Comments on: Science Online ’09: From Blogging to Paying Bills

By: Kevin Zelnio

Kevin Zelnio — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 18:27:00 +0000

For someone like me who is mostly an "off-the-cuff" blogger, the structure part is probably the most difficult. It is certainly worth it in the long run to pay attention to writing. People will enjoy reading the post more and I'll be more proud of what I write. I don't mind being a little inflammatory. I'm usually right so its no big deal ;) But I think a blog on my homepage where I just copy the code of my good posts over to keep track of them. Like Angelo, I tried the "best of" for my other blog near the top of the blog. But potential employers will flip through the posts to get an idea of you anyways. So unless you put something good in the topspot all the time, something you might not want an editor judge you on might be up there.

By: Ryan Somma

Ryan Somma — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 15:09:07 +0000

Thanks for covering this session. I really wanted to attend it. The point about a blog being too controversial is why I made it a point to tone down my own writing and make it more idea-oriented rather than inflammatory-oriented. The inflammatory stuff got way more hits, but I don’t need my coworkers seeing that side of my personality.

Thanks for emphasizing STRUCTURE. We tend to forget it in our online discourse… as well as grammar and spelling sometimes. : )

By: Mike

Mike — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 01:19:42 +0000

That’s pretty much what I took away from the session as well. It really was helpful, especially those small points about structure!

By: Angelo Villagomez

Angelo Villagomez — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 21:59:12 +0000

I have a Best of my Blog near the top. That might work for #7, too.

By: Lilian Nattel

Lilian Nattel — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 17:15:09 +0000

Another option is to have a different blog that's got your serious science articles, which you can link to your website. You could link to it or simply copy the best posts to it. I've experimented with multiple blogs and I'm still working on it. I have one that is designed specifically to be linked to my website. I have a catch-all, A Novelist's Mind for everything I'm interested in. And a third that I'm not quite sure what to do with, Lilian's Lighthouse, which has changed forms a couple of times already. Science journalism is a different field from fiction, but I just want to encourage you and tell you to hang in there and keep at it. It took me around ten years to start making a living as a novelist. It was a long haul, but I got there, and I would imagine it would be quicker in journalism.

By: Mike Haubrich, FCD

Mike Haubrich, FCD — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 12:10:30 +0000

If you are too controversial,

Crap. I’m doomed before I start.