The action for 30 Poems in 30 Days has clearly moved from the blog to Facebook, so I am posting all 30 prompts here, but encourage people to write there.

Day 1
Write a love poem that is specifically NOT about romantic love. Some subjects you might consider are family members such as parents or kids, pets, sports cars, pizza, friends — whatever moves you.

Day 2
Write a poem that involves a sequence of events or steps such as a process, a recipe, instructions, or anything that could only happen in a certain order.

Day 3
Write a poem about a road trip or another travel experience.

Day 4
Write a poem that includes a door opening or closing.

Day 5
Write a poem about an impossible event.

Day 6
(Submitted by Leigh ) Write a poem a poem about someone or something you hate.

Day 7
(Inspired by Helen Patrice) Write a poem about your relationship with an inanimate object (mountain, kettle, fireplace, jewelry, house, book, etc.)?

Day 8
Write a poem about an ironic situation or moment.

Day 9
Write a poem that includes at least three words that end with gle (giggle, wrangle, single, dangle, tingle, mingle, toggle)

Day 10
Write a poem that includes a delivery or an arrival.

Day 11
Write a poem about your memories of a historic event.

Day 12
Write a poem about doing something for the last time.

Day 13
Write a poem with dialog in it.

Day 14
Write a poem that includes a change in the weather.

Day 15
Write a poem that includes a broken object.
Day 16
Write a poem about playing a game.

Day 17
Write a poem that includes three words with four syllables or more.

Day 18
Write a poem about the city, town, locale that you live in.

Day 19
Write a poem that includes meditation. sleep or deep thought.

Day 20
Write a poem that includes three related objects (e.g. water, steam, ice) or actions (e.g. walking, jogging, running).

Day 21
Write a poem that answers a question.

Day 22
Write a poem about leaving something behind.

Day 23
Write a poem that includes three parts of the body.

Day 24
Write a poem about an urge.

Day 25
Write a poem that includes a literary or pop culture reference.

Day 26
Write a poem that includes an animal.

Day 27
Write a poem that includes food.

Day 28
Write a poem about building something.

Day 29
Write a poem that includes driving.

Day 30
Write a poem that includes the number 30.

September has once again snuck up on me, along with the anxious groundswell of people clamoring for 30 Poems in 30 Days. That’s right, both of my fans are really anxious for it to start. Before I get to today’s poetry prompt, let me lay out the guidelines for the project.

The Goal

Write 30 poems in 30 days. It’s just that simple. The event formally starts on September 1^st, but you can really start any time you like.

What you DON’T have to do

You DON’T have to write a poem every day, but there will be a new prompt every day.

You DON’T have to follow the prompts. People seem to get hung up on that. The prompts are there to help, not hinder. You are welcome to write about anything.

You DON’T have to finish all 30 poems. Yes, that is the goal, but don’t stop just because you fall behind. Try to write as many as you can, even if you don’t hit 30.

You DON’T have to post your poems, but you are welcome to post them in the comments for other people to see and discuss. Another great place to post them is in the Free Verse Weekends group I administer on FaceBook. If you aren’t member, follow the link and click the join button. There are three of us administering the group, and one of us will add you within hours — usually minutes. Since one of the administrators is in Australia and two are in the USA, there’s a pretty good chance one of us will see the request any time of the day.

Today’s Poetry Prompt

Our first poetry prompt comes from my friend Leigh (people are welcome to give suggestions):

Write a love poem that is specifically NOT about romantic love. Some subjects you might consider are family members such as parents or kids, pets, sports cars, pizza, friends — whatever moves you.

Always keep a calendar. It should include such things as a writing schedule, upcoming meetings, assignment deadlines, submission response dates (expected replies), upcoming payments, upcoming publication dates and tax deadlines.

Track all of your submissions and replies. You can use a program such as Microsoft Outlook or simply keep a notebook or planner. There are plenty of planning / scheduling books at any large bookstore. Look around until you find one that seems to suit you. Read a book about time management while you are there. Time management is crucial for professional writers.

