Do you remember 9Rules? It was a blog network, quite busy a couple of years ago. Then it seemed to drop off a cliff one day. It has since been bought up by SplashPress Media.
Once upon a time there would be a gush of interest each time they auditioned new blogs to join the network. I submitted for the last audition but that was at the time they faded away and I never heard a thing. But, now they are revving up again, hoping to regain their place as a network people want to be a part of.
I do. Mainly because I want to have other bloggers to talk to, to compare ideas, successes, failures and just know there are others out there who are in the same boat. You can add your blog to the submissions at midnight on October 1st, 2009. Yes, tonight.
My Grandmother had a button box. She would add any buttons from clothes that were worn out and being cut up to use for patches and cleaning rags. Sometimes she bought sets of 4, 6 or more buttons on sale somewhere and brought those back (kept on their cardboard packaging) and put them in the button box too.
As she got older she became legally blind and was no longer able to sew her own buttons (or anything else) as well as she used to. She was always more of a cook anyway. I still remember the white sweater I fixed for her. It had a few loose buttons and one missing. It was one of the very few times I got to look through something of my Grandmothers. She brought out the button box and let me have a look through them all. I found enough new buttons for the white sweater, all matching and all pink.
For years she would brag about how well I sewed those buttons on her sweater. She said I had done them so well they would never come off. I did too. I remember sewing them on and how honoured I was to do something, something real, for my Grandmother. Not just kid stuff playing around. She kept that sweater and the buttons did last years and years.
I still like buttons. I guess I have a soft spot for them. My Mother had a button box. My Grandmother’s buttons became part of that collection in time. My Mother gave me the button box a few years ago, when she started spending winters in Florida. We used to sew together but that was usually around the holidays. Now that I’m alone I still do some baking but not so much sewing. It’s kind of sad. I have that button box but it’s been many years since I last looked at any of the buttons in it.
There are some nice crafts with buttons, like button bouquets. I’ve seen a few uses for them other than the traditional clothing fasteners. One site has old/ vintage buttons turned into fancy rings. I’ve seen scrapbookers use buttons as flower centres in drawings. We have used buttons in place of game pieces. They string up on ribbon and look pretty girlie and pretty too.
National Button Day - November 16th.
“Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self.” - Cyril Connolly
Part of running a blog is promoting it. It is easy to cross the line from promoting into spamming. At that point most bloggers also lose track of the content in their blog, they run out of time, energy and passion for it. They can get content from other sources: free content online, guest bloggers or quick content like quotations used as a whole post. Some bloggers will also steal content. At this point there is very little of yourself in the blog. It is just a business, a means of harvesting money from the Internet. If that is what you want to do wouldn't getting a second job be a lot more effective? Why make pennies when you can make dollars?
Blog, if it is still your passion, if you still balance your writing and your promotion. Blog if you still love the creative aspect of writing, styling your blog with images and HTML. Promote your blog, but schedule your time for it. Don't lose track of the content you are promoting.