One of a kind

Frankly, it’s easy for a blogger to get discouraged.

In addition to Slow Blogs (which is, ironically, not a slow blog by my own definition as I use this space to highlight other people’s work as opposed to generating my own content), I blog at Teacher Meets World. That’s the blog that I think of as my baby.

As I’ve explained here, I have done battle with that evil, one-eyed Feedburner monster in the middle of the night and sometimes Feedburner wins. Now that Feedburner has been acquired by Google and provides only statistics about my subscribers, I have entered into a new (and oddly similar) love-hate relationship with Google Analytics which tells me little statistical stories about my visitors. Who visits, who referred them, how long they stayed (not long enough) and which pages those folks visited. (This reminds me that I must learn what “reach” and “bounce” mean. No, I am not kidding. If you know, please leave a comment below!)

I’ve also established here that I know (by which I mean that I really KNOW) that these numbers are unimportant in the great slow-blogging scheme of things and yet they continue to haunt me. No, that’s not it. The stats really bug me. That’s right… I feel annoyed. Let me explain… The People Who Know About Blogging say that we should pay attention to our stats so that we will understand what our readers want… and then we should give them more of that kind of content. Here’s my deep analysis of the situation at Teacher Meets World. Whenever I post random photos of our travels in Europe, my stats go up. More Europe photos = more subscribers. The less text, the better, it seems. When I write longer content-driven posts such as Should I stay or should I go, a post about how to decide if its time to move on from your current international teaching post, subscribers drop off. When I post about a lovely day in my life as I did here, people unsubscribe.

Although I am not a researcher by trade, the trend seems pretty clear. If I post pretty photos of Europe without meaningful commentary, subscribers will stay. Long, meaningful posts, however, and posts about my actual life will drive my subscribers away.

Hmmm… what's a blogging-girl to do?


Dear Slow Blog readers,
Even in the face of overwhelming evidence that The People Who Know About Blogging are right and that I am only as good as my branding machine (which, in my case does not exist because I don't believe in that malarkey... I am my own brand which is to say I am me, Monna), I continue to believe in the slow blog. I am going to keep it real and sometimes long and sometimes personal because I am my own first reader and I know what I like in a blog. In my blog. I refuse to let The People Who Know About Blogging rain on my lovely parade. I am going to continue to seize the day… to eat the peach… and I don’t need to change my blog host to do it!

I am encouraged by Laurie of Elusive Onions and Rose-Anne of Life, Love and Food who found each other through this blog and who have now become part of each other's blogging communities. Now, that's cool! (They also both made an onion tart last week... who can argue with that kind of serendipity? Not I!)

Please keep writing your lovely blogs. Even when the only person who comments is your mom or your best friend or your husband. Loving what you are creating is the most important part of this journey.

Sincerely,
Monna

Valentines Day Edition: Our Favourite Slow Blogs

Photo Credit: Damien Pitter

I thought it fitting that in honour of Valentines Day we should celebrate all of the slow blogs that you love... and nominated here on the site during December. Here we go:

A Little Cup of Mexican Hot Chocolate and More: A Girl's Guide to Cooking Mexican Food Just Like Her Abuelita
in which the blogger, a translator in California, brings the delights of Mexican cooking into your home.

Elusive Onions
in which Laurie, who lives on Vancouver Island, explores ideas about slow food, organic food, and local eating and records the changes in her own eating habits.

Food and Thoughts
in which Zarah Maria in Denmark writes about food... including many posts about COOKIES! Her photographs are going to make you salivate!

Gemstones
in which the blogger shares her collection of daily life experiences. She says, "It's raw, precious, and one of a kind."

Life, Love and Food
in which Rose-Anne welcomes the reader into her cyber kitchen for food and conversation.

Random Thoughts
in which KCarter, engineer by trade, explores philosophy, theology and Christianity... sometimes through poetry

Ted and Debbie
in which Ted and Debbie write about how they raise five children and keep life simple.

Throwback at Trapper Creek
in which the blogger keeps "A diary, of sorts, to chronicle the similarities and differences of homesteading on a 1881 farm, in present day. Our farm is located in the Pacific Northwest near the Columbia River Gorge. Our goal is to be as self-sufficient as possible. We rotationally graze our beef cattle, use pigs to turn our compost and raise pastured turkeys. We raise most of our own food, use wood from our woodlot for heat, and maintain our own watershed, using a hydraulic rams for water delivery. Truly the best of both worlds! While this blog may contain some humorous posts, we are dead serious about quality of the food we raise for our family and our meat customers. We just try to see the entertaining side of country living and farm life."

Happy Valentines Day! Enjoy the new blogs... and tell us what other blogs you've been enjoying.

Edition 8: Zen Blogging - 5 Benefits to Getting Started

As committed as I am to slowing down, and spending my time engaged in more meaningful activities online and in real life, my Google Reader still includes 73 blogs that I read on a regular basis. One that I read faithfully is Write to Done. The most recent post of Write to Done, Zen Blogging - 5 Ways to Get Started, caught my attention and made me think of all of you. It was as if the guest blogger, Glen Allsopp, was singing my song. Like he was singing OUR entire playlist here at Slow Blogs.