Start a filing system. Keep copies of all of your manuscripts and publications. Keep research files on the topics you write about. Keep all of your receipts and invoices. Keep all of your tax records.

Learn to promote yourself. Some types of self promotion writers use are: business cards, resumes, portfolios, readings, signings, advertisements, web sites, lectures, teaching classes, attending conferences, hosting parties (such as publication parties), sending out clippings of your latest publications, sending out review copies, getting endorsements from other writers and contacting the media as a potential source.

Always treat editors, agents, publishers and clients as what they are — business contacts. Depending on the person, you may not always need to be formal, but you should always be professional. If you have an issue, don’t whine and complain or make it personal. Present your side of a problem rationally and professionally. Don’t back down if something is important, but always remember that they are your customers. A person is more likely to want to work with you in the future if they have had a good experience working with you in the past.

Set business goals for yourself. There are all sorts of goals you can set such as making a certain amount of money, cracking a market, getting published a specific number of times, finishing a project ahead of schedule, or contacting a specific number of new editors or clients. It is good to have something to work toward.

Research markets before you jump into them. If there is a topic that interests you, find out what the market for that topic is. Whether you want to write mystery novels, history articles or architectural reviews, find out what the market is like. Does the market pay what you need? Is the market open to newcomers? How much competition do you have? How many potential paying clients can you find? Is there special knowledge or certification that you need? Look before you leap.

Get to know the resources in your area such as libraries, associations and clubs, places that host readings, beautiful places to write, Internet hot spots, bookstores, shipping and mailing stores, office supply stores, publications and potential clients.

If you want to have a career as a freelance writer, you need to view it as a business.

Freelance writing involves making sales. Being a salesperson means risking rejection.

There will always be better writers than you, and there will always be writers who are worse than you but make more money. Concentrate on your own career.

Create an environment that you can work comfortably in. Consider anything that makes it easier to accomplish your job to be an investment.

If you need privacy to work, find a way to get it. There are plenty of portable tools for writers (laptops, PDAs, notebooks, pencils) so go where you need to go and leave the phone behind if you have to.

Create a writing schedule that works for you and stick to it.

Learn how to write a good query letter. It is an important sales tool.

Learn how to properly format your submissions and do it every time, even for clients you have worked with before. Always write a professional cover letter to go with your submission.

Don’t promise work you can’t deliver. Don’t make agreements you can’t follow and always follow the agreements that you make.

Take the time to research and understand the publishing industry and every market you plan to pursue.

Don’t waste research. If you need to learn about a topic for one project, look for ways you can use that information for other projects.

Don’t send identical queries to different markets. Always take the time to rework your query or submission so that it is customized for each market.

Always wait for the check to clear before you spend the money.

Even when you have plenty of work, take the time to market your services. Never let a week go by without spending some time on promotion and sales.

Create a network of writing and freelancing friends with whom you can share advice, leads, sympathy and work.

Once you establish success with a client, don’t be afraid to negotiate a better deal for your next project. They may say no, but they may say yes.

Keep records of all of your submissions, transactions and clients.

Freelance writers have special tax needs. Take the time to research your tax liability and if you are getting a lot of work, consider using an accountant.

Keep cash reserves for the lean times. Good financial planning is a key to long-term success as a freelance writer.

Create a resume and a portfolio of your work. Send it out with each query to a new market.

By Gwyneth Box

Many people decide that they are going to work from home when they go freelance. This is especially tempting when the work involved is something that requires little office infrastructure, such as freelance writing or computer design. It’s easy to think that a spare bedroom can be converted into a studio and that will be sufficient. But can this really work?

There are, of course, a list of advantages to working from home that everyone cites: there’s no time lost in commuting, and no travel expenses; it’s a way of making money out of the spare room you use so seldom; you won’t need to pay for a babysitter as you’ll be in the house; you’d want to have a computer at home anyway, so why pay for a second to use elsewhere, etc. Having worked from home as a freelance writer and web designer for several years, I have found that the reality may be somewhat different.

