Why Women Blog (at every age): Julie70

I "met" Julie70 when I wrote to tell her that I was using her photo on Flickr, Providence--she was using her Mac, to illustrate a post on this blog. After reading her profile, I realized that not only did she have a very active Flickr account, and Daily Motion video account, but she wrote for six blogs (Il y a de la vie après 70 ans, Paris balade, Retro blog: 1944 vers 2004, Journal de Sidonie, Julie, Journal de Jeunesse, Argenteuil ma nouvelle ville, and was over 70! I asked her to tell me a little bit about her experience blogging.

Why did you start blogging?

I started blogging through Picasa and Circuit from NYTimes that explained it, with Blogger.

What blogging tool(s) do you use and why? What are its pros and cons?

Blogger is free and I can do many blogs. TypePad permits reverse order, but costs money, or does not give me freedom to change anything. Blogger, the new one (now in beta) will also have categories and a completely object construction. I am waiting to be able to transform all my blogs to it (personal, about rumania, photoblog, about my town, journal).

How has your life changed since you started blogging?

It did change my life a lot, I was retired and alone. I feel a lot less alone and already even met personally some of the bloggers. I did start two years ago, but was before retiring in microcomputer's business for long time, almost the beginning, the Apple II time.

What advice do you have for new women bloggers?

Blogging for women is not different as with men, perhaps they tell more about personal problems, but I did learn a lot about men also, reading their blogs and I have as many women as men between the blogs I read every day.

My advice for every new blogger is to go out and leave comments. Then others will slowly come too, and to write regularly, every day, at least a bit, so people returning with time come regularly to them.

Photo Credit: After: To Fix a Moment of Pure Happiness by Julie70.

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Why Women Blog: Katya Andresen's Non-Profit Marketing Blog

Solutionary Woman, Katya Andresen, the Vice President of Marketing for Network for Good and author of Robin Hood Marketing, started Katya's Non-Profit Marketing Blog last month. In this brief e-interview, Katya talks about why she started blogging, what tools she uses, how her life has changed since she started blogging, and her advice to new bloggers.

Why did you start blogging?

I started blogging for three reasons: I had something to say, I had someone I wanted to say it to, and I wanted the enforced writing discipline that comes with committing to a blog. To the first two points, I vainly feel I have quite a bit to say to people – especially do-gooders -- who want to compel people to action through marketing. To the third, more personal point, since I finished my book, I fell out of the habit of writing daily. I don’t like that my writing muscles were in danger of atrophying. A blog forces me to write often. In the process, I find myself regaining my voice and creativity as a writer.

What blogging tool(s) do you use and why? What are its pros and cons?

I use Expression Engine, hosted by pMachinet. This was the recommendation of my blog designer. It has many, many features, is search-engine friendly, extremely flexible and easy to manage. I’m a technical newbie yet I can easily manage it. I’m not sure what the down sides are yet – I haven’t had any problems.

How has your life changed since you started blogging?

It’s not as if people are yet flocking to my new blog or posting much in the way of comments, as much as we bloggers dream of such things. So I can’t say I’ve changed my field by creating an active community around innovative nonprofit marketing. But it has changed me. For starters, before I started the blog, I spent a long time asking myself if the world truly needed another blog. I wanted to decide what was different about my writing and thinking. This was a very good exercise in focusing myself on important things that played to my strengths, both in terms of my writing and in my day job. Second, by having to sit down and produce a creative thought every day or two, the blog has made me more original and more disciplined. I both love and hate that pressure.

What advice do you have for new women bloggers?

My advice is the exact same advice I’d give a writer of any kind. Write what you know. Write what gets you excited every time you think of it. Don’t try to be what you aren’t. Find your voice. Dare to be personal and fully human. The more true to myself I am in my writing, the better reception my writing receives. That always amazes me. People want to know you, so let them see your unique self.

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Why Women Blog: Green LA Girl

Can do * good bloggers change the world? I hope so. I asked one of my fav do * good women bloggers, Siel, or Greeen LA Girl, why she started blogging. Siel writes about all things green in LA and in particular about The Starbucks Challenge and Fair Trade coffee and chocolate.

Why did you start blogging?

I started blogging because I knew that California and Los Angeles were both doing a lot to encourage environmentally friendly practices -- but often, these efforts were unknown to the public. My very first post was about recycling a DVD player -- something I had to do HOURS of research for, to figure out where I could take the broken DVD player, at what time, etc. Once I did the research, I knew I couldn't let that info disappear without letting others know about it. Thus, the blog.

How has your life changed since you started blogging?

I've met many amazing environmentalists in the Los Angeles area via blogging. I've also found a way to channel my environmental and social consciousness through a medium that feels productive :) Also, I get a lot of free coffee.

What blogging tool do you use and why? What are its pros and cons?

I use Wordpress, mainly because it's open source. Yay open source! I really don't see any downsides to Wordpress.

What advice do you have for new women bloggers?

I would encourage them to 1) consider what readers might find useful and interesting, versus what the writer herself might find interesting (i.e. details of her own life, which often tends not to be interesting to people other than herself), and 2) blog regularly, worrying more about the quality of the content than the quantity of readers.

Photo courtesy of Green LA Girl.

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