PSA: Blogging and Personality

 

I am writing this post because it struck my fancy, that's it. No deep revelations about the human condition will be revealed. You won't learn how to attract 10,000 followers with "this one simple rule". You certainly won't make any money out of this. And finally, to be honest, you might not even be happy by the end of this post. So with all of that out of the way, let's get on with things!

Personality 101: How to have one.

First off, I realize I am not the most qualified to be speaking on this subject. I tend to the narcissistic and thus make everything about me. I have followed people like myself and had to stop because their ego was too big and I didn't like it. So I understand if people feel the same way about me.

But that is where personality as a blogger comes in. You may not like me, you may not follow me, but if you've interacted with me, you will not forget that experience. I have Blogging Personality.

The thing with blogging personality is that you have to have your own. You have to create it, grow it, be it. You can't copy it from someone else. If you do, you are a phoney and it will come crashing down at some point as the weight of being someone else will crush you to death. Being yourself is hard enough, so don't make it harder. Even if you are one of those bloggers who do nothing but follow the herd and read the same books as everyone, watch the same movies as everyone, do the same blogging prompts as everyone, you can still stand out and not be a little bowl of vanilla pudding that tastes like nothing and just sits there and jiggles.

Jifflypuff

You don't have to be a lion and dominate the scene. You can be a quiet, gentle lamb. But you have to be unique. That means having an opinion about something and sticking to it. Don't hem and haw and try to please everybody. You don't have to go out of your way to offend people, but remember, it is YOUR blog and everyone else can go slag off.

Now where do your opinions come from? Your mind of course. So think. Think for yourself. Don't parrot everybody around you. The world is filled with idiots and sadly, the world includes bloggers. If you remember that most bloggers are idiots, it will help you examine what they are saying and force you to think for yourself instead of just regurgitating their idiotic pap.

I hope this post has been helpful to you. If not, I will gladly refund your money. Or throw you in a big bowl of vanilla pudding. People pay to watch that kind of thing, so I bet I could clean house with a Pay-Per-View of you sloshing around in a swimming pool of vanilla pudding while an alligator tried to eat you!

PSA: Turn OFF the Block Editor Comments

In case you hadn’t noticed, WordPress.com decided to shove the block editor down our throats in our comments section. I know, I know. Huge swathes of the community were calling for this. The majority of users needed this. In fact, the world as we know it would end in a fiery cataclysmic fireball if WordPress.com hadn’t instituted this life saving change.

If you would like to turn this option off and make your comment section be the same as it has been for years, if not decades, you will need to go to: https://wordpress.com/settings/discussion/ and turn off the “Enable Blocks in comments” item. I have put up a picture and highlighted everything in angry red to help you.

If you are fine with the block editor in your comments then you don’t need to do anything.

PSA: WP Updates

Recognize that monstrosity? You should. WordPress introduced it a couple of months ago and when they did, they made no provision to turn it off. I know, because I asked. The useless “engineers” assured me that when the option came to be able to turn it off, I’d be notified. What a bunch of liars.

Because I was poking around the guts of all my settings and came across a new option. One that turns that big monstrosity off. Here:
https://wordpress.com/settings/newsletter

Click off the two options: “Enable popup subscriber” & “Display subscription suggestion after comment”. Then people who comment on your blog won’t be annoyed by that big fat monstrosity.

I hope this post has been informative and helpful.

PSA: Wordpress: We Need Ads, Lots and Lots of Ads

Beginning in April, WordPress began an experiment with adding 3-5 times as many ads as normal to the free sites. Ostensibly it was supposed be towards making them more self-sufficient, but I remain skeptical. Here is the link to the Help Forums where members began bringing this to the attention of the staff, and staff’s response.

Help Forum: More Ads Than Normal

I’ve been keeping an eye on the thread and it appears that what is happening is going to be the new normal for all free blogs. So not only are “new” free blogs being neutered but all free blogs are going to end up looking like clickbait hotels. There are screen shots within the thread above to verify that assertion.