Competing for space and facilities

First of all you need space. If it’s to be the spare room, you can guarantee that the week after you’ve set up your studio someone will invite themselves to stay for a month. What will you do? Have the houseguest sleep on the sofa? Or dismantle your studio and set it up in a corner of the lounge?

If your computer is in the lounge, are you going to have to compete with the television? Will you try and go on working despite the rest of the family? And what will you do when people call round?

Come to think of it, if you only have one computer in the house, are you going to have to compete with the kids and their mates who want to play games or surf for porn sites? Can you actually convince them that the ‘P’ in ‘PC’ is for personal and that means you? I came home the other day to discover my four-year-old niece happily playing on my computer while the grown-ups watched a film on TV. It was impossible to tactfully demand her removal, so I had to watch the film instead of getting on with my work.

And don’t forget that if you use the Internet, you’re going to have to have a separate telephone line installed or compete with the family for its use. This may be a major bone of contention, particularly if there are teenagers involved.

Being Taken Seriously

When you are a freelance writer or computer designer, one of the biggest problems is convincing people that you really are working. Unless you win the Booker prize or get your own column in a national daily, hardly anyone will believe you’re a ‘proper’ writer. As for the computer, well they have their own PC, too, but that’s just a hobby, isn’t it? Why should yours be any different? Of course, while they refuse to let you work in peace, you’ll never get enough written or complete enough projects to prove them wrong.

Interruptions and distractions

The fact that you are at home all day means that anyone can drop in, or phone you for a chat. If you have someone staying with you, it’s very difficult for them to see that your being in the house doesn’t mean you’re available for long discussions, extended coffee-breaks and convoluted explanations of how the shower works. It seems that parents and parents-in-law in particular find it hard to understand that my work at home is every bit as ‘real’ as the nine-to-five they themselves did. Not that the problem is exclusive to the ‘older generation’: friends who have found me welcoming when I had no pressing deadlines are now convinced that ours is open house all the time.

If your studio is part of the house, it’s easy for others to assume that you are available to feed the cat, watch the children and let the neighbor’s dog out. Can you justify a babysitter in your own home when you are on the premises? And if you do, and the baby cries, will you have the strength of will to leave your child at the mercy of another woman?

Even if you have no children or animals to worry about, you’ll still be expected to answer the door to callers – not just the meter reader, but also the postman with a parcel for the neighbor, the Jehovah’s Witnesses, the canvassing politician. It takes great self-discipline to ignore the doorbell and pretend you aren’t home – after all, you just might miss something important! The same goes for the telephone, although this is perhaps easier to deal with by filtering the calls using an answer-phone.

It’s not just other people who are distracting. I am not particularly house proud, but many are the days that I can’t settle to write until I’ve swept the floor, put the washing machine on, been to the market and organized lunch. Household tasks are particularly difficult to ignore if you’re sitting in the middle of them!

Meetings and client visits

There’s also the problem of what to do if a client comes to the house. How can you entertain him in a room draped with wet washing, and how do you ban the cat from the studio when she’s in heat? It just isn’t professional to have her wrap herself round a potential customer, but very difficult to prevent when she normally has the run of the flat as our cat does. I don’t think any client has ever needed to use the bathroom in my home, but every time I’ve had a meeting scheduled I’ve had to make sure it was clean, just in case.

Of course, if you know that you’ve got a meeting, that’s all very well, but sometimes a client will turn up unexpectedly. Perhaps he’s got your address from your web site, or a letter you sent him. He just happened to be in the area and how was he to know it was the afternoon your 6-year-old was having his birthday party? You may have re-scheduled your workload, but it doesn’t create a good impression.

