Month: January 2015

Advice to New Bloggers

Karen E. Lund2 Comments

When I shared the news that I’ve given my blog a makeover, it led to a short conversation with Barbara, one of my LinkedIn connections. I asked if she has a blog and she replied, “No, but I’d love to start one for Emergency Management and Public Safety issues.” Well, I happen to be hunkered down in New York City while we wait to see if the forecast blizzard turns out to be the apocalypse they’re forecasting, so I’m going to use my time to share some suggestions for new bloggers.

If it seems like everyone and his brother already has a blog, it may be close; but there are a few who still haven’t joined the party. There’s still room!

I started blogging on a whim–and my goal wasn’t really to have a blog of my own but to help a writer friend start a blog of her own. As I played around with it, I got interested in building a better blog of my own. Most of what I know is self-taught, learned by experimentation and looking at what other bloggers do. In retrospect, that’s a very good way to do it–the online world changes so frequently that any print book you may find on blogging will be slightly out of date. (Though having a print reference at hand might be helpful at first, so if it works for you go ahead–just remember that what you find on your new blogging platform might be a little different than what’s in the book.)

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Updating My Blog

Image Karen E. Lund3 Comments

You’ve probably noticed that I recently did a major update to the design of this blog. I’m very pleased with the outcome and I hope that you, as a reader, are also happy with it. (If you’re not, please leave a comment and let me know what’s not working–and what device, browser, app, etc. you’re using.)

As I mentioned in my first post this year, I’ve been expanding my scope to include other online forms. One of those is SlideShare, so I made a SlideShare presentation to explain how I updated Circle of Ignorance.

 

On Not Being What’s Expected

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A week or so ago I read a post on Medium by a young woman who is studying Engineering at MIT. In it she recounted some of the bizarre sexist reactions she gets as a blonde engineering student. (I read her exchange with a dental hygienist to my Dad, who is over 80 and not exactly a feminist, and even he was shocked.)

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New and Improving

Karen E. Lund1 Comment

Sometimes you need to take a step back.

Entering 2014 seemed a good time to make some changes to Circle of Ignorance.

First, a little history. When I started blogging in 2008, it was an experiment and learning experience. (That blog was written on Blogger under a pen name and has been deleted.) In particular, I planned to learn a little about blogging and help a writer friend start her own blog. She didn’t bite, and after a few months I realized that the only way to generate real conversation was to blog under my own name.

So after giving the matter some thought, I started Circle of Ignorance on WordPress in 2010. At the same time I joined Twitter. For almost a year I posted regularly twice a week; but in 2011 my Dad needed major surgery followed by a month of physical therapy that derailed my blogging. I was trying to resume in 2012 when hurricane Sandy derailed me again.

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