The Fearless Blogger’s Maiden Voyage
I’m going to break the rules.
Just another rebel.
Don’t get me wrong – I believe that rules are made to be broken. I’m just also of the school of thought that one should learn, understand, and possibly master the rules before going ahead and breaking them.
The deal is, although I’ve been a long time observer, my participation in the blog-o-sphere has been limited to a plethora of RSS feed subscriptions, neglected tumble blogs and random tweets, peppered with the infrequent comment.
I’ve read the “how to’s” and “10 best ways to” and know better than to launch a blog without a cache of posts ready for publishing, a well thought-out “about” section, or – at a minimum – being able to clearly articulate what my blog’s objective is. And don’t leave out my education by numerous blogs emphasizing the importance of a consistent color scheme, clean CSS, SEO-friendly theme, font selection and everything that goes into a proper web design.
If that’s not bad enough, on top of being, let’s call it an “aspiring blogger” suffering a bad case of “paralysis by analysis” (not to mention a predisposition to the liberal use of quotation marks) which has left me on the proverbial sidelines; I’m also the owner of this domain. Yup. You read it right. “The Fearless Blogger”. But I’ve been too much of a coward to do anything with it – haven’t quite felt worthy. I’ve spent my entire life concerning myself with what other people think – so not exactly what I consider fearless.
Just between us.
I just kind of liked the name. I collect domain names the way Imelda Marcos collected shoes. Just thought it had a nice ring to it and that it might have good resale value to be honest. It hadn’t occurred to me to actually use it for myself. If anything, I could maybe use it to – this is rich – let other people (the truly fearless) host their brave blogs on a “fearless blogger” subdomain.
To be fair, at least, being female, I have an excuse for my increasingly evident lack of – ahem – “cajones”.
So what happened? Why now? Why do all the homework then throw caution into the wind and launch my blog without dotting my i’s, crossing my t’s? With no SEO-friendly wordpress theme. Without making sure my plug ins are working. Running off half-cocked before I have my ducks in a row, mixing all sorts of metaphors which basically are euphemisms for doing this “half-assed”?
Blog Action Day 2008. That’s why!
I had hopes. I had dreams.
As Blog Action Day was approaching, I found myself wishing I had “my blog” up and running so I could participate somehow.
And then the Aussies got a jump start on it and started posting about all sorts of online goodness going on.
Ooooh. I could comment. I could be the bestest and mostest commenter. And NEXT year, I could have a blog. And then I could participate. In Blog Action Day 2009.
Meh.
OR. I could be a wee bit fearless and follow the advice of the esteemed goddess Nike and just do it.
Yeah. I know.
say it ain't so
Blog action day was over a week ago.
I missed it.
But you know what I say to that?
I say:
“So what? I am The Fearless Blogger. That’s just how I roll.”
Some may say I’m quite a few days late for Blog Action Day 2008. I say I am MANY days early for Blog Action Day 2009.
If you want to know what a Fearless Blogger blogs about, I guess that’s what I’ll need to figure out next. I’m going to do my best to live up to the title!
But enough about me.
Let’s talk about Blog Action Day
Blog Action Day 2009 is less than 350 days away!
For those of you who don’t know what Blog Action Day is:
Blog Action Day is an annual nonprofit event that aims to unite the world’s bloggers, podcasters and videocasters, to post about the same issue on the same day. It’s aim is to raise awareness and trigger a global discussion.
You can read the FAQ here.
This year over 12,000 bloggers “banded together to discuss a single issue – poverty“. More than awareness was raised – there was fundraising as well. Some bloggers donated a portion of their blog’s earnings that day; others a set amount per comment or new subscriber.
For those who didn’t have an opportunity to contribute (or want to contribute more), you can do it here:
I’m also posting some links and videos related to poverty. From the true Fearless Bloggers. May they inspire you the way they inspire me:
Yours truly,
Faryl, aka The Fearless Blogger
Because it’s better late than never!
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Congrats on the new blog. Can’t wait to hear more from the Fearless Blogger.
BTW, I love the new Widget you made me.
You are a funny lady…and a cute one!!! Love ya. (Not so fearless when it comes to spiders.)
Wonderful new blog and I look forward to following your very interesting adventures in life!
@Joe Thank you! Glad you like the widget – it was made with love.