Monotony

The joy of no longer having to commute can quickly transform into the monotony of the same four walls and the desire to escape. Working from home I spend far more money on eating out than before: not in order to save time by avoiding cooking and washing up, but simply to get out of the house. The fact that I need to see life outside the house to find inspiration for my writing is another excuse, of course.

Defining Limits

How many hours are you prepared to work? With the studio as part of the house, I’ve still been at my computer at 2am and then back there at 7 the next morning. It had reached the stage where there was no difference between work and leisure: I was already at work before I’d even got dressed in the morning. Or, if there was no project in hand, I could stay in bed as long as I liked: it didn’t matter if I started work at 9am or 6pm as I could work as long as necessary either way.

My husband and I have finally decided that we need an office apart from the house in order for us to enjoy our home. We’ve been very fortunate and managed to find a studio just two doors down the road, so we will still spend hardly any time traveling and we will be able to come home for lunch, instead of eating out all the time.

I shall be able to get on and write without worrying about the washing and cleaning: what the eye doesn’t see, the heart doesn’t grieve over. Anyway, there’s only one room to be kept respectable for client meetings – and it won’t be covered in cat hairs! If a client wants to call, as long as he does so in ordinary office hours, he can, without being molested by the cat. Nor will there ever be wet washing about or children’s parties going on.

The fact that I won’t hear the phone if it rings at 9.30 means that I’ll have to get up and go to work. But if it rings at 10pm I will neither hear it nor worry – I intend to be home enjoying myself.

Personally I believe that working from home is fine if you are only ‘dabbling’: if what you’re doing is a paying hobby rather than a real job. It may also work if you are prepared to consider the whole of your house a work zone: a single person or childless couple whose work and hobbies overlap may be prepared to eat, sleep and work in one location. However, I’m not sure it is the best situation for anyone with a family and much of a life apart from their work.

Gwyneth Box is the editor of Patchword at http://www.patchword.com. You may contact her at gwyneth@patchword.com

By John Hewitt

Some writers know exactly what they want to say. They merely have to start typing and passion flows from them. This doesn’t necessarily mean they write well, but they don’t sit around wondering what to write about. Most writers, however, need a little prodding. Sometimes they have great ideas, and sometimes they stare at their computer screen waiting for something to come to them. If you fall into the second category, you can reduce your time spent staring at the screen by creating a log of your good ideas when they come to you. You can also spend those slow times looking at a few tried and true idea resources and seeing what ideas you can grow for the future.

What is an idea log?

Your idea log can be as simple or as fancy as you wish. Some people create file folders for their ideas. They fill them with notes, clippings, pictures and whatever else will assist them. When they pull out the folder, they have all they need to start work. This can be a great system, but it is a lot of work, especially if you never pursue that idea later.

Many people take advantage of their computers. They write quick notes, or even put them in the form of a query to an editor, and keep them in individual documents or add them to a database. This is an excellent system and one that can also get you going quickly once you decide to write because part of the document is already written. You just have to expand on it.

The third way that I propose is simpler and not as thorough. I use it myself, however, because of its ease and portability. I keep a stack of 3×5 cards in which I jot down my ideas. I put a title and description at the top then jot down the note below. I rarely fill up more than one side of one card. It isn’t as thorough as a file or as ready to roll as a computer note, but it keeps me from prattling on about what is just a single idea that I may or may not follow. Plus, when I have a stack of these cards, I can pull them out and thumb through them quickly, more quickly than going through a file folder or a computer database. I can also take these cards with me anywhere and jot down the ideas as they come. I am a big fan of computers, but for this task I really do prefer the simplicity of a 3×5 card.

What do you like? What do you hate?

A great place to start looking for ideas is to look at your likes and dislikes. What makes you happy and what makes you sad or angry. These are the things in your life that will provoke your most passionate writing. This can range from politics, entertainment, to a lump in your carpet that you’d like to get rid of. It all depends on what interests you enough to upset or please you.

Who do you know?

