Arianna Huffington of the Huffington Post. (CC) JD Lasica, socialmedia.biz.

The guide is an absolutely enjoyable read. But as I told Ianiv and Arieanna, I wish that this book had (a) been written one or two years ago, and (b) I had read it then. I’m going to start with a disclaimer. I’m not a newbie blogger anymore. Admittedly yes, it has taken me a while to get to where I am (I’d say that a solid year – my blog really took off during 2008, I would say). But I no longer need the basic suggestions. At this point in the game, I feel confident enough to help newbie bloggers and/or total strangers to blogging launch their sites. Heck, I do a LOT of my own techie stuff (of course, I am always appreciative of my friends’ help when it comes to CSS editing and issues of website management and maintenance).

I have learned a lot of the stuff that the editors of HuffPost suggest just by virtue of learning by doing, listening to other amazing bloggers speak about what they do and absorbing their best tips. I’ve learned from some of the best social media people in Vancouver, many of them recognized beyond the frontiers of the maple leaf country. So, really – for me, a vast majority of this book’s content was pretty much, a repeat of what I already knew. [UPDATE - At VIFF '09 Bridget mentioned this book and I fully endorse that this book is worth acquiring and reading]

But fear not. Whether you are someone who is just starting to blog or a total blogstar, this book is for you. I couldn’t stop reading it today. I speed-read, as most of you know. Well, I had to stop myself, and read passages again and again so that I could savour again the page I had just read. It was like sipping a good glass of wine. The editors of the HuffPost have done us all a great service by virtue of compiling, distilling and publishing some of the best blog tips out there. Particularly relevant – the whole discussion on the future of traditional (mainstream) media vis-a-vis the rise of new media. I’ve written about the topic here, here, here and here. I’ve also liveblogged other speakers who have discussed the topic (here and here and here)

Would I love to have the HuffPost’s traffic? Maybe, maybe not. But one thing is for sure. I am sure as hell happy to have a copy of the Huffington Post’s Complete Guide to Blogging.

Disclosure – This review wasn’t paid. Nothing I have expressed has been influenced in any way, shape or form by external entities

Related posts:

1. Book signing w @miss604 at @LondonDrugs
2. Northern Voice 2011 Communities That Rock Panel and E-Book
3. Becoming Canada: Our Story, Our Politics, Our Future (book review)

I’ve had conversations about the topic with several friends of mine who write blogs that fall more under the category of a diary (the category is usually referred to as ‘diarist bloggers’). I could name a few but I don’t want to leave anyone excluded. In a recent conversation I mentioned that I see my blog as my very own personal canvas. I paint on it whatever picture I want to. Obviously, with the number of events I attend, the kinds of things that get me excited, the environmental and social media issues I want to discuss and think about, my blog presents a rather broad mosaic of things.

I’m sorry if people don’t like this broad array of elements that I try to highlight in my blog, but after all, it is MY personal space. My blog does for me what notebooks do for the rest of the world – it allows me to jot down ideas, reflect, think and produce content that satisfies quite obviously the readers who decide to read my blog, but more importantly, satisfies ME. I don’t write this blog for the fame, the glory, the free tickets to events or the social interactions. I write for myself.

Related posts:

1. On the personal nature of blogs
2. Personal content
3. On a personal note

Related posts:

1. Northern Voice 2009 is upon us, and I’m going
2. Northern Voice 2009 – The call for papers is out!
3. Northern Voice 2009 – Coping Digitally: Breaking Stigma and Healing Mental Illness Through Blogging

I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Danielle and Chad (with whom Pat hangs out on a regular basis), and I know that Duane has hung out with them too. But I don’t get to see them very often. We all read each other’s blogs but we seem to find little time to actually organize gatherings.

One of my goals as the Organizer of Vancouver Bloggers Meetup is to actually build more bridges amongst local bloggers. It’s part of who I am, and part of what I think my role is, both as a blogger and as an individual. I think I am a good connector. I introduce people to each other and connect them.

Even as an academic and an instructor, I’ve connected my students with potential universities for post-graduate studies or job opportunities. I’ve linked my fellow researchers with other academics in the same field. Why? Well, because for one, I know a hell of a lot of people. And I keep in touch with them, particularly using Web 2.0 tools.

Recently, while having lunch with Rebecca, she reminded me that there is a whole other world of blogs out there. I do hope that those bloggers who write about everything else but blogging (e.g. hockey blogging, religious blogging, outdoor activities blogging, etc.) feel free to engage and join our circles of friendship.

Related posts:

1. A Vancouver Blogger central directory
2. Two years as the organizer of the Vancouver Blogger Meetup
3. The Vancouver Blogger Meetup of January 2009 recap is up!