Glen Allsopp is 19 years old. He dropped out of college and then made what he calls "the scariest decision of (his) life" when he moved to Africa last year. This post tells the story of how he began blogging in the first place, why he stopped blogging (it's a familiar story) and his Zen-path back to the blogosphere.

If you like what Glen has to say, and how he says it, visit his blog Plugin ID where he writes about personal development.

Edition 7: Habit

Happy New Year! Thanks, everyone, for your great slow blog nominations. You'll be reading more about these blogs over the next few weeks!

Sometimes the simplest ideas are the best ones. This goes for blogs too.

I want to introduce you to a brand new blog called Habit, the visual playground of Emily and Molly. Each day, the women publish photographs of moments from their lives along with a line or two about their day. Habit celebrates the everyday.

From their blog:
We'll be inviting friends to join us here. In some small way, we are hoping to capture the collective life of a community of women who are artists and writers, photographers and bloggers, mothers and sisters and daughters and granddaughters, and thinkers and seers and wonderers.

We believe that there will be something extraordinary about holding these pieces of life together in one place.

The habits from January 7th have been my favourite so far. There are images of fresh snow and footprints, a beautiful black and white tabby, a piano in the fuzzy golden background, and a Christmas tree. Sarah writes, "Words are hard to find today. A difficult morning followed by errands. Now pausing to look back at my footsteps in the crystalline snow." Molly writes, "Tonight I hugged six for the last time, because tomorrow she'll be seven."

Visit the women here. Make it a habit!

Emily also blogs over at Shining Egg and Molly blogs at Mommy Coddle.

Signs of the Holidays

Sometimes things go wrong. Your computer dies when you are as flat-broke as you have been since university. Stored deep within that broken computer are all the photos you have taken in the last three years. Oaxaca, Paris, Lisbon, Dublin, Florence, Venice, Rome. Home Sweet Barcelona-Home. Sigh. Thankfully, all the files are backed up thanks to DPs swift tech-guy intervention. Finally, and somewhat unbelievably, we are both sick again.

Sometimes the universe sends you a sign. In this case, it has stopped just shy of dropping a grand piano on us. Although, school (including the precious college applications of the seniors with whom I work) will not be finished for another week, it is most definitely time for us to slow down. To take a break from the maddening rush. To shift gears and sleep late and drink hot chocolate and coffee just because. To write in my journal and read the novels piling up on my night stand. To let ourselves slip gently into the holiday season and rejoice.

Slow Blogs will return in January of 2009 (does that not seem impossible?) with a closer look at some of the blogs you are reading and writing. In the meantime, I welcome you slow bloggers to write about the slow blogs you are loving. Be sure to include the URL.

Frank Sinatra is singing in the background. He says, "Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas."

Nominate your favourite slow blog

We're in Florence for the long weekend which means that we are moving more slowly, eating more slowly and enjoying this view of the Arno during magic hour.

This week, I am asking readers to nominate your favourite slow blogs. Go ahead... I know you want to! There are no rules whatsoever and you can even nominate yourself. I'll just ask that you nominate a blog that is slow by design. (See the Slow Blog Manifesto if you are in doubt.)

Tell us what you love about the blog you are nominating! What makes you want to visit again and again? Be specific! And don't forget to include the name and URL of the blog.

And, if you find yourself dreaming of Florence, here's a little something for you!

Thanksgiving Edition (6)

This Thanksgiving weekend, I am giving thanks for the following blogs:

1. Escape From New York
In which Wendy, a New York City journalist and photographer, travels the world to photograph the people, icons and celebrations that make each country unique. She says that she often falls in love with cities at first sight. No matter how far she travels, however, she always returns to New York.
Take a look at her gorgeous photos of a Day of the Dead vigil in a Mexican community on Lake Patzcuaro.

2. Primitive Culture
In which Xander, an unpublished ethnographer and amateur photographer writes about his explorations from rugged Equatorial jungles, to steaming noodle shops, to crowded markets. Primitive Culture chronicles street-food, coffee culture, wildlife viewing, and urban life. Xander has been traveling throughout Southeast Asia, writing and photographing from Vietnam, Thailand, and Cambodia.
I recommend his recent post called Leaving Asia?

3. Living Oprah
In which Robyn Okrant, a Chicago writer/actress/yoga instructor, is near the end of a year-long experiment during which she has endeavored to live according to advice given by Oprah on her television show, website and in O magazine. The experiment will conclude at the end of December at which time Robyn will assess whether the cost (including the money, time and energy) has been worth it.
Check out: Happy Thanksgiving, an account of Robyn's Oprah-inspired Thanksgiving celebration.

4. Coffee Soup
In which Michele, a 37 year old mom of four kids (not to mention an expert knitter and drinker of copious amounts of coffee) writes a hilarious, sometimes bitter-sweet, account of real life in southern California.
My favourite Coffee Soup post: Christmas 2007

For what blogs are you giving thanks?