Tag Archives: community

Blogging the Journey, Damsel with a Drill, You are Awesome – The Star Blogger Award nominations

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It seems this series of mine is starting to get real traction. How do I know? Well – I am receiving lots of emails through my Contact page. Majority is, of course, inquires on when I can feature certain blog (which I encourage). Then, there are compliments for what I am doing – I immensely enjoy reading those. Seems that people especially like the fact there is a prize for winning The Star Blogger Award.

Now, surprisingly, I’ve also started receiving hate mail. The first one was a real stunner… left me wondering – how do you find material to hate on blog roundups? But now that I’ve received second hate mail it seems reasonable to expect this. One negative email for every few positive ones. So, if it makes you happy to criticize – here is my Contact page again. Give it your best shot… and at least try to make it constructive. I really can’t do much with one liners that just say I’m terrible 😉

With that out of the way – let’s go to this week’s nominees.

Blogging the Journey by Ben Garow

I’ve met Ben few months back when I was restarting my own blogging efforts. He was doing the extreme version of that with establishing bloggingthejourney.com. Through his second blog he wanted to fix what he perceived as mistakes made on the first one.

Honestly, after following his writing over last few months I don’t see that Ben is making mistakes. It’s only that standard problem of not getting enough traffic. And thus your work is not properly recognized. Kinda like title of Ben’s post – Everything is Amazing and Nobody is Happy – referencing rant by Louis CK. Blogging is amazing in a sense that so many people invest so much energy into it. But, in the end, one lifeless article buried deep on page 42 of  Washington Post will get more attention.

It’s good question if that will ever change. Regardless of answer, for me it’s clear that blogs like Ben’s are superior choice. Much better to read something someone invested his heart into; than to spend time on article that exists only because there was a deadline and free space.

Damsel with a Drill by Laura

First blog post I wrote was on how to buy a house that’s right for you. There is definitely something majestic about your first home purchase. And it better be that way considering the amount of money you are commiting to spend. One of the categories I wanted to blog about was home improvement. But 3 years later, and 10+ repairs after, I am still to muster inspiration to do so.

Looking at the great work Laura is doing, I doubt I’ll ever get into DIY blogging. It just makes more sense to link her articles and awesome photos than do those on my own. So, Laura, if you ever do a post on deck staining or water heater maintenance – count me in as collaborator! In the meantime I’ll highly recommend visiting what you write both as source of knowledge and inspiration.

You are Awesome by Angela Noel

Angela is a blogger that helps a lot in the community. She does exactly what header on her blog reads: “Celebrating Inspiring People and Interesting Ideas”.

Also, quality of Angela’s writing really stands out. With my blog – pick any post, start reading it and you’ll quickly deduce that I am not a writer. I obviously do something else for a living… and use blogging as a tool to communicate ideas and express myself.

With Angela – you can tell right away that she is aspiring author. Regardless of whether she is blogging about parenting, inspiration, society… her posts always have great titles, strong intros, with right amount intriguing questions.

Honestly, I can’t wait for her to start publishing books and travel the country on signing tours. Then I’ll get to hang on her blog and comment “I told you so” all the time. It’ll be marvelous.

Pass on nominations and vote

Please note that voting for The Star Blogger Award will likely open next week. I’ll reach out to all nominees ahead of time so everyone has time to prepare and invite supporters to vote.

Also, some of the past nominees started nominating blogs they like. This is exactly how I want this award to work. While ability to pick whoever I like is nice, it’s also quite lonely. So, I would definitely prefer to collaborate on nominations. There is much more weight in two people nominating.

Until next week!

Doodle as I do, Traci York, Ida Auclond – new blogs for The Star Blogger Award

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I promised that I’ll be posting these on Thursday. And it’s Friday… so apologies are in order. What I’ve learned though is that I need to tally votes a bit sooner (Tuesday evening). That way I’ll have more time to contact winner, arrange prize giveaway and write blog post. Let’s see if I manage to do it better in three weeks when we’ll have another poll.

My Instruction Manual, July 2017 Winner of The Star Blogger Award

It is my immense pleasure to announce that Keith won the first ever Star Blogger Award. He called his followers to vote in blog post, and that had big impact. It built him a lead that lasted until the voting ended.

