Better Writing, Better Blogging

I know I will never be as eloquent as Manolo, Juned, Blogie and Maro. They are my idols when it comes to blog writing. I can only hope to be a teenie-bit as skillful as they are when it comes to expressing their thoughts and feelings.

You see I'm having a hard time writing this post even.

I took interest in writing when I was a kid. Being the youngest in the family somehow made me the most emo and to keep me from becoming psycho my Mom got me a very nice stationery-like notebook. I used to collect stationeries since I was 7 and it was unheard of to actually write on them! So I was utterly confused when my Mom told me that the nice pink notebook was going to be my first journal.

I started keeping a journal when I was 8. Most of them were one-liners of stuff I did during the day and my Mom would remind me whenever we had an activity to record it in my journal. So I just kept writing and writing with my ugly chicken penmanship, not minding how I constructed sentences.

When I was 9 I discovered the wonderful world of the Bobbsey Twins! That was the time my Dad was a judge in Lucena, Quezon and my Mom and I would take a trip to visit him every other weekend. My Mom would buy me something to read. Eventually I read my sister's hardbound Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys collection. That was where I realized that I wanted to write more than one liners.

I was already 11 when my Mom pointed out to me that I had horrendous grammar. I became so conscious of it that it became hard for me to write. If my friends dig up my snail mail to them during that time they'd be laughing their heads off. Hey, I was only 11! So to improve my writing skills I joined the creative writing club in high school and eventually several student publications in college. I became EIC of our literary folio not because of my writing skills, but probably because I scored really high in the management IQ exam.

I'll be celebrating my birthday in a few weeks and I realize that I'm still far from being the writer (or blogger) I want to be. The best I can do for now (I guess) is to at least not be an eyesore to those who read what I write.

And thanks to Sweetie who patiently checks my posts for grammatical errors.

And I ask for bloggers, are you conscious about how you write?

Changing Posts

Uh, I don't mean revising or taking down posts as two of my friends were arguing about. That's their business and I'm not one to waste my time arguing things. I believe in responsible posting (ya know, doing research before making such sweeping statements... Dr. Ned would give me a crack on my head if I did such a thing). `Nuff said.

So I'm cranky today. I have a fever and that's my grand excuse. Just bug off. :)

And back to my post...

Our street's usually empty. Everyday. I live in a village where people usually keep to themselves and I just usually bump into Mang Ben and Aling Inday who seem to be always all over the place anytime of the day (ergo, they love walking and walking).

But today was different. When I went out I was surprised to see quite a number of people outside looking up. A Meralco team was changing the post and this is how it looked before and after (notice the old one was cut in half). Too bad I didn't capture them on my cam turning the electricity on again (there's a huge switch there somewhere!).

This photo was done using Picasa.

So that was what I meant about changing posts. Hehehe.

And there's a big change happening too as well in the Apolo household. Miguel's finally moving to his room tonight! My Dad noticed that Miguel and I weren't doing anything about it and forced the issue over lunch. He did it for two reasons: (1) Miguel's a teenager already, and (2) My Dad said over lunch, "Wala na ata tayo pag-asa pang madagdagan ng apo dito kay Aileen." Egads!

Now you know why I suddenly had a fever. Hyperventilating...

Don't worry Dad, I'm introducing you to someone just a bit after my birthday. Winkwink.

Blogger Lingo 101

I guess I've spent so much time with bloggers that I've managed to assimilate blogger lingo in my vocabulary. Now being the nerdy/geeky person I am, some people think I speak inanities, but in fact I'm just speaking my everyday language. And I'm hopefully not boring!

Blogger Talk 101:

(1) That's not bloggable!

Of course, bloggers spend time offline and we talk about many, many things under the sun. If you tell a reporter "that's off the record", then you have to tell a blogger "that's unbloggable!". Read Ely's recount on non-bloggable things.

(2) Link baiter!

Sometimes there are bloggers who write about stuff in the hopes of getting link backs. In layman's (offline) terms it means you are a social climber. You try to network with people in the hopes that you get recognized and become famous like the Philippines most influential and top blogger (that's based on stats).

Note: When talking offline, bloggers say "topic baiter!".

(3) Zero PR

This means the blog (or website) has zero page rank. Page rank mainly shows the level of relevance of your page (and how important it is). In layman's term, are you making any sense or is your content relevant at all? If you're PR is zero, you'd need to talk to a SEO or do some marketing through Google Adwords. Coupons anyone?

(4) Blog roll

Your list of personal blog favorites, usually found either on the left or right (usually) side of your blog posts. I call it my "friendly friends"

(5) Some favorite blogger expressions

Gulp!...Whew!...Uhh... Err... Gawd... Oh noes!... Noooooo!.... No way!

From Abe: Ego Search

Searching your name on Google to find out who and what people are saying about you.

I'm sure my blog roll can provide more terms :)

Oh BTW, you can get a free copy of Blog This: How Blogs Empower Every Internet User. It's written by a friend.