Much like other changes that WordPress has made, they are doing all that they can to see what the outcry is and then walk it back until it subsides. But make no mistake, if you are on a free plan at wordpress, they now consider you excess baggage and will be using and treating you accordingly.

Adblockers on most browsers should help mitigate this, but with more and more people using their phones to view the internet, it’s not as simple as it used to be. Just be aware that this is happening. I recommend taking a look at your own site in incognito mode (or whatever the anonymous version is called in your browser of choice) to see if it has happened to you yet.

PSA: How To Read 100+ Books A Year

I was “exploring” on WordPress the other month and came across Ahaquir and his blog, Books of Brilliance. He had done a post on how many books an average person in the UK or the US read and I found it interesting. I left a comment, as I usually do and he asked me if I would be interested in writing a guest post detailing how I manage to read 100-150 books a year. If you follow me (and if you don’t, here’s a Quick Primer on Me) you know I have been able to keep this kind of reading pace up for years. I was looking at my Calibre Library (which is a great way to manage your reviews offline if you are so inclined) and noticed that I started reading 100 books in 2006 and haven’t looked back since.

In the interest of “fairness”, because there are people out there who are picky and will be quick to discredit anyone, anytime over any issue for any reason, I must note that I include individual short stories if I read them as standalones and not part of a collection (say from a writer’s website) as well as manga and individual comic books. To compensate for this, I also track the number of pages read as well as the number of words read. So that gives me 3 metrics to measure by, That’s a lot of work and not something most people are going to do, but I wanted you to know how I do things 😀

My method is Simple, but it is not Easy. It is not for everyone and if it is not for you, then you need to be strong enough to admit it. Otherwise you will beat your head against the wall and cause yourself nothing but frustration and possibly anger and that defeats the whole purpose of reading for fun. So without further ado, here is my magic list of how to Read 100+ Books in a Year.

• Make Time For Reading
  -You can do this by the following:
• Turn off the tv
  -seriously. If you watch movies or shows on your laptop, turn that off too. Or your phone.
• Delete your Social Media accounts
  -not just don’t use them, but delete them. If you have trained yourself to go watch kitty videos on Communist-tok or Youtube, that temptation will be too great to overcome. You will have to go cold turkey and it will take time to re-train your brain to accept activities in chunks of time greater than 5 minutes. This is not a diss to those who do such things, but a cold reality.
• Reduce time spent on your other hobbies
  -Do you knit? Play video games? Play card or board games? Cook? Realize that you have to juggle all of them and if reading is the most important hobby to you, give it the time it needs
• ALWAYS carry reading material with you
  -In the spring through fall, I carry my kindle Oasis everywhere I go. When I walk out the door, I check that I have my wallet, my keys, my phone, my insulin pump/meter and my kindle. For the 6 months of winter we have here in New England, I make sure I have a paper book that I can read at a moment’s notice anywhere, anytime.
• When in a social situation, always choose reading over people.
  -People come and go but you only have that year to read those 100 books. Priorities, priorities, priorities.
• Finally, hang out with readers
  -You are influenced, for good or bad, by those you spend time with. Choose people, whether online or in real life, who will help you towards that 100+ goal and not hinder you.

Now, while this has all been slightly tongue in cheek, reading 100+ books a year is completely up to you and within your power. It is not for everyone though. Some people are just too social and they NEED more interaction with people. I have been blessed with an introspective misanthropy, so that’s not a problem for me. But maybe you are one of those poor benighted people who is just full of sunshine and rainbows and loves being around and interacting with people. Then you need to admit that weakness to yourself and accept it. Just like I accept that when I go grocery shopping, I can’t reach the top shelf. There is no shame as long as you accept responsibility for your own shortcomings.

Whether this post helps you to read more or not, I hope it has opened your eyes to the fact that reading is completely within your grasp. There is no magic short cut. You have to put in the time. But you can do it. So go forth and read!

And a big thankyou again to Ahaquir for giving me the shove needed to write this out.

• All of My PSA Posts