Watermark

bloggity bloggity blog blog blog

I.

Suzanne Stefanac, author of dispatches from blogistan; a travel guide for the modern blogger is this month's guest at The Well's InkWell.vue. Non-members are welcome: Join us, or email questions and conversational contributions to the Inkwell.vue hosts. If, after hanging out there a bit, you would like to explore The Well  further, drop me a note.

Filled with practical, easy-to-implement advice for making blogging more enjoyable, useful, and profitable, this book covers everything from blogging and how it fits into the history of journalism to practical tips for planning and managing a blog, attracting and retaining an active readership, and even generating revenue. Written by noted technology journalist and interactive media veteran Suzanne Stefanac, the book's fresh and succinct design; quotes and commentary from noted and celebrity bloggers (authors Bruce Sterling, Steven Johnson and Cory Doctorow, Craig Newmark of craigslist.org, NPR news commentator Farai Chideya, blog pioneer Justin Hall among others), accompanying blog site; and more, make this a blog book like no other!

Suzanne also contributes now and then to Blogging Blog, and has her own site at dispatches from blogistan. I got this book a bit over a month ago, sat down and read it cover to cover. Now I look forward to reading it again, more slowly, and this great opportunity to discuss one of my favorite topics -- blogging blogging blogging! -- with a true expert. This is a very cool book!

II.

Well, I've finished this -- a post per day, all of November. And now it's time for:

III.

Holidailies is a free community writing project. All Holidailies 2006 participants promise to update their personal web sites every day from December 1 to January 1. Portal participants post summaries of their entries, which are aggregated on the front page of Holidailies 2006...

I did this a couple of years ago, then forgot and was too late to register last year. Since I seem to be on a roll, here, I thought I'd see if I can keep going.

And then we have:

IV.

The 2006 Montana Weblog Awards at A Chicken Is Not Pillage. Wulfgar! is soliciting nominations in many categories, including (hint hint):

Creativity

Most creative Montana blog.
Best photographic Montana blog.
Best written Montana blog.
Most humorous Montana blog.

Special

Best post. (include a link, please.)
Best series of posts relating to given topic.

There are also categories for Political and Culture blogging. Voting has not yet begun; this (until next Tuesday, December 5th) is the nomination period. You needn't be a Montana blogger to nominate someone, or to vote, but the nominees must be Montana blogs.

Watermark won last year for Best Culture Website. I don't think Blogging Blog or Abide has ever been nominated -- and I'm not sure they would fit any of the categories anyway. And gosh, there are a lot of us. The competition will be as tough as Montanans.

I will be mentioning when voting opens.

Montana Festival of the Book ~ Poetry

Saturday morning, tired but inspired from Friday's adventures, I headed out to our newly renovated Missoula Art Museum for Montana Poetry: A Conversation, with Sandra Alcosser, Tami Haaland, Kim Anderson, Rick Newby, Beth Ferris, Arlynn Fishbaugh, Lowell Jaeger, Megan McNamer, Mandy Smoker, and Corby Skinner.

I was especially looking forward to seeing Beth, a poet and person I greatly admire. A bonus was a conversation with B.J. Buckley, another poet I've crossed paths with over the years, and whose work I like.

What a great setting this was -- a line of poets sitting at a long table in front of several works by Rudy Autio -- facing a room full of poets. Introvert though I am, I felt at home.

I did take some notes, and will offer a list of websites to visit at the end of this post, but NewWest offers audio of this conversation -- you can go listen to it yourself. There are so many projects and books in process; now including a Missoula poetry critique group, the organization of which has been delegated to me. Those who signed up at the conference will hear from me in the next few days; if any of you are interested, email me.

Some links from the poetry panel, and a brief wander amidst the tables:

• Drumlummon Views, the Online Journal of Montana Arts & Culture
• Drumlummon Institute:  ... to promote and publish art and literatures created in Montana and the broader American West; to encourage, promote, and commission critical writing about cultural productions—including film/ video, visual arts, literature, performing arts, food, scientific discoveries, architecture, and design—created in Montana and the broader American West; to research and publish scholarship about the natural and cultural landscapes of the region; and to produce and promote audio recordings and film/video documentaries on a variety of cultural subjects.
• Camas: The Nature of the West, the online journal of the Environmental Studies Graduate Program of the University   of Montana.
• MontanaPoetry.org, currently under construction, but added here for future reference.
• Here's another that's under construction: Missoula Writing Collaborative
• Montana Center for the Book ... a program of the Montana Committee for the Humanities, the Montana Center for the Book conducts a variety of programs and activities. Foremost among these are the Montana Festival of the Book and the state's Letters About Literature program. Its principal mission is celebrating and promoting Montana literature, literacy, and libraries...

I was surprised at the late entry onto the web of many of these organizations -- and that there weren't more offerings at the conference for web-based writers. Perhaps because it's the Montana Festival of the Book. Still, lots of us are online, and I expect that future conferences will offer more on web-based writing and publishing.

Next time, let's arrange a bloggers' lunch. Yes?