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I’ve been rather lax in my “around the web” reading this week. Since I have been busy with writing and composing songs, there hasn’t been much time for anything else. Speaking of songs, one of my new ones is just below here. I’d appreciate it if you’d listen to it. That would really make my day!
So, back to around the web - the list is short this time but all should be back to normal soon. I’m nearly finished with the above-mentioned songs and will be able to get back to writing and design soon.
First on the list is the release of WordPress 2.5. I’ve been using and testing it for a few weeks now on a couple of my sites and really love it. My only quibble is with the “write post” because the categories and tags along with a couple of other things that used to be in the sidebar, are now below the post box. This just makes it a bit more difficult for the way I like to work and since I spend a lot of time writing, it’s quite the major annoyance. I suppose if you don’t post much, it’s not going to bother you. But for me, I hate it. Otherwise, WP2.5 is totally awesome. I love the layout of the dashboard and there’s better managment of plugins and widgets which is a huge benefit.
I ran across a great series by Lorelle Van Fossen of Lorelle on WordPress that is excellent. It’s called “Blog Struggles” and is a series of posts on things bloggers struggle with from content ideas to planning to focus and more. If you want to take your blog higher or just find your groove or whatever, go check it out. Well written and quite helpful for new and seasoned bloggers alike. Lorelle also has book out called “Blogging Tips: What Bloggers Won’t Tell You About Blogging” that I’m planning to get soon. It sounds good.
And lastly, Darren at ProBlogger.com writes about 20 pages bloggers should consider. The top 5 on Darren’s list are: an about page, contact page, press page, disclaimer page, and an FAQ page. You can read the rest of the article at ProBlogger.com for the remaining 15. It’s a helpful article for me as I’m often wondering just what I should have on my blog. This has helped answer some of those questions. However, I’m not entirely sure I want 20 pages listed at the top of the blog. I think it would look cluttered. Perhaps I’ll consider creating a page with a list of pages or something like that. If you follow Darren’s advice, how would you add those pages to your site?
I hope you’re enjoying your weekend. I’m glad it’s finally stopped snowing/raining (yes, it snowed here in the Seattle area on Thursday and Friday). It’s not very sunny but at least it’s not totally wet. I can live with that.
Just a bit of deviation from my self-imposed blogging schedule today because I’m working on some behind the scenes stuff across a couple of my projects and I have a question regarding setting up a website on my home network. If anyone cares to take a stab at this, please do post in the comments.
Now, I’m slightly above a novice when it comes to setting up networks but I just can’t get this to work right. I’ve set up a website on my computer to share with my family across our home network, but it isn’t available for anyone but me. My husband and daughter both get the standard “page cannot be found” error messages when they try to access it. I’m using MAMP (a server program for Mac) and I’ve set everything up just exactly the way the documentation says to and still no luck.
But, I thought this was Spring? The calendar says March 21st was the first day of Spring and we did have a couple of nice, warm, sunny days last week. It was very nice. I even turned off the heater.
So, why then, is it snowing today? I don’t like snow. It’s cold, wet, distracting and makes things messy. And how are those flowers that started blooming already supposed to stay pretty?
Mother Nature, please tell Old Man Winter he can rest for a while. Until something like November. I’d even settle for October. But please do leave the rest of March and April alone. I want to go outside and work in the garden - plant flowers, get the vegetable garden in and mow the lawn (because it’s starting to look like we live in the jungle).
Plans & Goals 2008 by Annie Since I haven't updated here in a while, I thought I'd make my first post of 2008 one about my plans and goals for the year.
New song by Annie If you read my previous post today, you might have noticed that I said I was working on a song for a contest.
If you read my previous post today, you might have noticed that I said I was working on a song for a contest. Well, I’m working on several, actually, and one of them is ready! It’s instrumental, mostly piano. I wrote, composed and recorded it myself and you can listen to a clip of it on last.fm!
Just click the link - Reason to Dream - within the post on that page and you’ll get a clip of the song. If you like it, click the artist profile box on the right of that post page and that will take you to my artist page. You’ll have a chance to get it for yourself.
Or have a listen right here -
Let me know what you think!
~ Annie
PS - BTW, I’m incredibly nervous about this! It’s the very first time I’ve ever shared my music with anyone but my family.
Happy Easter! by Annie I've been working on desktop wallpapers for Easter just for fun.
The Giants Have It! by Annie You might not know, but I'm not a very big football fan.
Excuse me, Mother Nature by Annie But, I thought this was Spring? The calendar says March 21st was the first day of Spring and we did have a couple of nice, warm, sunny days last week.
Keali’i Reichel singing Hanohano ‘O Maui. My uncle went went to high school with Keali’i in Honolulu - he has one of the most beautiful voices I’ve ever heard.
I hope you enjoy the song.
~ Annie
PS - I’m currently in the middle of writing a song for a contest. I might be in and out over the next week as a result. When it’s done, I’ll post it here for you along with a link so you can go vote for it.
New song by Annie If you read my previous post today, you might have noticed that I said I was working on a song for a contest.
Excuse me, Mother Nature by Annie But, I thought this was Spring? The calendar says March 21st was the first day of Spring and we did have a couple of nice, warm, sunny days last week.
Reading List 2.26.08 by Annie On the bookshelf this week -
A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle
Life's Golden Ticket by Brendon Burchard
2008 Songwriter's Market by Writer's Digest Books
The Grown Ups Guide to Running Away From Home by Rosanne Knorr
The Key by Joe Vitale
Think Two Products Ahead by Ben Mack (previously read)
Do you ever re-read books? If so, what are your favorites?
~ Annie.
Reading List by Annie As I haven't gotten many new books recently, my Reading List this week is rather short.
Last August I participated in Ed Dale and Dan Raine’s Thirty Day Challenge so for my around the web post today, I’m going to focus on the challenge a bit and share some of my favorite challenge blogs that are still blogging.
If you’ve never participated in the 30dc and you’re wondering how to make some money online, it’s a great beginning. The best part aside from the community and support, is that it’s totally free. You learn tools to embark on your own internet journey as well as the basics of making a business out of the internet and you even learn all of this using free resources.
The tag line for the 30dc last year was “It’s what Willis was talkin’ about” and Ed and Dan are now looking for suggestions for this years tag line. While I have no ideas for that, I do plan to participate again this year. It’s incredibly fun and energetic.
My 30dc blog is still up and running. I just used a free WordPress hosted site that I had setup months before but wasn’t doing anything with. I haven’t posted much over there since last year, but I’ve decided to go ahead and “revive” it. I may move it to it’s own domain at some point but for now, it’ll continue to be where it is. Feel free to check it out. And go check out these as well:
And this one isn’t a blog, but it’s a great resource. It’s an outline of each day of the challenge from 2007 and includes all the links and tools used.
Also, on my 30dc blog, you’ll find a tab listing several additional 30dc blogs. Now, I have not checked that list in a while, so there could possibly be some broken links. If you do find one, let me know so I can remove or update it.
Have fun surfing around the Challenge blogs and consider participating this August if you have the chance. It’s great fun as well as a good education in internet and marketing. Plus, you meet lots of cool people.
I hope you had a blessed Easter. Check out the post below if you haven’t already done so. I created and uploaded some Easter desktop wallpapers that you can download.