The people in your life can be one of your greatest sources of ideas. They have jobs, hobbies, interests and problems that make them experts hundreds of things. Your architect friend can now be interviewed about what makes for a good or bad home design. Your divorced friend with three kids probably has much to say about child support issues. With a little fictionalization, the annoying woman at work might make for a great short story. Look at the people around you. Evaluate them as article sources, interview topics and as story ideas.

Who would you like to know?

People often portray writing as a solitary task, but one of the great benefits of being a writer is that you can use it to meet people. Think about the respected or famous people you would like to talk to: writers you respect, experts in fields you are interested in, actors and politicians. Some of them will be difficult to meet, but many are easier than you think. While the ten most famous writers in the world may be hard to contact, most writers do not spend the majority of their time fending off interview requests. The same is true of experts in most areas. Politicians and actors are probably the hardest to get an interview with, but even then you might be surprised. Just remember that the top few in those fields are nearly impossible to interview without some clout behind you, but there are plenty of others in the field who would be happy to answer your questions.

Where have you been?

Travel is a great way to generate ideas. Look at the places you’ve gone and the things you’ve done there. Think also of the trips you would like to take. From travel guides to the settings for stories, your journeys can be a great source of ideas. Whenever you travel, it is a good idea to keep a journal and write down your thoughts and impressions. You never know where you might find your next idea.

What have you been doing?

Take a look at your areas of expertise. What jobs have you held? What hobbies have you had? What have you studied? These are your areas of knowledge. You may not be an expert, but in writing it is generally enough to be an intelligent amateur as long as you are willing to do the research for your story. Just as your friends are great sources of information, you are your greatest source. Not only do you know something about these things, but also you can rely on yourself, more than anyone else, to do the work required to find out more. Every job, from working in a warehouse to being a phone solicitor to managing a small office, has requirements and areas of interest. Think about how these things can become articles or stories.

What have you been reading?

If you are a writer, then chances are you are an avid reader, and it pays to keep a few notes while you read. The daily paper, magazines, the Internet and the books you read are great sources for ideas. My favorite example of this process is the movie The Player, in which a studio executive challenges anyone to read him a newspaper article and he’ll come up with a movie based on it. Over and over he turns the most mundane articles into feature film ideas. Ideas are everywhere.

What happened to you?

Beyond the jobs and hobbies you’ve had, there is plenty more to your life. There are hundreds of high points and low points in every person’s life: people found and lost, love shared and unrequited, accidents, plots, plans, choices and mistakes. Most of your memories are worthy of a story or article, because chances are you haven’t managed to remember the ordinary and mundane parts of your life, just the highs and the lows and the elements that contribute to who you are. Your life is an endless source of material if you have the talent to make it interesting to others.

Ideas are all around you. If you go through the items above, you will have plenty of ideas to work with, but beyond that, you just need to keep your eyes open and your other senses ready to back them up. Ideas will come to you if you are paying attention. Just remember to have some system to keep track of them, even if it is just a notebook for you to jot things down in. Your ideas are fuel for your writing. Keep plenty of fuel handy.

You must always market your services, even when you have all the assignments you need. Marketing during the good times keeps the slow times at bay. Here are a few very simple steps that many writers fail to take.

Purchase Business Cards
Some people believe this is too obvious to mention. However, I am always shocked by how many professional writers don’t have business cards. My advice is to use both sides of the card. The front side should contain the traditional information such as name, occupation and contact information. The back side should contain a mini-resume with a short list of your experience and services.

Create a Portfolio
You should create a promotional kit describing your services. The promotional kit should include a resume, samples of your work and letters of recommendation. Compile these in a nice folder. You might have very large samples (such as books) that don’t lend themselves to putting in a folder. If so, consider creating a samples CD. You will want to leave this with prospective clients or employers. Never give a client the only copy of your work.

