Disqus - Latest Comments for Tina

Re: Blog Tours - What Is a Successful Blog Tour?

Tina — Tue, 22 May 2007 01:48:05 -0000

Okay, Marcus, while I'm interested in the stats and the idea of sharing what is effective and ineffective in generating traffic, I feel like I'm getting bogged down in the details and missing the point of all this effort.

I think what you are saying is that you are interested in exploring the potential impact of being "organized" as bloggers (as in an entity, as opposed to personally orderly of course)...that together we can explore God and share God in a way that we cannot do in isolation. You are doing statistical analyses and such in order to share what works and what doesn't work in organizing bloggers effectively.

Is that it? Otherwise, can you please re-explain it to me? I've been doing a lot of thinking about what it means to live in community, and the online aspect of life adds a whole new dimension to it...so I'm interested in your thoughts. I'm just a little lost in the stats and tag clouds.

Re: Blog Tours - What Is a Successful Blog Tour?

Tina — Tue, 22 May 2007 01:52:14 -0000

PS - sorry to write Marcus instead of Mark, unless you actually like being called Marcus for some reason. I think I read it in someone else's comments and typed it without really thinking that maybe you don't like to be called Marcus. Maybe I should just go with LL and call you Cliff Hanger (I don't suppose you ever watch Between the Lions? If so, you should insert theme music here).

Man, comments awaiting moderation again....

Re: Blog Tours - What Is a Successful Blog Tour?

Tina — Tue, 22 May 2007 17:05:54 -0000

Hmm, I'll have to think about what Cliff Hanger is - I'm not sure if he's a hero or a villain...

I still feel like I'm missing something as to the point of your efforts, though...

Re: Blog Tours - What Mattered and What Didnâ€™t

Tina — Fri, 25 May 2007 17:46:13 -0000

All very interesting thoughts, and I'm intrigued by the whole concept of "traffic flow" that LL and ESI bring up (as a commuter, I've always been fascinated by traffic patterns, what causes slow downs and congestion, etc. My husband used to tease me about how much I love to listen to the traffic report).

Seems to me to track it, you'd have to have access to the same kind of data you have for Highcalling.org for each of the blog tour spots...and definitely a fresh new brain.

Re: 6 Characteristics of Blogs That Move Serious Traffic

Tina — Fri, 25 May 2007 17:52:22 -0000

So are you comments queued up too, and we're really just talking with an automated system?

Thinking about PageRank and Technorati Authority in some ways stresses me out. Am I now trying to win the approval of God or of PageRank? Or am I trying to please Technorati? If I were still trying to please the ranking gods, I would not focused on my actual writing.

(what's that, both Mark and Craver are going out of town this weekend?)

Re: Blog Like Einstein - Finally a Formula that Predicts Blog Traffic with a 0.8 Correlation

Tina — Sat, 26 May 2007 18:01:43 -0000

Oh, I agree with LL on her last point - it seems to me it also matters WHO a blog sends to your site.

Also, I don't get what "b" really means. Would you define it more specifically? Does b give you a prediction of the actual number of people a blog will send (meaning, if my PR=2 and TA=21, then my blog would potentially send 84 people)? If not, then some sort of score on "blog potential" - and what does that score mean?

Re: How to Sell Yourself - Letters to a Young Editor 2

Tina — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 23:51:26 -0000

A little late to the game, but wanted to comment.
Eve, I like your comment about Peter.

It also made me consider why we so often begin to consider ourselves as failures? It's like we wrap our identity up so tightly in what we do, that when it doesn't work out we take it so personally...taking on the failed attempt as a personal attribute.

And re: the selling thoughts. For me, it has something to do with perceived motive. As you mention Mark, if someone is trying to convince me to buy a product because he or she is passionate about the product, I don't mind it so much (as long as it doesn't turn pushy). But if I sense that someone doesn't care about my welfare (to put it broadly) and is just trying to make a buck, it becomes more annoying.

Re: You Can Do Anything - Letters to a Young Editor 3

Tina — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 00:12:21 -0000

Great thoughts and comments.
It kind of reminds me of the sports arena...pro-athletes are sometimes criticized for their bargaining and attitudes about their already exorbitant salaries with the comment, "If they really loved to play the game they'd play for free."
As you mentioned, it's not that it's bad to receive payment for doing something you love, but would you still do it if you got paid nothing...just because you loved it so much (or had the irresistible urge to do it)?
Not to mention, ultimately it's God's glory we're seeking through our writing. We can't put limits or specifications like publishing or circulation numbers on that. We have to let Him work as He sees fit.

Re: Is My Family Great?

Tina — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 18:26:44 -0000

It is a nice idea to see pictures of the people whose thoughts I read daily. Like putting a brain with a face.

Such a sweet family, too!

Re: Coming Soon to a Blog Near You

Tina — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 23:11:22 -0000

What? You don't have the blog machine all queued up to spit out blogs even when you're not there? I'm devastated...

Re: The News of Mass Media’s Death Has Been Greatly Exaggerated

Tina — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 23:59:50 -0000

Love your thoughts, and again I think it points to why we write - is it for our own fame and fortune? or is it for the glory of God?

Re: Download a Free eBook: Passion Play and Other Poems

Tina — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 00:00:52 -0000

Thanks so much for this gift - and a precious gift it is.

