September 23, 2007

"Blogging Grows Up"

The September 23rd presenter is the amazing Britt Bravo, speaking on Writers Blogs, online journals for and by writers. Blogging is one of the most important, and most confusing, part of the modern writer’s plan of success. There are Journalist Blogs with news, facts, and current events commentary, Personal Blogs which cover travel writing and authors with new books and can read more like a diary, and Community Blogs for information and resource sharing around very specific topics.

Writers who enjoy blogging appreciate the commitment to write and post online regularly, using the medium to sharpen their craft and express their passion for things which interest them. As writers, we are already expert researchers. As bloggers, we can be expert linkers and thereby useful resources. Writers’ blogs work with the traditional print process to allow immediate response to new information. Publishers and agents now expect their authors to write blogs, not just to build their personal platform, but to create a buzz as a consulted expert once their latest book is published. Books have been published which first appeared as blogs so now editors, publishers, and agents are scouring the blogosphere for the next great book idea. Some established blogs have even begun to pay writers. Blogs help you be virtually everywhere at once.

September’s presenter Britt Bravo will help us navigate to the best blogs and see how to set up our own. She wowed the Writing for Change conference in San Francisco last month showing many examples of how blogs have already changed the world. Her spunk makes it all look easy. She’ll show blogs on the big projection screen so everyone can follow along. There is wi-fi in the meeting room so bring your laptops.

Britt Bravo is a writer specializing in stories about individuals and organizations that are creating social change. She writes for blogs, produces podcasts and teaches people how to blog and podcast. Britt writes for Have Fun * Do Good, BlogHer and NetSquared. She also produces the Big Vision Podcast, the Arts and Healing Podcast and the NetSquared Podcast. Using her 17 years of experience working with nonprofits, socially responsible businesses, and artists, Britt provides consulting for nonprofits and individuals to help them realize their Big Vision. Her web site is Big Vision Career and Project Consulting.

I first became aware of blogging during the 2004 presidential campaign when a bunch of internet journalists were issued Democratic convention press passes. The effect was Freedom of the Press at its best, especially the campaign trail blogs written by the candidates themselves. Look out for the 2008 campaign to be dominated not so much by who looks best on TV, but who can write the best blog!

Here’s Cindy Pavlinac’s selection of a few blogs to view before the meeting. Happy blogging.

• Books of Note
• Arts & Letters Daily
• Martha Anderson: Plot Whisperer for Writers and Readers
• Dan Pink: A Whole New Mind
• Nathan Bransford, Agent
• Rolf Potts' Vagabonding
• Write for BootsnAll
• One Year on Earth
• Lonely Planet Travel Blog
• Basic Blogging for Women
• Linda McCabe
• Cheryl Porro
• Seth Godin
• Freedom of speech redefined by blogs
• What’s a Blog?