Kristen Marie who gently mocks her Boomer mother; Peaches ‘n Diesel who does a brilliant send-up of the fashion industry; and Lisa Pedace whose uptight sketch comedy characters are spot on. Never say I don’t share the best with you, my bloggy friends.

4. I am encouraged. Over the years I’ve read numerous articles and books about how to be a better writer. Usually I shrug off the advice, not because I’m so accomplished but because the advice seems dithery and vague. However this article, a simple list of 40 things, spoke to me because it got to the point and as such may help me.

5. I am flummoxed. A friend whose opinion I respect told me that she’s noticed that I’m less snarky than I used to be, that I seem to be, of all things, nicer than I once was. Putting aside the fact that I dislike the word “nice” I’m sorry to say I fear she’s right. I don’t know how this has happened, but I feel I owe an apology to anyone who started reading this blog because I was sassy.

6. I am watching. We started watching Death and Other Details on Hulu. It isn’t the most compelling TV mystery show I’ve ever seen [Endeavour, the prequel to the Inspector Morse series, might win that prize], but if you like brain candy and enjoy seeing lavish sets, in this case on a Mediterrean ocean liner, this could be the show for you.

7. I am agreeing. As we slowly make our way to the end of winter here in the northern hemisphere, my soul is tired and this idea resonates loudly with me. Nature. Magic. Truth. Yes, more of these, please.

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QUESTIONS OF THE DAY

So what do you think, have I gotten too nice here? Should I lean into being more snarky again, bring back the sass? Go full on condescending cannoli, whatever that means?

Do you like to watch movies that are musicals? Do you watch TV mystery series? If so to either question, what do you recommend we watch next?

In general do you appreciate writing advice? It’s everywhere anymore with about a zillion books/websites available on the topic, yet I still wonder if all advice is equally useful or if some of it is self-absorbed gibberish?

How’s your soul doing? Need a little pick-me-up like mine?

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A Potpourri Of Pipsqueaks & Problems & Poems, Oh My

October 17, 2023 / Ally Bean / 225 Comments

The Pipsqueak Part – So Much Energy, I Had To Laugh

In the mornings after I wake up my ritual is to brew a pot of coffee, pour myself a mug of the stuff, and [when possible] go outside to drink it whilst gazing upon nature, absorbing the stillness of morning.

Being at one with the universe, dagnabbit.

However the other morning at about 7:20 am, as I’m communing with nature sitting on the deck at the back of our house, I hear noise. It’s a loud unfamiliar sound coming from the front of the house.

What am I hearing?

It’s the kids, the little twerps, kindergartners mostly, in front of our house waiting for the school bus to pick them up. And they are all howling like wolf pups, loudly, with gusto.

Which has prompted neighborhood dogs in backyards, like Irene [Great Dane], and Cookie [Dalmatian], and Rocco [Beagle-ish pound puppy] to join in with the little human wolf puppies, howling louder than the kids.

Creating a glorious cacophony, that while unexpected, got me laughing so hard I almost spilled the coffee in my mug.

And that would never do.

The Problem Part – In Which We Mourn A Loss

After 12 years of service our furnace died. We knew the end was coming but buying a new one isn’t exactly the most exciting use of money. Nonetheless with a loud *sigh* we got a new one.

The new furnace, like its predecessor, is in our unfinished basement. The installation took most of a day and went smoothly under the auspices of a guy I shall call Jake. He was quiet, knowledge, and seemed to have endless energy.

Welp, once the furnace was hooked up Jake had us follow him into the basement so he could explain the new furnace, as in parts and filters, and to show us the new sticker with his name on it saying that he’d installed the furnace.

Every time a maintenance tech comes to service the furnace they leave their initials on the official permanent sticker that starts with the name of the guy who installed it.

Very organized.

But here’s the thing, the unexpected turn in what we assumed would be a standard conversation with Jake, he got choked up when talking about putting his sticker on our furnace.

Come to find out 12 years ago Jake’s beloved mentor, Tom, had installed our old furnace placing his sticker on it. And, as Jake explained, seeing Tom’s writing on the old sticker reminded Jake that Tom had recently died.

Jake was visibly bereft about Tom’s passing, on the verge of tears. Thus while Zen-Den and I politely said things like “my condolences” and “I’m sorry for your loss” Jake stopped talking entirely. Then we three stood in front of our new furnace having an impromptu minute of silence in honor of Tom.

May he rest in peace.

The Poem Part – I Gave It A Try And Here Is What I Wrote

A couple of weeks ago Kari at a grace full life wrote a poem based on an “I Am From” template [HERE]. Then after sharing her poem she politely challenged us to write our own poems.

Challenge accepted!

Below is my poem, titled in the way that Kari did hers, created by following the prompts on the template, but written using my own punctuation because, really, the punctuation on the template makes no sense.

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