Last night, I did something that some would consider wild and crazy, and others would consider normal. And about an hour ago, I received the results of my wild and crazy action.
Oh. You want to know what I did? First you need some background.
In Media, we're reading The Church and New Media by Brandon Vogt as supplemental material. The book includes 11 chapters written by well-known and emerging Catholic bloggers, tweeters, and others involved in "new media". Chapter 4 is by Mark Shea, a convert and Catholic author. I was reading through his chapter, which is all about starting a blog and how to attract readers, and I came across this: "The very nature of the Internet is interactivity. When planing my blog, I decided from the get-go to both exploit the connections I had and to make now ones with brashness. So I emailed writers and bloggers I either knew or whose work I liked and said, 'Hey! I've started a blog! Could you tell your readers?' There's no need to be shy about that. The worst that can happen is that the blogger or writer will ignore you. The best (and much more common thing) that can happen is that the blogger you contact will stick a link up (as is my custom) announcing 'New Blog!' [...] I have a number of readers who send me links to stuff they've written and who link stuff I write [...]"
By now, you probably have an idea of what I did. Yup, I emailed Mr. Shea and asked him if he could advertise my blog on his blog. And just now, I received this email back from him: "Hi Allison! Good work. You give me hope! I will plug your blog on Tuesday, 11/22! Mark".
THANK YOU MR. SHEA!!!! *pardon me. I got excited*
Anyhow, I'm in the process of writing two new posts.... one serious and one a bit more, well, amusing. :) Keep an eye out!
And please go look at Mark Shea's blog!!
xoxo,
AHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI literally squealed when I read this. Good for you! I must say that Mark Shea's blog frequently rubs me the wrong way... but I read him anyways. :P Anyways, that's AWESOME!
You rock! I am so proud of you. :)
ReplyDeleteAwesome, Allison! I'm thrilled that "The Church and New Media" has led you to start your own blog. If you ever need any advice or support, shoot me an email (bvogt1@gmail.com).
ReplyDeletePS. I see that your reading about Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati. He's one of my favorite saints and I wrote a mega-post on him here:
http://www.thinveil.net/2011/07/blessed-pier-giorgio-frassati-ordinary.html
Allison,
ReplyDeleteYou are truly a source of hope for the future of the Church as Mr. Shea has written. I look forward to reading your posts from this point onward. I, too, have taken up once again the challenge of maintaining a blog, albeit from what some might call a more unorthodox position, that is, blending the Catholic faith, a large family and role-playing games. God bless!
Brandon- thank you so much! I was so happy to find your blog; its encouraging to know about other Catholics who are active online.
ReplyDelete1gamerdad- Although I am not informed (at all!) about video games, I'm enjoying reading your blog! I think it's great that you're including your kids in that!
Maggie and Christine- Thanks! :)