Get Letters of Recommendation
As I mentioned, a portfolio should include letters of recommendation when possible. Don’t be afraid to call up former clients or employers to ask for a letter of recommendation. If they seem pressed for time, be willing to write the letter and have them sign it.

Make Business Contacts
While you’re calling all those people looking for recommendations, don’t forget to ask them if they have any business for you or if they know anyone who might be looking for services. Most employment is actually found through friends, acquaintances and old clients and employers. They are a much better source of information than job boards and newspaper classifieds.

Join Writers / Editors Groups
This is another part of networking. Meet other writers and editors. Establish a peer group. Some groups for you to consider are the National Writers Union (NWU), Society for Technical Communication (STC), American Society of Business Publication Editors (ASBPE), The American Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE) and the The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA).

Know the Publication’s Guidelines

The easiest way to find out what a publication wants is to let them tell you. Many publications post their writer’s guidelines on their web site. If you can’t find the guidelines on the web, contact one of the editors and ask for them to email or snail mail you the guidelines. don’t be afraid to call or email for more information.

A publication directory such as Writer’s Market can be helpful for your initial search, but don’t rely on them for all of your information. Any number of things can change between the publication of those listings and the day you decide to send your query.

Not only do writer’ guidelines tend to address content issues, but they can also tell you what format the publication prefers their submissions in. One publication may want you to email them a text file, another might want you to send a paper copy and a third may want you to upload a Microsoft Word file. You won’t know if you don’t do the research.

Sample Guidelines:
Clarkesworld
The Writer
Smithsonian

Know who the publication’s editors are

Knowing the right person to send your query to is one of the little details that can make a big difference when you are trying to make a sale. If you query the wrong person, any of a number of bad things can happen. The person who receives it might dismiss your query and throw it away because it isn’t what they are looking for. The person who receives it may know who should get it and plan to give it to them, but never get around to doing so. If your query does finally get to the right person, they may hold the fact that it was addressed to the wrong person against you.

Always take the time to find out who the right recipient for your query is. Check the publication’s masthead (a listing of editors and other staff) for the latest information.  Don’t be afraid to call or email to confirm your choice.

Sample mastheads:
Boston Magazine
Seventeen
Cosmopolitan

Know the publication’s editorial calendar

In addition to writer’s guidelines, many publications have an editorial calendar that covers such things as publication lead times, deadlines for holiday or seasonal items and upcoming special editions or subject focuses.

Many publications dedicate issues to a single topic or maintain an ongoing series for several issues. Knowing what a publication is looking for and when they are looking for it can give you a serious advantage over the competition. When you request submission guidelines, be sure to request the editorial calendar as well.

Sample Editorial Calendars
Alaska Airlines
Chicago Magazine
Bass Angler

Know the publication, front to back

Don’t assume you know what a publication wants just because you have read their writer’s guidelines. The proper way to research a publication is to read it. Get your hands on a copy of the publication (the more copies the better). Check the publication’s website.

You don’t have to read every word of every article, but take the time to get familiar with the different sections and the general writing style. Writing styles can vary widely from one publication to the next. Be sure that what you are proposing fits in well with the publication’s approach to content and style.

Know how to write a query letter

Your query letter needs to demonstrate both the quality of your idea and the quality of your writing. Additionally, it should demonstrate that you know how to follow the publication’s submission guidelines. Many editors receive dozens of queries each month. For major publishers, the number of queries can climb into the hundreds.

This may seem intimidating, but the number of queries that are actually well-written and well thought out is quite small. Most queries are terrible. They are badly written, inappropriate or fail to follow the publication’s guidelines. It is easy to rise above the crowd if you know what you are doing and you are willing to make a genuine effort to create quality query.

