If you’re a blogger, you need this book!

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New book

This book was in my Christmas stocking this year and it is really, really good. No One Cares What You Had for Lunch: 100 Ideas for Your Blog by Margaret Mason has over 100 ideas to get your brain jumpstarted for a new year! I don’t know what the negative reviewers on Amazon were expecting, Mason offers up a lot of prompts and ideas to get your mind started down the right path for an interesting blog post. Some of her blog prompts include making a timeline of your past in (I think this would be fascinating with photos), opening up your medicine cabinet/purse and revealing the contents, and posting about items and ideas you need to let go of…think about that old ugly sweater from the 80’s that has sentimental value or that dream of becoming a rock star.

The chapters are broken up into blogs you can write in 15 min., 30, minutes, 1 hour, and beyond. While they are just prompts, some of the 15 minute prompts would take me much more than 15 minutes! Maybe if I didn’t include photos that would take less time, but I must include photos. It seems like the days of a straight blog post without a photo are practically gone.

The one big thing I wonder is about the cover of the book. There’s a mini spoon in with the french fries on the platter. I don’t know who would ever use the spoon when you could just dip your fries into the ketchup. Haha. Just sayin’.

Until next time Swellions!

Alexa

The craft blog thought process

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I really enjoy writing my blog and sometimes I am super, super inspired to post a new project or something cool I experienced, but there are times where (like now), it is 11:37pm on a weeknight and I have no clue what I’m going to write about for my daily blog post.

As you probably notice, I really try to come up with new content that’s somewhat interesting (at least I hope it is for your sake…ha ha). When I was thinking about what I was going to do tonight, I had an idea…why don’t I share with you the randomness that comes into my head when I develop a blog post (esp. a last minute one). I’m fascinated by how people formalize their ideas and how an idea gets from point a to point b…so, with that in mind, I want to share with you my thought process behind my a post…so here’s the inner dialogue straight from my brain.

You are now entering Alexa’s Brain

“Oh, no. I really need to think of something for my blog. What kind of project can I do in 30 minutes? Hmm…maybe I can do a post on a 30 minute craft and it become a regular feature. But what if I flake out and it doesn’t become a regular feature. Ugh, I can’t make a promise to do a regular feature and not pull through…I don’t think I’m going to do that.

Hmm…hey, I could do a contest and give away some fun stuff from my craft stash. Let’s see…I have this charm, a cool goblin bead, and let’s see, I have some paper clips. Ugh, I can’t give away paper clips. That’s dumb. OK, I do have this tin. I could fill it with beads, charms, and stickers.

lemon drops

But I kinda like it. I don’t want to give it away. Um, and I don’t know if I would ship it right away. I’m going on vacation and it would be several weeks till I would get around to mailing it out. Ugh, can’t do that idea.

Hey, what project do I have around that I could post. Let’s see…oh, there’s that Creative Techniques project I did…people prob. won’t remember it, but I don’t want to have to go and find the instructions in my e-mail. That would take longer than rewriting them from scratch. Can’t do that one. Oh, wait…I do have this John Mayer frame. It has a cool technique on it…

jm frame

But I don’t really like John Mayer like I used to. He’s too Hollywood now and not as cool. I guess it looks cool and that they are my own photos that I burned on the frame, but I don’t want to have to write instructions and think of how to explain it.

OK, let’s see…hmm, there’s that vase of colorful buttons I could blog about…

buttons

Um, yeah, it’s a vase of buttons. That will make for a real exciting read!

Hey, what about if I show off the project that I created just for my blog? I’ve been waiting to feature it…

canvas detail

Ugh, but I’m not entirely finished with it and again, I’d have to write instructions. I don’t want to be up for an hour and a half finishing it and writing instructions too.

I’m at a total loss. I don’t know what the heck to blog about that people actually will want to read about…hey (looking down next to keyboard), I could do something cool with this measuring tape. It would make a super cool vase or bracelet or something.

wrapped

I don’t have a surface to start with. Hmm, I need to go to plan Z.”

Wait, why don’t I do a blog about how I decide how I choose what to blog…yeah, I think I’ll do that. That won’t take too long and it will be easy to write. I’ll just snap a few pics and I’ll be done in no time. Yeah, I’ll think I’ll do that.

You are now exiting Alexa’s Brain

Hope that made sense and was somewhat easy to follow. I’ve never been one to be perfect about grammatical phrasing. I need to study up.

Hope you enjoyed this little venture inside my head and thinking up a crafty blog post. I promise, it’s not always this hard or this much of a stretch. Some days it just comes, other days it is a little harder, but it’s all worth it. I do enjoy it.

Until next time Swellions!

Alexa