Here is what Keith had to say when I presented him with The Star Blogger Award for July 2017 and $10 Amazon Gift Card prize:

Wow! I’m so grateful for everyone who voted for My Instruction Manual. It was a great honor to be recognized alongside other terrific blogs. I started My Instruction Manual to chronicle my own journey to be happier and healthier after my kidney transplant. It’s very rewarding that that others find it helpful too! Thanks to the How To Addict for giving back to the blogging community by setting up this award!

Congrats again Keith on your well deserved win! I look forward to reading your blog for many years to come!

Badge for Keith so he can brag about My Instruction Manual's win

Badge for Keith so he can brag about My Instruction Manual’s win

Doodle As I Do by Gemma

I’ve met Gemma through Reddit few months back and have been enjoying her posts ever since. Simply, Doodle As I Do is blog with terrific idea and execution. Instead of doing regular blog posts Gemma crafts a song that she then illustrates. I especially enjoy when she does it for one of her readers.

So, now that Gemma is on doodleasido.com I think it’s great time to feature her work. Plus, definitely try to stop by her Facebook page – she often organizes competitions there for her readers. Whoever wins gets custom poem and doodle! Talk about creative prizes.

Here are the posts I’ve enjoyed most:

Traci York

Another fellow blogger that I’ve met through Community Pool. Luckily, I must add, as Traci is someone who you can often helping others. She does a lot of blog promoting, all while somehow managing to keep steady schedule of Tarot, Witchy and Inspiring posts.

I’ve joked that I need to nominate her for The Star Blogger Award so she doesn’t throw a curse on me. But in all honesty, she runs great and unique blog. I for sure am intrigued by idea to spark inspiration with a spell. And the weekly tarot readings she does are definitely something you shouldn’t miss.

So, do yourself a favor and check out Traci’s blog. Here are the posts you can start with:

Ida Auclond

Tagline is: “I’m not insane. I’m a writer”. So – you’ve guessed it – Ida’s blog focuses on writing. But, like me, she often explores other unrelated topics. Thus, you get a chance to read Ida’s thoughts on fathers, hobbies and life in general.

That said I think you’ll benefit immensely be reading Ida’s posts on writing. By describing her own battles while writing novel, Ida helps the rest of us. Now, my writing is nowhere near complexity required by novels. But I still find it very useful to read her thoughts on the subject. Like how she is handling editing process and emotional ups and down of it.

I especially recommend following posts:

Comment and come back next week

As I said in the first post – I appreciate suggestions that you send through comments. Commenting and pointing out worthy blogs saves me a lot of effort and time. So, if you operate a good blog… or know someone that does – please comment below and let me know.

Related to that I wanted to give special shout-outs to:

They both took effort to nominate and spread the word about The Star Blogger Award. Truly thankful for it!

See you next week!

The Star Blogger Award nominations for July 2017

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Another week of me writing about blogs I enjoy reading. So far it’s been a great ride. I especially enjoyed last week when Crystal took part in nomination process. I am truly excited for the future and can’t wait to announce the winner next week.

For those that are new to my blog, here is quick recap. Each week I write about 3 blogs I enjoy visiting and present those to my audience. Additionally, anyone is free to nominate their own blog or blog someone they know. That is as long as that nomination follows the process of:

  1. Create a post that includes The Star Blogger Award in the title. Post must contain:
    • Paragraph that presents the blog in at least 100 words
    • Links each instance of The Star Blogger Award text back to this page
    • Nominates another 3 bloggers and links to their blog
  2. Notify nominees about The Star Blogger Award nomination through comments on their blog
  3. Leave comment here and link to created nomination post. I will then verify that 1 & 2 are completed and confirm nomination

If you have any question, feel free to ask in comment section. And now, without further ado, the nominees for this week!

The Star Blogger Award by HowToAddict.com

Let the best blogger win!

Brilliant Viewpoint

This blog is a poster child of how good personal blog should look like. Design is minimalistic yet eye catching. Same for tagline: Discover, Motivate, Inspire is short yet communicative. As for the content – Moni has been writing for past 2+ years and produced steady stream of intriguing content. Visit every week and chances are you’ll find new post that’s well written and includes nice media.

