Wednesday, January 16, 2013

It's Been A Wild Ride For Me As A Blogger This Week

This week has been a wild one for the blog, with plenty of surprises, ups and downs, and there's been a lot for me to keep with. A guest post of mine was published, I've received a guest post submission, a request for an interview, and some backlash to a post I wrote several weeks ago.

All that in just 3 day's time.....

First, I'll start out with the published guest post. Jonny Scaramanga of the popular blog Leaving Fundamentalism, published a guest post I submitted. It was much the typical fare that you would come to expect on my blog.

 I went more in detail about the private school I attended that was a part of the Independent Fundamental Baptist network. I must have forgotten to include my title when I e-mailed it to him, I had originally titled it "Jumping On Cassettes", after a bizarre experience with the pastor who owned the school (read more about that in the guest post. It was a "life story" post that continued on with more about my home schooling past, and about the road that led me to become an agnostic.

 It was a great honor to write for his blog, he was raised up with the same fundamentalist curriculum I was, Accelerated Christian Education. If you have the time, I would highly encourage you to read a guest post he wrote for my blog, about his own personal experience with this system. It was a great guest post, and a great insight into this awful curriculum.

That very same morning (Monday). I also got a big surprise. I had wrote a guest post for Laughing In Purgatory that was a response to an article by Libby Anne of the Patheos blog Love Joy Feminism. Well, Libby Anne found that post of mine, and responded to it on her blog Monday.

A few things I learned from that experience:

1. Always beware of the tone of anything you write, my post took a somewhat accusatory tone towards Libby Anne, which wasn't what I intended.

2. When talking about a controversial topic, even if the post is meant to be a rant/discuss your personal feelings, always back up the post with links/quotes, people will expect it, even though you just intended for the post to be a rant.

3. Be prepared for backlash. The response wasn't as bad as I expected it to be, and Libby Anne, much to her credit, was rather civil, both in the post, and in a conversation I had with her by e-mail (I respect that about her and her writing, her blog is one of my favorite blogs).

Speaking of Laughing In Purgatory, which is where that original post of mine was posted, the author of that blog, Andrew Hall is back to bring some of his great satire to my blog. I've just received a new proposed guest post from him, I'm reading it now, and it will probably be published on Friday or Saturday.

The last time he sent in a guest post for this blog, it was a great success, and well received by readers. Read that post, Scholar Awarded Templeton Prize for Proving Jesus' Virgin Birth. There were some hidden jokes in that post, for instance, do you know who the man in the picture of "Dr. Mountebank", actually is?

Finally, I've been invited to be a part of the atheist blogger interview series on the blog Deity Shmeity. The blog author, "Grundy", has some great bloggers in that series that have responded to his request for interviews, blogger i have a lot of  respect for, like Vjack of Atheist Revolution, and Hermant Metha of The Friendly Atheist.

I'm honored to be invited to be a part of this project. I can't say for sure when this will be published, it all depends in part, on how soon I can get around to writing my responses to his questions (I've already received them in an e-mail).

It's been a wild week, for sure, it's the most excitement I've had as a blogger in quite a long time...

10 comments:

  1. Congratulations on your several achievements this past week! I've just recently found your blog and I have been so impressed with it that I've added it to my blogroll. Thank you for a fine blog!

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    1. Thanks for stopping by, I read your blog as well, great writing over there.

      Thanks for adding me to your blogroll, and if you ever feeling like writing a guest post, let me know.

      Delete
  2. Thank you for the kind welcome, Sheldon! I'm curious to know if you are looking for any specific topics in a guest post?

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    1. The topic can really be anything, one thing I like about getting guest posts is that it brings variety to the blog.

      The topic doesn't even necessarily have to be about religion/atheism, but I have noticed a popular theme is people's personal stories.

      If you used to be religious, what led you not to believe anymore? If you have never been religious, what kept you from joining a religion?

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    2. I've never been a big guest post guy. I guess the interviews are my way of mind-melding with fellow bloggers.

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    3. It's a great series, Grundy, I've enjoyed reading it.

      It might take me a while to return my answers to your questions, some of them, I'm going to have a hard time responding to without writing a book, lol.

      Delete
  3. This is good news! This blog has grown up so fast!!

    *sniff sniff*! :-)

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    1. Ha. I owe a lot to you, Poutine, I might not have started this blog had it not been for your suggestion that it was "good therapy".

      Delete
  4. I don't think your post came across as accusing Libby Anne. I think it was a healthy back and forth discussion, and you both got me thinking.

    And I'm sure the traffic helped you. :)

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    1. It seemed that way to me after reading her response.
      Anyway, it didn't get me much traffic, since she was responding to a guest post I wrote for Laughing in Purgatory. I did get some traffic from the comments I left on that article.

      Delete

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