Berry posted another of her Monday Memes on (oddly enough!) Monday April 28th. This one, called “my blogging journey“, is a follow-up to her “Why do I blog?” meme from 2013. As I responded to the latter a little late in the day, I thought I should also respond to “part 2” – and get it done a little earlier this time!

Which electronic devices do you use to blog with? Primarily my PC, but I also use my Nexus 7 HD when away from home. You can generally tell when I’m using the latter, particularly if I’m using the on-screen keyboard, as the Kween of TpyolandTM strikes again…

Do you have a mission statement for your blog, if so, what is it? Not really. I just try to be open and honest in my writing, whatever the subject of an article.

How do you feel about blogs that use their platforms to spread negativity? It depends. Those that have a completely myopic view of things or seek to be deliberately and negatively confrontational on matters, I ignore. However, there are some which are predisposed to lean towards the negative (notably when writing about LL) or which may proceed from a false assumption or carry misconceptions that I do read, because they challenge me to try to look at issues more broadly.

Are you a grammar junkie? Do you thoroughly check your blog for errors before posting and/or do you judge other people’s posts if they contain errors? I am the world’s worst when it comes to checking my own my own writing. Send me yours with a request to edit it, and I’ll go through it tooth and nail and correct, offer alternatives where meanings might be confused, provide grammar hints and tips. My own? I’ll run it through a spell-checker, I’ll read it 2-3 times, that’s it. Then I’ll generally go bonkers with myself when someone else picks up a typo I should have seen, or when I spot a grammar error. When reading other blogs, I can’t help picking-up on typos and grammar errors, but I rarely poke the writers concerned, as I’m so aware of the huge plank in my own eye …

If you could switch blogs with another blogger who would it be? Not sure about “switch”, but there are two bloggers in particular I admire and I’d name here: Honour McMillan and Tateru Nino. Both have a wonderful capacity for insight and observation and beautiful word craft. I also envy Honour’s eye for photography (and Ziki’s, and Bear’s, and Berry’s, and Loverdag’s, and Derry’s, and Asa’s, and Thorin’s, and Miles’, and ….).

Has your blog/blogging style evolved over the year(s)? How? I hope so. I started blogging on a specific subject (drawing on articles I’ve had published elsewhere & then re-wrote to give them an SL focus). Then I started writing more widely on subjects, and as my ignorance of certain aspects of SL became increasingly apparent, I tried to educate and inform myself. I hope that’s reflected in my writings here over the past few years.

What is the most extraordinary thing that has happened to you because of blogging? I got indirectly retweeted by Drew Carey. Seriously. Both Dennis Harper at OnLive and Peter Gray at Linden Lab e-mailed me when it happened. The tweet was actually from Indigo Mertel (so she has some pretty awesome followers!), and referred to a piece I wrote about OnLive’s SL Go service. No idea if Drew actually read the article (or if he did, whether he comes back and reads more), but still …

When it comes to Second Life blogs, there are different styles: Fashion bloggers, Lifestyle & Travel bloggers, Informative bloggers, and more. Which style do you prefer and where do you feel your blog fits in? I hope my blog covers a number of these areas. The only things I’ve made a conscious decision not to blog about are fashion, product reviews and in-depth content creation pieces. I’m not particularly fashion conscious in RL & I’m not the world’s greatest creator of content. So in both of those instances, anything I blog would be a grandmother and egg-sucking scenario. While I have been known to review products, with one exception, I’ve only done so for items I’ve purchased and really liked for myself. That exception was a review of Erick Gregan’s Spitfire Mark IX. That did come to me as a gift from Erick, but not in any expectation of me blogging about it; it was purely a “thank you” (and quite unexpected) for some assistance I gave when poking at some region crossing issues in 2013. And even then, I wrote the review because I love flying it in SL!

What has blogging taught you? Consideration and forethought. I hope.

Share your top 3 tips for new bloggers. Write about what interests you. Don’t be afraid to buck the trend; just because people are all blogging on X or with opinion Y, doesn’t mean you have to as well – just be true to yourself and speak from the heart. Don’t be afraid to admit mistakes, and take the time to understand a point-of-view or a topic before you blog.

Top image with thanks to Alina Lyvette