I am most grateful to my loyal readers whom often provide me fodder for my blog. You encourage me to scribble more thoughts down than if I would otherwise ramble on about my mundane puppy life in Cincinnati, Ohio in total disregard for the readers’ interest.
Dolce, a fellow pup and faithful reader… I can say faithful because let’s face it, dogs are mankind’s best friend and the most loyal of the animal kingdom… Anyway, Dolce posed a question about what would be beneficial in starting a blog or website. Certainly I agree it is difficult to type with these waffle iron-like paws. Then there is the slobber on the keyboard.
Some would argue you should get a degree in Journalism or take a creative writing course. That’s about as useful as burying your favorite bone in the neighbor’s yard. Some other dog is just going to steal your bone or the neighbor is going to run it over with the loud green contraption. It says Deere on the side but it’s much louder and slower than the deer that I’ve seen in the neighborhood. Alas, I digress.
I do not consider myself to be the authority on what you should do to take up blogging. I learned every thing I know from Mr. Aaron Forgue, Harry’s master. Aaron is a computer guru and introduced me to a product that has made blogging and publishing on the web so easy. It’s called WordPress. It has a lot of the features of Microsoft Word but is accessed through a browser and makes publishing online very easy.
But I do think that while technology has enabled us to transport the spoken word from the pen to the keyboard, there is still so much we can learn by reflecting on the classic, accomplished authors. For instance, Mark Twain said, “Substitute ‘damn’ every time you’re inclined to write ‘very;’ your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be.” Another famous writer, Nathaniel Hawthorne, said, “Easy reading is damn hard writing.” Nathaniel Hawthorne obviously didn’t have to answer to an editor if we are to believe Mark Twain. I obviously do have to answer to an editor as you can tell by reading the title to this entry.
Some final, and personal, thoughts on blogging. It’s like any other thing in life. You have to like what you do. And I like to blog. Hence the tagline on the website is I’m just a dog that likes to blog… I will also stress that you should be brief as people don’t like to read novels online (some advice that I didn’t take in this particular blog posting)!!! People like a lot of pictures, too. I have some more pictures to upload. Some of these go back to Labor Day weekend 9/2/07. So perhaps I will upload those with any Halloween pictures that I take! Until then, happy blogging!
Rub my belly, leave me some comments!!!
