Bad News

I'm afraid I've got some bad news. I've been debating this for awhile and I've been trying to find some way around it. But for the time, I fear I need to go on another blog hiatus. No need to worry about me, I'm fine. There are just several things I need to attend to in the next few months. I'm not sure how long I'll be away, I hope not too long. Most likely, I will return in the next year. I absolutely love writing and blogging, so this decision has not been very easy for me. In truth, I'm completely gutted by it. The duties which I will be preoccupying my time with are of the highest importance to me at this time, and necessary. I hope you, my readers, my writing collogues and my internet friends will understand.

Are you ready for the AtoZ challenge?

Are you ready for April?

Bloggers from all over the globe are!

Certainly, it's a time for hard work and dedication.

Do you know what I'm talking about?

Every April, is A to Z month in the blog-sphere.

Friendships are forged, colleagues are made.

Great writers are introduced to one another.

Have you joined in on the fun?

If you have not, I think you would enjoy it.

Join us. Won't you?

Keep in mind, it's a lot of fun.

Love to get visitors to your own blog? This is a great way to introduce others to your own blog.

Motivating yourself is another great reward from this challenge.

Ninja minions such as myself, will be making sure everyone is following the guidelines and all are having fun.

Only serious participants need apply.

Perhaps this sounds like something you can do. Something you WANT to do.

Quickly, it's time to act!

Register now before the deadline ends.

Sign up HERE. Yes, there is still time.

Theming your A to Z entries for the month is optional.

Unless you have one specific thing you want to blog, the sky is the limit.

View the bloggers who have already signed up if you want a few ideas.

Worry not if someone else blogs similar to you. We all have our own styles and presentations.

X-cited? I'm excited for April is here.

Your time is now. Sign up this instant.

Zee you in Aprils A to Z challenge!

Reflections from A to Z

R.a.n.t. for week of 05/03/15

Now that April has passed, I can go back to my regular schedule of r.a.n.t.ing away on a weekly basis. It also means I will begin working on my short story collection again. Does that mean more work for me or less? Your guess is as good as mine. But it is good to reflect on the previous month, so I'll incorporate that as my r.a.n.t. for the week because working on this project has given me plenty to complain about. Well, not really, it's actually given me more to appreciate. With a few small complains.

First the appreciation. April was a great month because I had many visitors. I love writing, but I love writing more when it's appreciated. In April I also received the highest amount of traffic ever (if you discount the two months I was being spammed). Also, instead of receiving a stray comment from time to time, I received daily comments. For a writer such as myself, it means a lot. It felt like my writing was finally being appreciated. On top of all that, I discovered many great blogs and bloggers. The various topics amazed me. Anything from Cornwall to Outer-space were discussed. Tales of the Twilight Zone or a brave lizard were related. Writers gave helpful writing tips, or discussed motorcycle trips. Some wonderful information about Florida was presented and some not so wonderful disasters were described. Musical info and movies to watch. Yes, I think there was a fantastic assortment of things to read about this month. I enjoyed it, did you?

As for things to r.a.n.t. about, I will always find something. It's what I do. There were so many participants, I was not able to find time to visit everyone. I really would have liked to do that, and if I had the time, I would. Some of the blog postings were quite long, but I can't really point the finger at anyone because there would be three more pointing back at me. I tend to go on, if you couldn't tell from this post. Finding the blogs of others who visited me was sometimes nerve racking when they used Google+ to comment, but never posted links to their blog in Google+. It baffled me. Also, I found myself visiting more blogs where the blogger replied to comments or visited my blog. There where a few I visited and I didn't feel welcome so I didn't go back again.

But this was my first year. I learned a few things. I learned I was probably at fault for using Google+ to post comments. I would always forget to check boxes giving me the option to sign comments using my name and blogger page. I also discovered I didn't visit many people at first, even when they left comments. I shall endeavour to do better next year. What next year? Yes, I shall be back. I did it this year, and I can do it again next year. Maybe utilizing a few of my blogs. So, in closing, I had lots of fun. So glad for the people I met and I hope we continue to be blogging pals.