Re: Writing (and Blogging) Is About Relationships

Tina — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 17:48:01 -0000

I heartily agree. After all, we were created to be in relationship. Besides, what are riches and titles and responsibilities worth if you are all alone in the world?

Re: Honey, I Killed the Power

Tina — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 01:02:25 -0000

Well, I'm glad no pants were injured in the making of this poem.
I think that's an ingenious way to try to get out of doing laundry, Marcus. It reminds me of Shel Silverstein's Poem, How Not to Have to Dry the Dishes:
If you have to dry the dishes
(such and awful boring chore.)
If you have to dry the dishes
(instead of going to the store.)
If you have to dry the dishes
and you drop one on the floor
maybe they wonâ€™t let you dry the
dishes anymore.

Re: A Great Resource for Parents

Tina — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 16:11:44 -0000

Shepherding is a pretty good book, although I enjoyed Ginger Plowman's book called Don't Make Me Count to Three more because it's a little more practical. I reviewed both books on my blog (links above).

Re: 5 Easy Editing Steps to Polish Your Writing

Tina — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 01:56:27 -0000

oooh, I like that. it breaks down an enormous project into what feels more manageable...

Re: Tagged to Share 8 Things

Tina — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 23:43:45 -0000

Now, Marcus. If you read the post, you'd know that it was NOT the 8 Random Facts meme, but one in which you're supposed to answer the questions about reading and writing! Try again, please...

Re: Tagged to Share 8 Things

Tina — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 10:09:57 -0000

You had the link correctly: http://spaghettipie.wordpress.com/2007/07/25/re...
Granted, there are not many instructions other than to just fill out the questionnaire. But I'm definitely curious to know your answers!

Re: The Person Responsible for this Morning’s Whiny Post Has Been Shot

Tina — Sat, 04 Aug 2007 00:04:43 -0000

I appreciate both your vulnerability and your brokenness. Even in cyber-space, those qualities build community. For whatever reason guilt struck you - warranted or not, necessary or not - I love your humility and desire to learn in order to grow closer to God. Thanks for the model.

Re: Attention Writers: An Hour a Day Brings the Traffic Your Way

Tina — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 00:04:41 -0000

Wow-fascinating information, thanks for distilling it down and sharing.

I started my blog for precisely the purpose you mention - to build relationships. I was hopeful that building a little bit of a platform might happen as a side effect. I have been amazed at the number of relationships I have now with people I've never met - but would go so far as to call them "friends." It's a fascinating world, this blog-o-sphere!

Oh, I'm interested in the HC blog thingy, but I think I'm still confused about what it is, what's required of me and if I'll even be accepted??

Re: Spagettipie’s Writing Meme

Tina — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 01:08:51 -0000

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

Re: Espresso Book Machines Won’t Write Good Sentences for You

Tina — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 17:32:34 -0000

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?

Re: Firefish: An Editor Evaluates the Whole Book Based on One Page

Tina — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 11:00:20 -0000

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.

Re: Disappearing for a Bit

Tina — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 21:10:40 -0000

Rest well. Will look forward to your return.

Re: How My Kindergartener Learned to Read Chapter Books

Tina — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 17:49:35 -0000

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.

Re: The Return: Judging a Book before Page One

Tina — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 17:53:37 -0000

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!

Re: The Death of Blogs? Let’s Not Be Melodramatic.

Tina — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 23:25:53 -0000

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.

Re: The Ten Commandments Get Viral

Tina — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 12:03:07 -0000

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?)

Re: Anatomy of a Blog Tour - Startling Stats from Mary DeMuth’s 6 Week Tour

Tina — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 17:07:00 -0000

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. . .

Re: Innovative Spam Is Just Downright Offensive

Tina — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 22:59:53 -0000

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.

Re: Anatomy of a Blog Tour - Startling Stats from Mary DeMuth’s 6 Week Tour

Tina — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 23:06:33 -0000

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."

Re: We’re Looking for a Few Good Blogs!

Tina — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 01:08:41 -0000

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?

Re: Good Words Around the Net - Don’t Try To Balance Your Day

Tina — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 01:18:29 -0000

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).

Re: I’ve Been Sick

Tina — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 01:00:13 -0000

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

Re: Spurs Preseason Game Is All About Play

Tina — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 16:51:03 -0000

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.

Re: What Have You Been Doing for Thirty Years?

Tina — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 01:30:22 -0000

Fun to read; thanks for sharing!

Re: What Have You Been Doing for Thirty Years?

Tina — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 01:25:02 -0000

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?

Re: Acquisitions Editors Will Soon Choose Books to Print on Demand

Tina — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 01:27:09 -0000

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.

Re: Acquisitions Editors Will Soon Choose Books to Print on Demand

Tina — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 01:27:51 -0000

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

Re: Spurs Preseason Game Is All About Play

Tina — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 01:29:24 -0000

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. :) )

Re: Are Blog Tours Helpful or Just “Hype”-ful?

Tina — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 18:02:50 -0000

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.

Re: Practice Is an Art

Tina — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 23:33:42 -0000

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. :)

Re: Practice Is an Art

Tina — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 19:02:21 -0000

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

Re: A Wog By Any Other Name Would Smell as Sweet

Tina — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 02:51:27 -0000

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.

Re: This Isn’t Really a Subscribe to Me Kind of Blog

Tina — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 00:50:37 -0000

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.