Helpful Articles:

• How to write a query letter
• Why did I get Rejected?
• Successful Freelance Writers Don’t Let Fear Stop Them
• The Holy Grail of Getting Published Big
• Top Five Mistakes Authors Make in Proposals
• Five Tips To a More Effective E-Cover Letter
• This Query Sucks (or how to fail and still succeed)
• 7 Rules to Pitching a Glossy Magazine
• How One Query Letter Got $6,000 in Assignments
• 9 Tips For Reading & Using A Market Listing
• Seven Tips for Submission Success
• Seven Tips for Submitting

The Brilliant Blogger series at BlogWorld is running articles this week about how to attract more RSS subscribers. I’m sure there will be lots of great advice about where to place your RSS links, tying subscriptions into giveaways and other things I’ve never thought of or read about. Their advice will be better than mine, so I’d rather write about what RSS subscriptions mean to me and how they make a difference in what I write.

The Chosen and the Choosers

My RSS subscribers are both my most beloved readers and my most feared readers. They are beloved because they choose to subscribe to my blog. They are so interested in what I have to say that they want my posts sent to their newsreader or email account. That’s a pretty great compliment. I fear these subscribers for the same reason. They have chosen to subscribe. They expect something of me, and if I fail to deliver, either by not posting or by posting something that they wouldn’t be interested in, I feel as if I am letting them down. This may be a product of my overactive guilt/self-importance gland, but I still feel as if I owe the subscribers something more than I owe people who just show up and read a post.

Commitment as Currency

If someone just comes across my site and doesn’t like what they see, they move on. Plenty of people do that, and it is no big deal. If someone subscribes though, they have to actively choose to unsubscribe. They have chosen to at least have access to whatever I post. They may not read everything, but they have chosen the option to do so, and I hate to let them down. That is why they scare me a little, especially when I’m not feeling particularly clever or insightful.

Someone to Consider

It is my subscribers that I think of when I contemplate a change in style or content direction. The causal clickers who come by won’t care about these things, but the subscribers, those are the people who have made a commitment to me and my site. They are the ones who are likely to notice and either approve or disapprove of any changes I make. These are people who matter.

What do your Subscribers Mean to You?

So, I encourage you to read the brilliant blogger posts when it comes out, and I’ll certainly provide a link. When you are contemplating how to get more subscribers though, take a moment to think about what they mean to you, and how you’ll treat them once they do subscribe. They are your readers who matter.

There was a time when this blog got a fair number of comments per post. Over the years it has trickled down. While I first and foremost put the responsibility on myself (erratic posting, not so fascinating topics, my being slow to respond to comments) I have also noticed that on most of the blogs I follow, comments are significantly down from where they were several years ago.

In my opinion, this is part of the evolution of blogging and to the growth of Facebook, Twitter and other social media. People don’t spend as much time taking part in the communities around blogs because, thanks to social media platforms, they have their own communities for conversations. Instead of talking about a blog post in the comments of the blog, they share it with their friends and followers on whatever platform they like. The conversations have moved away from the source and are now happening in the reader’s community.

I know that this is a common way for me to react to a blog post. I may not comment on a post, but I’ll share it in my Google Reader, link to it on Twitter and even post it in my FaceBook feed. This is my way of sharing with the community I know and care about rather than the community of the blog, which I may or may not have much contact with.

I think this is a trend that will continue. Five years ago, the blog was where you went to build friendships with people and to help shape conversations. Now, there are separate and much more popular platforms for that. My Facebook feed has all of my friends and family on it, so I feel comfortable sharing fun things with them. My Twitter account has most of my online blogging and other social media acquaintances, so I feel more comfortable sharing items about the online world on that account. The conversation has moved to my own communities, which is where I prefer to have it.

The downside of this change is that many bloggers are feeling less connected to their readers. When you write a blog post and no one responds, you don’t know if anyone out there is paying attention.

This can be discouraging, especially when you run across a blog that is still full of comments. Some communities are hardier than others and some bloggers are better at generating comments, so there will always be bloggers with solid comment communities to be envious of. Overall though, you have to adjust to the fact that there are now more convenient spots for people to have conversations, and getting comments is one aspect of blogging that is going to be increasingly difficult to succeed in.