Blogger Stories

Blogger Stories: Ruth Daniels

Blogs took Ruth Daniels on an interesting adventure. She went from working in the corporate world to writing about her passion of food and family. Now armed with an understanding of how blogs can help organizations talk to their customers Ruth is heading back to share her learnings with the suits. If they're lucky she might bring a chocolate zucchuini cake along with her.

 

Blogger Story Teller: Ruth Daniels, Once Upon a Feast (general food & travel, fave cookbooks & kitchen toys), Recipes From 4 Every Kitchen (just recipes), AskRuth (answers pesky kitchen questions)

My story: I took a "short" sabbatical from Training & Development Consulting a few years ago to write a family cookbook that grew and grew along the way....and found a new love- food writing!   

 

The blog world is an amazing place.  In fact 35 people from around the world volunteered to be recipe testers (from a single post I wrote) for the book, Every Kitchen Tells Its Stories which I finally self-published as an eBook & CD. It's filled with stories, and recipes that are easy to make.  I thought I'd just be handing these recipes down to my daughters, but so many friends wanted them that the book idea just grew.  I donate $2 for every book sold to Breast Cancer Research. 

 

Now, almost three years and three blogs later, I'm branching out into Corporate Blogging.  I think my own experiences can help organizations  speak with a human voice that can reach their audiences better.  Wish me luck and share any ideas...

 

Blogger Stories: Alex Geana

A few years ago, Alex Geana was just an emerging, but talented, writer looking for a home for his work. With traditional media doors closed Alex turned to blogs as a publishing vehicle. Before long 750+ visitors a day were knocking on his virtual door, he wrote a play, is a  feature blogger at  Huffington Post.

Blogger Story Teller: Alex Geana, One Gay Date at a Time, Alex Geana, Three Tables

I started blogging a few years ago (I think 2004 or 05) because there wasn't a place for me in the small rags I wanted to publish and work in.

At the time, Sex in the City was ending and the hottest thing on the planet. I always thought it was from a gay perspective, so I wanted to write a unique column spinning off the end of show. I approached 60 or 70 gay rags, the small press kind that people send to bars with lots of local listening, I did it the old fashion way and sent a pitch letter. Across the board, the reply was the same (from the few that responded) "we like it, but we can't fit it in our pages, because we need the room for ads".

I gave it a bit of time, wallowed in my own disappointment and isolation as a budding writer, then turned to the web. That's when I discovered blogging and One Gay Date at a Time was born. I did research, liked Typepad, because all the free stuff was riddled with bugs or needed lots of tech knowledge to take off the ground. It was a good fit, like most new bloggers, I tinkered endlessly and commented mercilessly, that's how I found Toby and her sage blog.

Blogger Story: Nichelle Stephens

Creativity was the name of the game for Nichelle Stephens who began blogging as an outlet for her writing. One blog turned into two turned into several, which spun the world smaller and allowed her to share many unique ideas.  I met Nichelle at BlogHer 2005 where she told me about her delicious blog .. all about cupcakes. It's a wonderful example of the success of a niched focused blog.

Blogger Story Teller: Nichelle Stephens, Nichelle Newsletter, Chicks and Giggles, Fame of the Land, Keeping Nickels, All Cupcakes All The Time
 
I started blogging in October 2003 because I needed an outlet for my writing.  Blogging was never meant to replace my hardback journals, but more as a way to express myself in a creative way.  I called my blog Nichelle Newsletter because I used to write a weekly newsletter about events in New York.

My blog is a mix of pictures, events, book recommendations, links to other cool sites and humor.  I have made so friends through blogging, and we share our passions. Two of my friends and I have a blog about cupcakes called Cupcakes Take The Cake.  It is a very popular blog and now I am considered to be a "cupcake enthusiast."

The best thing about is blogging is that now everyone has a voice and any crazy idea can be shared to the world. I think it is making the world a smaller place.

Blogger Story: Melissa Fletcher

You never know where this adventure in blogging will take you. Or how your blog focus will change. Just ask Melissa Fletcher. Melissa launched her blog to keep in touch with friends and family as she chronicled what her tag line describes as - "living life one mistake at a time." Love that line! This summer Melissa began including posts about her passion .. helping people easily live sustainable "green" lives.

