DISQUS

Um, I'm pretty sure you have more than two readers. And I'd agree with Carl. I come to read about you and what you're thinking about. That's why I visit most of the blogs I visit. It's like getting to have a bunch of little coffee dates where I check in on people, see how they are doing, what they are learning and thinking about, and feel connected.

I am a bit like LL, though, in that I tend to create separate blogs. The stewardship blog is just so much more focused and scheduled than spaghettipie. I didn't want that much structure in spaghettipie, but I like it in the stewardship blog.

You just have to do what feels natural to you. If you go for anything else, I think you'll just burn out on blogging.

I'm still philosophizing on the significance of labeling the second question "1" . . .

I'm not certain we need a new word.

And I agree that authors who know how to wield the internet (at least to some extent) will prove to be quite powerful.

I don't feel forced into a particular interpretation. I enjoy hearing what (I think) is your interpretation and comparing it to mine . . .

Loved that! Thanks so much for not only sharing the words but your voice. Hearing you read it was slightly different than reading it in my own head. You're the coolest. :)

Of course, I find all of this extremely interesting (and will link to it on Blog Tour Spot). As we saw on Mary's tour, I think it was effective in creating some buzz and reaching new audiences. I know that even within my circle of influence - including people who do not have or read blogs - we talked about Mary's book because I was working on her blog tour, and it consumed part of my life for a short period of time. Measuring the impact of word of mouth seems so elusive. We can get some sense of hard data to make general observations, but I doubt we'll ever be able to get our arms completely around it. The internet is just to huge and too viral.

I thought everyone from that neck of the woods was a Spurs fanatic?

(Interestingly, I paused for a moment before writing that word in the first comment because I knew you had not confessed to be a fanatic. But then, I decided to go for it. :) )

PS - I suppose I wouldn't actually feel "published" until the first person (other than my mother) "demanded" it . . .

I think I'm okay with it. I mentioned on the last post you wrote about this technology that it reminds me a lot of DLP technology that my former employer created. The obstacles are big, but it's eventually going to make a huge difference in the current status quo.

Yup, I responded on my second blog a couple weeks ago.

And no, you didn't comment on my HC post. :( I'll forgive you. Did you get that legal one I forwarded to you?

Fun to read; thanks for sharing!

Ooh, I'm pretty competitive too. But we used to tease my college friend (also a Spurs fanatic) about how competitive she was - she once swallowed all of the Monopoly pieces in play because she didn't want to lose.

PS - I wrote a blog about High Calling Blogs a couple weeks ago. Hope it sent a little traffic your way.

Major bummer. Hope it wasn't the really bad kind and that you're feeling better.

This article resonates with me. Back when I was working, one of my mentors was a Senior VP (company size 30K+). I asked her how she managed to balance her home (2 young children) and work life. She smiled at me and said, "There's no such thing as work/life balance." As popular as that phrase is, I believe she's right - in that, if you picture each day as a scale, and you have to put equal weights (read: time) on either side (read: work side and non-work side) to be balanced, then you'll be frustrated and defeated at the end of each day. Her point was the same. Some days you put in more time at work. Other days you put in more time at home. Angela Thomas writes this: "If you're a praying person who listens to God and looks into the hearts of people around you, obeying the first and second commandments to love God and love others, you'll know when to skip the day's entire to-do list and take your kids to the beach, take yourself to the beach, take your Bible to the beach or take your kids and the neighbor's lonely, autistic son to the beach. If each day is about knowing and loving God, that day's activities will flow out of a divine common sense." (emphasis mine).

M - I'd love to join, but I don't think any of my blogs fit any of those categories :( I'll keep a look out for ones that do fit, though. Perhaps you go the one I recently sent you on Law?

Dee - I totally agree about the original content part (and that was one of the "complaints" I talked about in my summary), but how to prevent that is difficult. I encouraged people to write original posts in reminder emails, on the website and any other way I could, and yet still the majority of people used the interview verbatim. So a ton of people used it, meaning it feels like we needed to have it, but a ton of people used it, meaning in some ways the tour lost some of the "power of individuality."

I've been seeing this on my blog too. Sometimes it just grabs my post like LL said and sometimes it attributes it to a fake person like you did. I just delete the comment or linkback.

Marcus,
Thanks so much for all of your advice and number crunching! I don't think you ever steered us wrong; we had to try some stuff out. I enjoyed reading the analysis, and I definitely know some things I'd try differently the next time around.
I have to say I agree with LL, that I often skip over blog tour posts unless it's short enough for me to skim or catches my eye with something meaningful to me (usually aligned with why I visit that blog anyway). Your recent posts on the CSFF tour are great examples. I read them since you took an interesting slant to the review, while I normally skip over them.
Anyway, I've enjoyed working with you on this project, and hope we'll get to work on something again in the future. In the meantime, I'll be reading your blogs, tour postings and otherwise. . .

Woohoo, I scored 100% too. Does that make me really moral or perhaps legalistic? Of course, it helps that the answers were all there posted in the sidebar (but I didn't cheat, I swear! - oops, did that just break a couple commandments?)

Interesting article and post, Marcus. Timely, too, as I was just talking with a friend about his blog and the difficulty he's been having with consistently posting. (He asked me to hold him accountable to posting weekly). The conversation ended with me asking him the reason he wanted to blog. Without having a compelling (to him) purpose, I said, I didn't see why he would be motivated to post. I think in the end that determines whether your blog lives or dies.

I love these different "reviews" that you've been doing. Again, while I normally would've skipped over your CSFF posts, I'm here reading them.

And I met Austin last year in the San Jose airport heading home from Mount Hermon - he's one neat dude!

Great thoughts, Marcus and everyone. As a newer mom, I enjoy reading them. Interestingly, the last time I was at the pediatrician's office, our doctor said, "You read a lot to your daughter, don't you?" I replied that we did and gave him a funny look. He commented, "I can always tell which kids are read to a lot."

Fascinating.

We also read every single night before bedtime. At various other times during the day we read as well, and we've started attending our library's toddler story time every week. We want our daughter to view reading as fun, not another required task.

Rest well. Will look forward to your return.

I almost didn't read your post, but I gave it two paragraphs and you hooked me in the second one. Interesting slant on your CSFF tour.

Interesting concept. My immediate thought was the impact that could have on the environment. Although I understand Hyatt doesn't think it will diminish a publisher's role, the technology could be used to eliminate excessive printing.
I sort of like the notion of no longer encountering a book "out of print." In some ways, this reminds me of advances in the film industry toward all digital productions, or even the wine industry toward screw caps. The flexibility is attractive, but would you ever truly be able to remove people's attachment to the nostalgia of it?

Yea! You did the writing meme. I found it quite interesting, and am enjoying seeing what others are reading (although it's making my list grow quite long).

I'm currently reading:
The Emotionally Healthy Church - Peter Scazzero
Life Together - Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Feathers from my Nest - Beth Moore