@Fazza’s Mom The cats take care of the spiders for me now. Or else Joe does :-)
@Kristine Glad you like it & thanks for the tweet! And for giving the comments a second chance!
Faryl, you are becoming such an absolute dork, I absolutely love it! On the road to blogging…
Go Faryl, Go! Love the new blog and the name…! :) Miss you!
Congratulations Fearless and welcome to the world of best intentions! ;^) Great domain name and great first post. I never subscribe to blogs, but I will sign up for yours to give you extra incentive to keep the new content coming.
Here’s an idea for your next post: the theme for Blog Action Day 2008 was poverty? Wow, the international blogosphere put their heads together and came up with that bold stroke of creativity. I guess they are going to hold on to world peace as their ace in the hole for next year. With all the shit coming down right now with the financial crisis, two wars, an election, etc., the blogosphere went for some real red meat there with poverty (“I think poverty is a bad thing.” “Me too, so let’s get rid of it and then head out to Chili’s for lunch.”).
I love your tone and voice, but don’t forget to flash the vicious hard edge sometimes too, especially for those that have it coming.
Cheers,
TruthMaker
Write on, Faryl!
Since I don’t get to see you in action on Thursday nights any more, I’m looking forward to seeing how you roll here. I should also note that the introduction to your blog makes me feel guilty about having neglected my own blog for so long. (Yeah, yeah…so I haven’t written in a while. Neither has Shakespeare.)
Stay fearless!
~Kurt
@ TruthMaker Thanks for subscribing and the kind words. I think yours was one of the first blogs I ever read! Appreciate the blog topic suggestion too. I hear where you are coming from and myself vacillate between being cynical and being Pollyanna. Lately, I guess I’m applying the Ronald Reagan concept of “trust, but verify” (yes, I just quoted Reagan!) and taking a disillusioned, older, wiser Pollyanna view of the world.
Not sure I will get a chance to dedicate a full blog post about it soon, but do have some thoughts that I’ll share here.
Wayne Dyer uses to some quote that I find myself referring to often. I can’t find the exact quote, but it’s something to the effect of: “One can never be so sick as to heal the ill, so poor as to cure poverty”
The overall idea is that just because others may be suffering, does not mean you need to suffer along with them in order to help. (I think it may be a quote from Mother Teresa – if anyone knows what I’m talking about, please let me know!)
I guess my point is, while I don’t discredit your opinion and agree that there are a number themes that might be considered less “trite” and equally actionable, I also can’t fault the Chili’s-dining blogger either.
Full disclosure: I haven’t read all the FAQ’s to see why/how the “poverty” theme was selected, but also assumed the idea was to find something broad and potentially non-divisive so that everyone could find a way to use their voice to connect with whatever audience they may have.
Overall, it may all be a drop in the bucket, but it’s better than no drops. Do you agree?
Maybe there needs to be more than one Blog Action Day so more topics can get their fair share of attention. Maybe a quarterly blog action day with varying over-arching themes (politics, health, humanity?) would be a happy medium.
Just a thought. Curious to know what you think – comment back please! :-)
@Kurt, @Joanie, @Mari – Thanks for the words of encouragement! At least we get to connect online, right?!
I’ve never seen a blog before but I have no doubt yours is one of the best.
Love,
Sandy
Hey Faryl! I love your blog title and your header. It looks pretty good to me!
I’m glad to see you out in the blogosphere!
April
@Sandy – Thanks for taking time to read this! I hope my blog won’t be your last. If you have any questions about what this all means, please let me know. I’d like this blog to be something even first-timers can enjoy.
@April – Appreciate your kind feedback & warm welcome to the blogosphere!
Hi Faryl – just found your blog, and love the concept.
I really believe that just starting up this blog and working towards its title will get you there. Really looking forward to seeing how it develops!
:)
@Katherine Thank you so much! Your comment made my day :-) I just checked out your blog and subscribed – I’m looking forward to having a bit of time to explore what you already have up there!
Congrats!
It was strongly suggested that I read your stuff.
Did.
Nice job.
Joel Libava
Hi Joel! Sorry it took me so long to reply to your comment with a big THANK YOU! I'm glad you visited and even more glad that you liked it!
Just don't ever let it happen again…
JL
Oh, don't worry, I won't! (see?!)
Yep!
Joel
I came over from Chuck's blog. I love this post, it's original and witty. Good job!