Ready to slow down...?

Working in the online work has a downside for most of us. For Tsh Oxenreider, author of Notes on a Blue Bike, The Art of Living Intentionally in a Chaotic World,running a successful blog as her family's primary income, the downside was that work is always a click away.  If you often feel like your cycling uphill trying to put in quality time at the computer but falling further behind, you will identify with her, As she says: “There is no “The End” to the Internet."

"Never before in history have we been given the keys to be able to work and earn money doing what we love. And yet never before have we been so eagerly invited to work 24/7, without ever a chance to feel done. It’s hard to slow down when the race has no finish line.”  

Notes on a Blue Bike is about much more, of course, as Oxenreider shares her path to a sane family life, endorsing a lifestyle rich with quality and meaning, offering a better pace of life for her famiily and appreciation for what they have, not what they desire.

Read the full review here: http://blogcritics.org/author/Helen-Gallagher/

Why good blogs succeed

Perhaps you enjoy maintaining your blog with a post only when you come across an item worth sharing, or a personal essay too good to let slip away. That's what I do here at Release Your Writing; share items I think will be of interest to you. And with over 34,000 visits to this blog, I feel gratified by the attention.

What if you want your blog to really sustain your big ideas? That requires more than posting a movie review, which is soon to be old news, or ranting about a topc of only marginal interest to your readers.

To bring a lasting value to your blog, TheBookDesigner.com [aka Joel Friedlander], offers the concept of a "backlist," similar to a publishers reprinting books that keep selling well, and magazine editors seeking evergreen content - those stories that everyone wants.

Below is a brief excerpt and here is a link back to the full article.

Although blog articles don’t have to prove themselves in the market the same way a book does, they have some of the same characteristics of great backlist books. Some kinds of articles that fall into this category include:

• Foundation content—articles that explain basic concepts will be in demand as long as those concepts are relevant to your readers

• Evergreen articles—software changes constantly, but general principles rarely change, and people always want to understand them
  
• Process overviews—quick-reference summaries of basic processes in your field are great to orient new readers to your topic
• Resource directories—readers will always need tips on where to find tools, vendors, and other necessities
• Best practices—whittling down the number of choices beginners face to just a few appropriate options will be helpful to many people

Let these five categories inspire you to write posts that help readers and keep them coming back for more.