Blogger Story Teller: Melissa Fletcher, Alotta Errata

I  love your concept, and enjoy reading about why and how other people got started blogging. For me, blogging began as a way to keep in touch with my friends and write down the little bits of humor I found in my life. I also found it was good practice for writing effectively. Who couldn't use a little practice?

Over the last few months I have found that  blogging has become a way for me to learn about myself. Writing down my thoughts and feelings so that others can understand forces me to really think about what I am feeling and what my goals are.

I have learned more about myself through blogging than through simply talking and thinking. While some people keep a private diary for  this reason, I feel as though the written word is a commitment to my readers. Even if I have one reader, my words are my promise and my truth.

Now my blog is helping me to chronicle the changes I am making to live a more environmentally and socially responsible life. I hope that maybe others will see that the changes can be simple and very rewarding; that you don't have to be "crunchy granola" to be green!

Blogger Stories: Cooper Monroe & Emily McKhann

I heard Cooper Munroe tell her story at BlogHer 2006 and knew I had to include it in Blogger Stories. Cooper and Emily McKahnn are two "mommy bloggers" who proved that social media can impact not one life - not two lives - but thousands of lives. Their one small act of kindness, to help Katrina Moms, led to a nation-wide relief effort of moms helping moms. Theirs is a story of a new way of giving using 21 century technology with heart.

Blogger Story Tellers: Cooper Munroe and Emily McKhann, The Been There Clearinghouse, The Motherhood

On August 31, after screaming at our televisions for two days, "Why isn't anyone helping these people?", we decided to turn our blog into a community corkboard of sorts where people could connect one-to-one, immediately and without intermediaries.

Having lived through 9/11 in New York and seen the mountains of donations flood into the city, only for the supplies to be stockpiled in distant warehouses because no one knew what to do with them all, we felt certain this could happen again in the Gulf States.

We -- two Moms who live in different towns and share a blog -- realized that the thousands of people fleeing their homes with nothing to their names would be going to temporary residences. They would have addresses. People could send packages to survivors directly.

We asked readers of our blog to list on our site the goods and supplies they would donate to people displaced by the hurricane.  At the same time, we arranged for housing placement services, which by Thursday, September 1, had hundreds of thousands of rooms donated and available to survivors, to send evacuees to us once placements were made.

Blogger Stories: Chloe Spencer

Babysitting is passe in a world where a kid can earn money from Google Ads. Just ask Chloe Spencer. With help of her blogger dad, Stephan Spencer, 15-year old Chloe launched a blog about Neopets Cheats. With over 5000 daily page views and posts that get hundreds of comments Chloe's next venture may be pro blogger at a Fortune 100 company!

Blogger Story Teller: Chloe Spencer, The Ultimate Neopets Cheats Site

My Dad came up with the idea of starting a blog as a way to earn money and I've been blogging since February this year (2006). My blog and website is about Neopets cheats, because I know that neopets are very popular with kids all around the world and because I know lots about the topic.

There are lots of sites out there about Neopets. Some of them focus on graphics, others focus on hints. Mine is a mixture of both but, because my site is fairly new, it has been catching a lot of interest.

My aim is to blog about twice a week. Sometimes I blog about new cheats I’ve discovered, or new content I’ve added, like layouts that kids can use to customize their Neopets shop.

Traffic to my blog used to be up to 9000 pageviews per day, and is now holding at around 5000-6000 per day, which is pretty good. I make about $5 to $10 dollars per day from the Google ads, and I make that money whether I work or not. The money is in U.S. dollars, and since I live in New Zealand, that turns into $7 to $16 New Zealand dollars per day! I don't have a lot of options for part time jobs since I'm only 15. But having a blog to earn money sure beats doing a paper route!

Blogger Stories: Jody DeVere

Jody DeVere is involved in one of the fastest growing success stories in the blogophere. In fact some times she feels like a virtual rock star. However, for Jody the true success of her venture was not in the hundreds of thousands of visitors to her blog Ask Patty. Nor was it the many interviews in major publications. Social media gave Jody the ability and opportunity to mother her son.

Blogger Story Teller: Jody DeVere, Ask Patty – Automotive Advice for Women

Moving along in my middle ages and looking forward to slowing down a bit in the technology business world, I started a business consulting practice to help automotive related businesses develop cause related marketing programs, which would allow me more flexibility than the corporate structure allows.