Now for a few honourable mentions.
Chrys Fey - I actually found her blog before the whole April challenge started. To be honest, if it were not for her banners posting the challenge, I would never have know about it or participated. Additionally, she stopped by every single day, left comments and replied to all the comments I left on hers. And I have a bad habit of leaving long comments, so props to her for putting up with all my nonsense and Titanic chatter. (Well, at least we didn't die on the Titanic).

Spacerguy - Besides being a Star Trek guy with a great blog, once he found my blog, he stayed through till the letter Z. And that's a challenge, I know. I posted some out of control posts. But that's me. He saw through my spoof posting. In case anyone else missed it, Spatula City is not a real store. It was a humorous parody and the tags listed that. Again, thanks for visiting!

Alex J. Cavanaugh - I guess we all know who this guy is. I was honoured he came, he read, he commented right up till the final letter. How does he do it? His postings each day were such fun. How was he able to find such diversity for each letter every day? I'm just amazed.

Additional visitors stopping by were Roy, Lisa, Jennifer, Tammy, Hilary, Arlee, Bish, Liesel, Stephanie, Kim, Mary,, Stephen, Bob and Hannah. They all stopped by frequently and left comments. I appreciated every single one. I truly wish I had time to go on about how much I loved visiting their blogs.

28 other bloggers also stopped in to say hi as well. In total, 45 people visited and were kind enough to leave a comment. I tried to return to every blog, but as I said above, I think I fell short. I shall rectify that in the next few weeks. A total of 173 comments were left during the month. I know some bloggers receive that in a single day, but coming from my world where receiving five comments a month was about it, it was a big deal.

In closing. I had a lot of fun this month. I found other bloggers I can connect with and believe I found a few more people I can rant away too. I'll see you next year. Or, the next time I stop over to your blog for a visit.

B is for Blogging

R.a.n.t. of day 04/02/15

A wise man once said about blogging; "There are do's and do not's. So stop trying to figure out how to do it properly." That was said a long time ago, so I may have misquoted slightly. It's not like the exact phrase was ever caught on film. True or not, it makes a lot of sense. In all we do there are better ways to perform the tasks we do. A dentist may get his job done by strapping down his patient and digging in with a rusty pair of pliers or he can administer a bit of Novocaine first and use hygienic tools. I can spot a few do's and don'ts right there. So what are the guidelines I like to follow when blogging? What do I look for in other blogs? I'm glad you asked me. I know, you didn't really ask me, but I will tell you anyway.

DO: Be concise. If your blog post is about the colour orange, talk about the colour orange.
DO NOT: Ramble on. Airports, bacon and the latest TV show may be interesting topics, but have nothing to do with the colour orange, unless somehow you relate them.

DO: Be original. When your blog is unique, it will catch the attention of others.
DO NOT: Be a clone. Writing what everyone else is writing is a sure way to be lost in the crowd. Everyone has their own voice. Find yours. Stand out!

DO: Advertise your blog. Social media is rampant and people pride themselves on how many 'friends' and 'followers' they have. Utilize this and share with them. Join groups and visit other blogs. People won't know abut your blog if you keep it all to yourself.
DO NOT: Spam. There is a difference between posting a link on Facebook/Twitter and posting the link 20 times an hour for 6-8 hours. It's a big turn off. Kind of like high pressure sales. (Another blog post for another time.)

DO: KISS - 'Keep It Simple, Stupid'. (Or: 'Keep It Simple, Silly' to be PC). I mean your blog space, not the post itself. When I see an article that interests me, I want to get right to the article. Keeping it simple means they are not getting distracted by flashy colours, annoying pop-ups or countless 'gadgets' interspersed within the actual article.
DO NOT: BITE - 'Be Irritating Through Excess' (I just made that one up myself). If I visit a blog and get umpteen pop-ups, I'm not happy. One I visited recently was gadget crazy. It displayed their current weather, had advertisements and broadcast their favourite youtube video. To make matters worse, the site was infected with countless banners and displayed them before I could even get to the article. Crowding out the actual topic of the post is tiresome to try and read.

