The Magical Jedi Mind Trick For Bloggers

The Magical Jedi Mind Trick For Bloggers

I like the sound of that but I really don’t have a magic or Jedi mind trick that you can use. All I can tell you is that good things happen if you work on building relationships with your readers and other bloggers, provide valuable content and sustain your effort.

Yeah, blogging takes work. It takes some effort and a willingness to test things out.

Today I decided to share excerpts from a bunch of posts I have written as well as a link to them.

Why?

Because I felt like doing something different and was curious to see if this generated a better response than your typical post about content curation.

If it works I might do it again and if it doesn’t, well I’ll file it as one more thing not to do. But if I have learned anything about blogging it beyond the advice I offered above it is that a willingness to test out new ideas is crucial.

It helps you identify your writing voice, what your readers want and sometimes it provides you with the sort of distinction from the crowd that brings in new readers.

Number One

“And that leads us back to the point of producing a post about New Year’s Resolutions. It is not to create a nice document that lists all the things that you hope to accomplish. It is to create a blueprint of accountability for yourself. It is to put yourself on notice that these are the things that you want to do and the things that you HAVE to do.”  The Most Important Things In Life

“Midway through my musings I have this bizarre thought that 25 miles north of me my grandfather lies in a box that is buried beneath a mound of dirt. He was claustrophobic and for a long time very unhappy about the idea of being placed inside the casket. Long ago I promised him that if he knocked on the casket I would stop everything and pull him out. I remember telling him that there were better ways to get attention than to be buried alive and he told me to stop being a smartass, but the smile on his face made it clear that he appreciated it.

The day of the funeral I made a point of bending over to whisper, “grandpa, this is it. Knock three times on the ceiling and I’ll get you out of there.”  The Most Valuable Possession

Number Two

“My friends, let me assure you that the last thing you ever want to emulate his technique. A bear hug is no match for an angry man with a salami. For I took said salami and proceeded to beat him silly with it. Fortunately I was smart enough not to hit the two cops who came ostensibly to break up the fight.”  It Wasn’t Worth Getting Arrested

Number Three

“Actually I didn’t go crazy- it just took a while to process it.

And now more than twenty years later I am lying in the dark holding the phone in my hand listening to your voice- wondering how you found my number and why you called.

My heart is pounding and my mouth is dry. I feel like my tongue is stuck to the top of my roof.

“I am in trouble and I need your help. They’re back.”

And then the other memories hit me like a torrent of water and I remember why I had to walk away from the woman I planned to marry. “ The Telephone Call

Number Four

“The strange thing was that the whole time I could hear her screaming at me and it just made me angrier.

We are wrestling this unknown assailant and I. It is not a holy experience like Jacob and the Angel. It is just Jack, the guy who had his heartbroken and some poor schmuck who is going to be savaged by me. He doesn’t know that the combination of fear, anger and adrenalin have made me numb. He doesn’t know that the shock of her leaving me has made me feel like I have nothing to lose.

But he is lucky because there were more than just two of them. The others pulled me off but I can’t tell you much” A Mugger

Number Five

“Sometimes being a parent feels a bit like you are a contestant on one of those crazy Japanese game shows. You know what I am talking about. You’re dressed up in white coveralls and a motorcycle helmet. In a moment you are going to be blindfolded, covered in jello and forced to run through fire while being chased by screaming leprechauns.”  A Father Describes Parenting

And now we click publish and wait to see if our blogging experiment is lauded, panned or ignored.  Course it being the last weekend of summer break for many of our children I imagine that traffic might end up being kind of slow which is partly why I chose to test this out now.

See you around folks, time for Jack to go enjoy the last remnants of summer break with the kids.

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