I simply love it. And you’ll likely too. Now, when someone is starting a blog and asking you for advice, it’s easy for me. I just point him to Brilliant Viewpoint and say “emulate this”. Posts I’ve enjoyed the most are:

Just Mr Johnson

Blogging opens up world of opportunity to meet new people and read their thoughts. I’ve visited JKJ’s blog after he commented on one of my previous posts. And immediately I was blown away by the amount of content he has produced with almost no recognition. That’s the thing with blogging: you could be awesome writer, yet you’ll likely be overlooked in the sea of everything that’s posted nowadays. I hope to change with The Star Blogger Award – link as many overlooked gem blogs as possible. JKJ’s blog is definitely one of them.

Daily Flabbergast

Another blog that I’ve visited after owner commented on my post. Daily Flabbergast is one of the blogs that I read when I need change of pace. Most of the content that you’ll find on WordPress is very politically correct. It’s kinda complete opposite of Tumblr – which is madness incarnate. And while I don’t seek controversy for it’s own sake, I do enjoy entertaining unpopular opinions. In that sense I highly recommend visiting Daily Flabbergast. Just before clicking the link be sure that you are not easily offended and are willing to consider floatinggold’s point of view.

Special nominee… Daisy Mae

Hopefully every new edition of The Star Blogger series will increase clarity on nomination process. But Crystal shows that it’s already easy-peasy to include your blog if you want. Sure, there are few kinks to iron out… like linking The Star Blogger Award text back to this post and not nominating multiple blogs you own.

But for start: it’s pretty good. So, good luck Crystal and I’ll be voting for Daisy Mae blog! Love what you are doing, and I’ve already promoted everyone else much more than you.

Goodbye Yoly

Not necessarily related to The Star Blogger Award, but Yoly has been behind my first Thursday post. And she would likely be a nominee, but for better or worse she decided to stop blogging. I won’t get into guessing reasons behind her decision – it’s her life and her choice to make. All I want is to say is: thanks for all your contributions Yoly. I hope you’ll at least keep visiting and commenting here on HowToAddict.com.

It’s time to vote and pick The Star Award Blogger winner

The poll below includes all nominees from this and previous two posts. Voting will be open until Thursday next week and limited to one vote per WordPress account. While you are welcome to invite your friends to vote for you, please no voting with duplicate accounts or through proxies. You don’t want me using my awesome programming skills.

Looking forward to reading your comments and seeing who gets the most votes. And of course, I am especially excited for winner announcement and prize giveaway next week.

This poll is no longer accepting votes

Who should win The Star Blogger Award for July 2017?
vote

Let the voting begin!

Highlighting blogs worth following – The Star Blogger Award nominations

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Here we are for week 2 of highlighting under-appreciated blogs. Comments last week have been overwhelmingly positive, and I can only hope that trend will continue.

To make things more interesting I’ve decided to institute an Award. And unlike others “Awards” that you saw going around in blogsphere recently this one will have a real prize attached. Symbolic, but prize still.

First of all – contention. Any blogs that are linked in this weekly post will be eligible for prize. If your blog is not linked in the article (since we are only doing 3 per week), you can participate by creating a post on your blog with title “The Star Blogger Award“. In that post you need to:

  • Present your blog in at least 100 words
  • Nominate 3 other bloggers of your choice
  • Link your nominees and let them know of your nomination
  • Link to this post as a source and comment link to your article

Then, every few weeks we’ll organize a poll that includes all nominees. The one with most votes will be declared the winner of The Start Blogger Award and given a prize. I plan on increasing pool prize as often as possible. If you have suggestion on what would be a good prize – let me know.

My mother used to bake cookies with me... but now she blogs and I pretty much raise myself.

Well, someone certainly deserves prize…

And now, to this week’s blogs I enjoy and The Star Blogger Award nominees.

The Loyal Brit Wit

I am in awe of daily schedule The Loyal Brit Wit is sustaining so far. Premise is simple: each post introduces “British English” word and builds around it. For example “loo” in England generally means “bathroom” – and sure enough, BritWit has a Loo post.

Here is the list of few posts I’ve particularly enjoyed:

All I can say – keep it up BritWit. And if you ever decide to write in detail on how you manage to keep up daily writing schedule – let me know; I’ll be ecstatic to read that one.

