Comments on It's not Poetry I'm complaining about

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Fraid so, winged

I run into the same problem with my blogs in Health & Fitness and Sports & Leisure. Both would probably be more widely read and commented on if they were shifted to one of the hot categories such as Journal or Everything Else. I don't think it is that most bloggers are trouble free. Rather, I believe most tend to gravitate to the double handful or so of categories where most of the action is, both writing and reading. It generally takes two or more bloggers doggedly staying with a category, and doing well in it, before other bloggers join in and make it one of the more popular categories.

posted by notapoet on July 11, 2008 at 11:48 PM | link to this | reply

P.S. Yeah, it pains me a bit, but what I'm really

concerned about is the fact that no one is

interested in the problems of other bloggers.

Self-help is a cry for help? Is everybody out there

problem-free?

posted by Winged on July 11, 2008 at 5:35 PM | link to this | reply

Am I reading this right? That more people

are interested in pets than self-help?

Where is the self-help category I write in?

posted by Winged on July 11, 2008 at 5:30 PM | link to this | reply

Samantha39

This is an interesting point worthy of serious consideration. I've often thought that one of the main reasons for the popularity of Poetry, and many other blogs in the Top 100, is their brevity. Only a few of our top bloggers have succeeded with posts that take more than a minute or two to read.

posted by notapoet on July 9, 2008 at 11:05 PM | link to this | reply

I'm starting to wonder if the poems are even being read,,,
I hate to bring this up but some of us have to be thinking
that,,,it would be so easy to read a poem and comment real
fast than read a blog,,,to comment on a blog fairly you really
must read it

posted by Samantha39 on July 7, 2008 at 1:13 PM | link to this | reply

I feel your pain, winged

I've been there. Hell, I'm still there. Most of my blogs do very little in the rankings even though I spent a lot of painstaking care with several of them that I really enjoy writing. Good writing, interesting topics, more than a little self-promotion and ranting and raving, and a helluva lot of luck seems to be what it takes. And even all that often doesn't work. The only blog I've had in the Top 100 in months just took a 17-spot nosedive right out of the Top 100. All I can say is "keep plugging away and someone will come around and read eventually." I know I'll give the blog a try.

posted by notapoet on July 7, 2008 at 7:30 AM | link to this | reply

What happened to self-help? Don't anyone need help out

there? Am I drowning with Winged for Art Therapy?

How are my posts remaining the same after six months?

Am I that boring?

posted by Winged on July 7, 2008 at 6:48 AM | link to this | reply

I appreciate your points, TAPS.,

just as I always appreciate hearing from you. I even agree up to a certain point, that being the composition of Blogit's membership. I feel that are far more women than men, and a large chunk of the male membership consider themselves poets. I, for one, do not. My interests run much more along the lines of cars, electronics and gadgets, and sports -- and I think those interests are more typical of the average male than poetry. Even among males of my acquaintance who write, I find few poets, or even men who read much that could be called poetry. I know that I read few poetry blogs except as a courtesy to my readers who indulge in poetry. Outside of Blogit I've read little poetry that I didn't have to while in school -- and I didn't enjoy a great deal of that. Exceptions to that would be Rudyard Kipling, who wrote much poetry on topics with a great deal of interest to men, and Ogden Nash, who fractured my funny bone. My plea is for more of Blogit's members to at least try their wings at something other than poetry. I have two reasons for this. One is that many of them are talented enough to produce excellent works of fiction and nonfiction if they would give it a serious try. A second is that aspiring writers might as well face the harsh reality that only a tiny number of poets will ever earn more than critical acclaim as working poets. It's hard enough to make a living at writing without limiting yourself to the least lucrative branch of the craft. By all means, write poetry for fun and possible critical acclaim. But also hone your skills at something that might provide a real income.

Whew! Time for me to get off my bandwagon. I think I might be able to copy and paste this reply to my blog as a post. Thanks for your pertinent comment, and for helping me to crystallize some of my thoughts on this subject.

posted by notapoet on July 7, 2008 at 2:10 AM | link to this | reply

Notapoet, If one is going to write a blog on "Automotive" or on "Electronics & Gadgets", or some such blog, you'd better make them very interesting. People are just not drawn to such things. In the years that i have been here, I have had blogs in many different categories. I have not kept them up because no one wants to read that stuff. People read poetry. That is why seven are in the top ten.

posted by TAPS. on July 7, 2008 at 12:53 AM | link to this | reply

You're welcome, Samantha39

I guess it might be a touchy subject at that with Poetry dominating the neighborhood so much. Being prose oriented, since I can't write poetry worth a damn, I find it a little unsettling that so many seem to consider Blogit primarily a poetry forum.

posted by notapoet on July 7, 2008 at 12:22 AM | link to this | reply

It's glad to see the statistics on touchy subjects, it really
helps out to see the hard facts, thanks for the info

posted by Samantha39 on July 5, 2008 at 1:43 PM | link to this | reply

Thanks, Soul_Builder

It's good to know that you think my thoughts on the matter have some merit.

posted by notapoet on July 5, 2008 at 12:03 AM | link to this | reply

Living_Life_Large

Thanks for stopping by and giving my point some consideration.

posted by notapoet on July 5, 2008 at 12:02 AM | link to this | reply

Thanks, sam

It's good to know that even accomplished poets see the danger in a lack of diversity. Now if we could just wish the Tigers back onto the right track...

posted by notapoet on July 4, 2008 at 11:59 PM | link to this | reply