You Might Recall
Tully said on the phone last night that people do things and then sort of hold their breath waiting to see whether Liz would let this one go through . . . Oh no!!! I did it again!
You might recall that last week, it was Tuesday. Tully posted a meme that was astoundingly clever and stunningly well-thought. He had found a way to get bloggers to ask relevant questions in such a way that the question would be answered by a blogger who knew the answer, and the answer would be written on a blog where such an answer belonged. That’s no small feat if you think about it.
Without planning, some guy might ask a question, the blogger who answers would write the answer on his or her blog. How likely is it that the blog will be about the same topic as the question? Not very likely considering how much bloggers like to help.
Ah, but Tully figured how, in the construction of his meme to avoid questions being asked of a blogger who had a blog where an answer didn’t belong. Voila!
I only had one problem. I needed the directions called out. So I sent a question back to Tully in answer to his question. I know, you’re not supposed to answer a question with a question. Sorry. It was called the One Question, One Question blog. Tully answered with the One Question, One Answer – How To
And now that I know how to . . .
I move the One Question, One Answer meme further along.
My Question, My Answer
The question that Tully passed me is a good question, I think. You’ll understand why I say “I think,” and not “I know” when you read my answer, well sort of.
Tully’s question:
Liz, as a full-time/professional blogger, a great deal of your day is spent reading other blogs (direct or via RSS feed), commenting, and blogging – you no doubt have a system that you have been developing for some time now that works well for you.
What ADVICE would you give to relatively new bloggers who are feeling swamped yet only have limited time to read, comment, and blog?
My answer:
Wow! There’s a hidden assumption in that question. It’s that the bulk of my day is spent reading other blogs. I don’t know for sure that I can say that is true, It’s certainly not true every day. Some days the bulk of my day is spent talking to bloggers via voice. Hmmmmm.
Where do we get this notion that we have to read every good blog? I can’t read every great book ever written. I can’t listen to every wonderful piece of music ever composed. I can’t watch every play, see every sunrise, enjoy every movie, attend every concert, taste every wonderful wine, or meet every person I might want to meet before my time is up. I’m only one person and to try to do more than one person can do is silly at best and leaning toward downright disastrous if I tried.
Writing is my work. I build my day around that. I pick the times during the day that I write most effectively and that’s when I write. I keep a list of a limited number of bloggers that I find inspire me. I read them in between the articles that I write. On Thursdays and Fridays, I read all of the posts of the week from many bloggers — it’s more efficient than switching from blog to blog every day. I often read late at night when all of the bloggers have long since gone to sleep.
I only comment when an important thought comes to me or when I have something I want to communicate. Sometimes what I might have commented turns into a post that I link back.
There you go, Tully. Not the answer that you’d expect, but then you expected that by now, I suppose. 🙂
My turn to pass on a question and the How to rules to the next blogger.
Roger von Oech You are Tagged
Here’s what you do.
Read Tully’s how to rules for the One Question, One Answer Meme and then if they work for you link to them when you answer this question for me.
How do you feel when you are in a place where you cannot be creative? What do you do to keep your spirit going at times like that?
–ME “Liz” Strauss
Related
One Question, One Question, 1/2 Meme . . . Overly Started, But Not Begun
Liz, you never cease to amaze me. I has assumed that you spent all of your time at your laptop commenting on readers of your blog.
With the amount of feedback you get and how fast you reply, I just pictured you sitting in a comfortable, ergonomic desk and chair with all of the creature comforts readily available.
Talking all day!? Who would have guessed?
Hi Jesse,
I’m so laughing. Anyone who’s spent time on the phone with realizes that it’s hard to get me to get off. 🙂
I’m so not surprised that you turned that question upside down.:)
Problogger recently asked people why they unsubscribe from an RSS feed, and I expected answers like boring/no value/uninspiring (basically, what my answers would be), etc. But NO! “Too many posts” topped the list. Huh?
And then I realized that many bloggers just don’t enjoy what they’re doing, and reading/commenting at other blogs is just another task, rather than creative fuel. What a depressing thought.
-j
Hi John,
I have this feeling I’d have to go a long time to surprise you.
I know what you mean about bloggers getting caught in the “have to” loop. So many folks I’ve trained just never got taught how to decide what was quality and what they could toss. So they try to keep everything and wear themselves out.
It is depressing. Fewer conversations going deeper is way more fun than french fries every day. 🙂
Sounds like you’ve got a great work plan, Liz! It’s never easy to keep up all the tasks that a blogger needs to do. I suppose each one of us have to explore, improve, and fine tune as we go along. And I’m not midway there yet! 🙁
Hi Renée!
You get so much done on all of your blogs and manage to have a real life too! You are the amazing one in my book. 🙂
You must be kidding me, Liz!
There are a lot of things I’ve yet to put into finalization mode. For example, my ebooks never seem to finish. And I’m lagging way behind on my goal setting plan, I’m so embarrassed of myself. Looking at you guys accomplish so many great things just make me feel like the lazy one here.
What real life, Liz? *she’s kidding you* 😉
Hi!
Somehow, I guess you’re human like the rest of us. 🙂
Liz, anyone who has spent time on the phone with you, quickly realizes just how engaging a conversation with you is! If I remember correctly, our 2min conversation on the ‘how to’ for this turned into a 30min conversation of a different topic….
Also, thanks for the answer Liz! It may or may have not been the answer I was looking for, however, it does give us a glimpse into your world and how you go about creating your space.
You are one of the masters, which means that you make it look easy.. hence the assumptions that are created.
Oh, and I’ll let the double question slide given that you were the first one tagged.. 😉
Hey Tully,
Does it really count as a double question or is it just a clarification of the original question? I worried over that for a while and then I decided to go for it.
Thank you, I think, for your kindness in putting up with the fact that I talk a lot. It’s not that I make it look easy. It’s that I refuse to let it be hard. 🙂
Now, that is the added little kicker to the whole thing – you get ONE question and one answer. If clarification is needed, doesn’t that mean that the question is not specific enough and could likely be re-written to BE specific?
See, you have your fun, and I have mine!
And yes, I do realize that MY question was not as specific as it could have been. 🙁 Good thing we’re in on the ground level and can get away with newbie mistakes, eh? 😉
Liz, I do believe that there were two of us on the phone off on some tangent, far, far away from the original topic. Heck, if it wasn’t for Bob, who knows how long we would have gone on for!
Hey,
I think you care more about the rules than you do about the people. I object!!! Your honor!!
A clarification IS part of a question. I say it stands as one!
I’m thinking that Robert might have been on your payroll as well as my brothers’. Hmmmm It’s an interesting premise. 🙂
HA! Ok, then lets say you can have clarification as PART OF a question, as long as you only use one “?”. You get your clarification, and I get my single question… Didn’t we cover ‘detailed people’ in our phone call? 😉
Hi Tully!
Did we cover detailed people in our phone call? How would I know? We know I’m not one and I didn’t take notes . . . darn, I missed that detail.
Was that a main idea? Uh-oh!!!
I think that ‘The Greatest Meme Of All Time!’ has died on the second tag… Thoughts?
William hang in there. Mr. von Oech, who is much more thoughtful and talented than I did email me about this. I believe he’s in the procss of moving his piece along.