Project Believe In Yourself by Benjamin Ngiam

What sets Benjamin and his blog apart is how much video content he produces. That’s how we’ve met – he participated in Community Pool and reviewed other people’s blog. I’ve found idea great… aside of promoting his own OC he truly adds value by providing other people with in-depth feedback. I really hope he manages to get in rhythm and do video blog reviews every week.

With PBIY I recommend going to YouTube, specifically watching:

Touched2MySoul

As I often say: interacting with community is one of the most enjoyable aspects of blogging. Being able to talk with people from all kinds of backgrounds and beliefs is powerful. Addicting even. Thus I am truly thankful for Community Pool and interaction I had there with Touched2MySoul that got me to visit her blog.

To me, reading posts Touched2MySoul is writing provides all the inspiration I need to write my own. These I would especially recommend:

Nominate your blog and blogs you like

Same as the last week – when you have visited linked blogs, feel free to comment and share your impressions. And also, do nominate yours or worthy blog of someone you know that’s not getting enough recognition.

We will be having “The Star Blogger Award” poll in next week’s post, so be sure to comment and link your blog in order to be in contention.

Until next week!

Spreading the message of positivity from blogs

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Thanks to Community Pool and feedback from my fellow bloggers I’m finally on weekly posting schedule. It doesn’t feel like I’ve already spent last 6 weeks writing and posting every Monday. But results are definitely showing! My last post “Set yourself in happy state of mind, simply because you can” has 30+ comments. And number of visitors on my blog has drastically increased.

So, I want to expand on the experience. As a self professed improvement tryhard – I am now aiming to post twice a week. And while I still don’t have exact time scheduled, I’ll try to come up with one (likely Wednesday, Thursday or Friday @ 8:00).

As for the theme of the posts – I want to write about other people’s blogs. Share my impressions of them and lessons learned. Participating in Community Pool allows you to experience how much effort bloggers put in daily. We definitely live in the world of abundance. And it is my hope that trough the series of posts I’ll be able to point out overlooked and under-appreciated.

You have your own blog? Your life must be all kinds of fascinating!

My Instruction Manual by Keith McArthur

Keith is another author that you can often see hanging out on Community Pool. And for the good reason – his posts are inspiring, especially if you take into account his life story. I most enjoy reading his step-by-step posts like this one: Five Ways to Beat Procrastination Today.

If you like my motivational posts, Keith has more great content on the subject. I haven’t found if he separates those posts under certain tag on the site… but I try to follow “Inspired” category:

To Cut a Short Story Short by Simon J Wood

Talk about wordsmith hero. I’ve always admired people with discipline to consistently perform certain task with quality. Simon has been linking his short fiction stories ever since I’ve joined Community Pool. And he shows no signs of stopping.

So, it was kinda weird when I loved a post of his that’s not a short story. It’s detailed article on self-publishing your book on Amazon. I’m sure lots of bloggers are wondering what it takes to publish your writings as a book. Well, as Simon Says: Publishing the ‘Best of Your Blog’ is as Easy as 1-2-3!

Here are also some of his recent short stories:

Way of the Wise by Layvi Litton

It is my firm belief that reading good content preceeds good writing. Thus, while I do spend considerable time writing my motivational posts, I also reading a lot on the subject. Books are great for when I have time… but for quick 5 minute relaxing read I enjoy blogs like Way of the Wise.

Layvi is participating in Daily Prompt so there is almost always a new piece on the site for reading:

Don’t be shy, leave a Reply on blogs you’ve liked

When you have visited blogs I’ve linked, feel free to comment and share your impressions. That is the point – to kickstart conversation of content that bloggers are producing. For now, I do not have exact criteria by which I will be picking blogs to link each week. But comment on my own posts or partake in Community Pool, and I’ll likely visit your blog.

In that sense – feel free to also link to your related blog posts in comments. Obviously, I will not approve comments that are link only or one liners. Same goes for “Cheap NBA 2K17 MT for Sale” and “Work from home for $9999” – my spam folder is full of those ;). But if you wrote a post that you are particularly proud of – comment to present and link it. I for sure want to cheer you on!