As life would have it... at age 30, my oldest child was diagnosed with a progressive disease that required a lifetime of income to support. My plan to ease into retirement screeched to a halt, took a hard left and got my engines super charged again to handle my own personal “cause related” issue.

The Ask Patty – Automotive Advice for Women business opportunity came to me as a result of one of the consulting projects I was working on related to women owned automotive businesses and my role as the current President of the Women’s Automotive Association International. Once I realized the potential business opportunity, I agreed to the role of President of Ask Patty and committed myself to get this business up and running and quickly develop a income steam equal to the needs up to speed ASAP!

Blogger Stories: Christelle Alexandre

Christelle Alexandre is from the South of France. However, she has found another 'home' in the blogosphère where her imagination and creativity can fly free. Christelle calls the blogosphere a butterfly effect’ ..  where even smallest of the bloggers can contribute to improve the blogosphère.

Blogger Story Teller: Christelle Alexandre, Mkgmd - le mag du marketing multidimentionnel

My Blog Story especially for Toby

Hi, I’m a French blogueuse who lives in the South of France, in Aix-en-Provence more exactly, and I’m going to tell you how the magic of blogosphère led me here. 

My story is that of a simple marketing assistant who dreamed to express herself more than what was allowed to her in her job. In that way, I’ve got many common points with Emma, the heroin of ‘Can you keep a secret’, a novel written by Sophie Kinsella. Indeed, I did not yet reach fulfillment in my professional career and I miss a boy friend!!

Whereas I was bemoaning my fate, my sister advised me to create my blog!! One year and three months later, it’s not easy for me to remember how I could live without this strange tool which allows me to give free play to my imagination and creativity. Indeed, my blog is for me an open door to a world where ideas are more important than your age, appearance or social status contrary to the true life. the energy of red and the happiness of yellow, moreover, it symbolizes vitality, independence and creativity!

Blogger Stories: Meryl K. Evans

Meryl Evans writes blogs that share her personal stories and a blog that supports and promotes her business. For Meryl blogs go further. Social media allows her to reveal her worlds without constraints by side-stepping prejudices and participating fully in conversations. Readers hear Meryl exactly as she intends .. and she in turn can listen without the distruption of lack of hearing.

Blogger Story Teller: Meryl K. Evans, Meryl's Notes Blog; Bionic Ear

It all started before any of us heard of "Internet." A family friend installed a modem into the Apple ][+ (no lower case -- imagine being yelled at full-time). I connected to a couple of Bulletin Board Systems (BBS) and what got me was I could communicate with other people without any help. A parent helping a teen on the phone just wasn't cool. But email was.

Fast forward through a decade and a half of geek history. June 1, 2000. Blog entry #1 of Meryl's Notes Blog. It was a dumb entry that's still up for all to see. I never take down an entry because once it's up -- it's impossible to erase from the Internet.

Atlas Blogging: Going from a 99-lb Bloggling to Strong Blog

The blog had no direction. I did what everyone else did... wrote about personal observations. No gossip. Straight-laced as can be -- thank goodness. This was before Dooced came to mean getting fired for blogging and I hadn't written anything that would embarrass me should I run for office or if a prospective client runs an Internet search on me.

About the time I started blogging, I also started freelancing on the side. The blog morphed from dorky "Rooting for my favorite team" and "Wow, that was some Survivor finale"-like entries to "Dealing with lousy customer service" and "The challenges of being a reporter when you can't use the phone like most everyone else." Plus, I added a features section for longer entries that aren't old news within a week.

A little background: I've been writing in a journal since 1989. With a *pen* not a keyboard. I've filled up almost nine journals. The books document getting married, moving, having three kids, and the little and big things that happen in life.

How Do You Measure A Life?

Angel died. The theatre was dark. I cried.

Yesterday I saw Rent for the second time and the humanity of the play touched me as much or more than when I first saw it several years ago.

525,600 minutes - how do you measure, measure a year?
In daylights, in sunsets, in midnights, in cups of coffee.
In inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife.
In 525,600 minutes - how do you measure a year in the life?

Blogger Story Teller Marianne Richmond reminds us that through blogs we document and organize our identity for ourselves. So in a funny sort of a way blogs provide us with a means to measure our lives...in posts, in comments and in trackbacks.