Related posts:

1. Raul’s guest posts
2. Well-thought-out posts? Do we or do we not?
3. Schedule your posts throughout the week (Blogging 201)

Blogs and bloggers of all stripes, whether or not they like this fact, have become part of the journalistic discourse. That hasn’t stopped many bloggers from contending that they are not practicing pure journalism and therefore are not governed by the same ethics. This is a slippery-slope argument. Many bloggers say they want to be accepted by the mainstream media as another facet of public discourse, but this seems to be a hard goal to achieve if plagiarism, a cardinal sin in the world of journalism, is brushed off as a minor offense (or no offense at all). Just because blogs are a “free medium” doesn’t mean that rules of playing fair need not apply.[Cynthia L. Webb, Filter, The Washington Post, Apr 9, 2003]

The main point of this quotation relates to how some bloggers may not attribute and source, but this is only one of the points – the ethics of sourcing and attribution. There are MANY other points where journalism and blogging overlap, and they still seem to be getting into a fight. The point is, in my view, that blogging has indeed become another way of reaching an audience, and thus, there is a place for it in the journalistic discourse. No need to fight, just understand each other.

The relationship between mainstream media (MSM) and blogging seems to almost always be rocky, no matter what. But is it really reinventing journalism, destroying journalism, or can we create a symbiosis where both can co-exist? I’d be curious to hear your opinion.

[SIDE BAR - A very good post by Rebecca picked up on these points last year, and it's still very timely/current]

Related posts:

1. New media and the adaptive capacity of journalism to evolve
2. Blogging about blogging, Twittering about Twitter…
3. The Huffington Post Complete Guide to Blogging – Book Review

Then Kerry Sauriol followed up with her own post on the compartmentalization of bloggers. I admire Kerry for her writing and for the way in which she pushes the envelope and tries to build a blogging community (for West Coast Women bloggers, in particular).

I can’t help but add my two cents (which I added on Beth’s blog) here and admit that I WANT children. I don’t NEED children (as I mentioned in Andy’s blog a few weeks ago, an iPhone to me is a WANT and not a NEED – same case with children). Don’t get me wrong: I can be THE SWEETEST UNCLE on the planet.

In fact, I am REALLY honored when my nieces come to me for advice (my nephews are too young to ask for advice right now). It does make me feel special. When my brothers ask me to babysit, I am really excited. I even get excited when I babysit my friends’ children.

However, as much as I want to be a dad, I am not really in a panic or a rush because I am not a parent yet. And it annoys me as much as it may have annoyed Monica and Beth when people may have commented “oh your biological clock is ticking”. I read that Dan (one of Beth’s friends) had been faced with the same comment.

Disclosure time – 97% (and by that, I mean 97%) of my friends in Mexico are married with children. Three of my closest friends are still single but the vast majority are married with children. So, whenever I am invited out to parties, the registration fee is bringing a child with me. I am SO not kidding. At one of the latest parties I went to when I was in Mexico last, NOBODY except me had anything less than 2 kids. No kidding. Yay, THIS is my scene (NOT!)

I am single by choice, and I am child-less by choice too (technically speaking, it’d be easier for me to have a child if I were a woman should I chose to do so simply by biological design – given that for better or worse, I came with male equipment, thank you very much, and I love it the way it is and wherever it is located, that solution is simply not there). I have this inner desire to be a father because I do admire my parents (I firmly believe both of them played a great role in my upbringing). I admire my brothers as parents. It’d be nice to be a Dad. It would be lovely.

However, it’s not in the cards right now and I’m not going to start flagellating myself because I don’t have children. Corinna, for example, decided that she didn’t want to have kids, and agreed upon this decision with her husband. Any problems? No, none whatsoever. You can actually read their stories on her blog about this decision-making process.

In an inspiring paragraph, Kerry makes a good point – and if I understand it correctly, she meant that BlogHer (the site) should be a site about women who happen to blog, not about MommyBlogging (which is one of the things that Beth pointed out on her great post).

I loved this particular phrase of Kerry’s post:

We cannot GENDERFY (lots of new words here today folks) blogging when it suits us and cry foul when it does not.[WetCoastWomen]

I happen to be a single male who wants to be a parent and who blogs. That doesn’t make me a daddy blogger or a wannabe-daddy blogger. I am a blogger with a myriad of additional elements that help define who I am (being an expert in some environmental issues one of them).

In closing, let me re-emphasize. I WANT to be a Dad. I don’t NEED to be a Dad. Being a parent does NOT define me. But being a parent is something I’d really like. But if it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t happen. I’ll be happy either way.

Related posts:

1. Happy Father’s Day
2. World Diabetes Day – November 14th, 2008
3. The reversal of roles in parenthood

At my current writing rate, I estimate that’s going to fall somewhere around the week of Blogathon, so I might have a middle of the week RaulCamp (or simply combine it with the Vancouver Bloggers Meetup!) because, after all, it’s all about me (inside joke, you’ll have to see the t-shirt to know what I’m talking about).

So, I’m opening the floor for suggestions for my 1000th post. I was actually thinking of holding it at a wifi-enabled site (like the Blackwater Cafe) or a bar so that we can celebrate the actual moment of pushing the “Publish” button on my WordPress Dashboard. Any interest in joining for said RaulCamp?

Related posts:

1. My 1000th post – How Web 2.0 has changed my life
2. I need a new cell phone, so I’m accepting suggestions
3. The WordPress Codex – Refusing to read :-)