DO: Respond. I appreciate knowing my blog post has been read and enjoyed. Even if a person disagrees with me, a comment lets me know the post was intriguing enough to keep them reading.
And when I comment on someone else's blog, a response lets me know the blogger appreciates my presence. 
DO NOT: Ignore comments. This conveys the message my comment meant nothing to you.On one blog I commented on, I was one of only a few who commented. They never replied on this post or any others with comments as I found out. Then there is another blog I've started to follow. It seems to be a fairly successful blog as I've seen up to 50 or 60 comments. And you know what? The blogger responds to each and every comment. She obviously appreciates her readers.

Well, there you have it: My suggestions for blogging. This was intended to be a short post but has turned out to be one of the longest posts I've produced. Sorry, apparently I don't know how to KISS very well.

Some questions for discussion:
What do you like to see on a blog?
What are your blog turn-offs?
Do you advertise your blog? And if so, how?
What are your Do's and Don'ts?

Point / Counterpoint - Blogging

Point - Being a writer, I've found blogging to be a great way to express my feelings to the world either through stories, poems, journal entries or just sarcastic wit. Keeping a blog helps to keep all your written material in one place, online. This way, even if you have no access to your own files at home, you can access them on the internet - as long as you have internet access. Most blogging websites are free to use, have great tools and fairly easy to learn. What better way to share with your friends and family what is going on in your life, what better way to explore what others are up to, what better way to keep your writing skills intact and honed to a sharp point.

Counterpoint - Blogging certainly isn't for everyone. Want to be discovered? Blogging is hardly the way to go unless you are already discovered. Place a drop of water in the ocean and you see what I mean. Sure, you may decide to keep a blog because you just like to write and want to share with whoever, but ask yourself - who is reading it? There's a good bet, not many of your friends give a hoot how you spent your weekend unless you are talking directly to them. Your descriptions and discoveries, as exciting as they may be to you, are typically bland or uneventful. And the occasional reader may well be someone you actually do not want to know how you spent your summer. It' so easy for a writer to put down various aspect they may not normally want to share with others, because they forget other may or may not be reading.

What are your thoughts? Which side do you mostly agree with? Do you have any ideas for future point/counterpoint entries?

Jeffrey Scott

Secret Origins of the Blog

R.a.n.t. of week 09/05/04

Why I began my blog.
Ever have something important, interesting or exciting to share but can't find anyone to talk to? This has happened to me so many times it's not funny. Try as I might, no one is available. I'll usually leave a number of voice messages or emails and then have to play the waiting game. No, I'm not ranting about people not replying this time, (I already did that one HERE), just the lack of finding anyone to talk to. The crickets chirping is annoying because in my delusional mind I worry where they might be. Are they sick, injured or being held hostage? So what is a guy to do? I have something important, interesting or exciting to tell people, but no one to talk to. Who's going to listen to me rant? Oh wait! That's it. I'll write a blog post about it. I can share it on-line and EVERYONE can listen to me rant.
Reprinted 11/27/12





*PLEASE NOTE - I recently found old R.a.n.t. articles posted to a website I once owned. I've decided to reprint them in my current run. However, ironically enough, I'm not to fond of the writing so I've decided to edit the articles and repost them. For comparisons sake, I've decided to run the edited version as well as the original. In a way, it's kind of fun to see how my writing has changed in eight years.

Original R.a.n.t.
No One To Talk To
Before I begin my rant I just wanted to say thank you all for the week off from rant. I felt kind of fooling to post a rant on Wednesday when Monday is when I am supposed to post it, and since I was on vacation I decided to take vacation from rant. So no, I have not forgotten or given up on ranting. How could I? It's too much fun. I hate when I get into my moods when I need someone to talk to, and no one is available. Either they are off doing something of their own, taking care of their kids and family or just not online. Granted, I probably spend to much time online, but I enjoy chatting on the phone as well. Still, when I have a problem and all of my friends are doing other stuff it drives me crazy. Sometimes I end up just giving up and try to give a day or so to see if they respond to me emails phone messages or yahoo chats, when they don’t I get depressed and somewhat paranoid. I don’t know, it’s just the way I am. And I hate the feeling that I’m bugging or bothering someone. I keep saying in my head, “If they wanted to or were able to talk to me, they would have called or left me a message.” I guess that’s enough for now, I’m gonna check my email for the second time this morning.