I get the sense that a number of educators are recommitting to blogging in the new year. This can only be a good thing. A blogging educator not only reaches out to other teachers with a blog, but they also reach out to the general public, who seem to harbour a number of misconceptions about the profession. Blogging is a wonderful way for individual educators to bridge that gap.
I've written for paper publication and find it tiresome. The constant editorial revision waters down any edge in your writing and can make even the most acerbic argument seem bland. The worry over saying anything that someone else may have already said and the resulting over-citation also takes any joy out of writing (or thinking for that matter). I understand why many people would back away from old-school publication, it's a miserable experience. Blogging is a way to refine your writer's craft while still enjoying the benefits of an audience.
My favourite part of blogging is that there is no captive audience, no circulation. If people want to read it, they can, if they don't, they won't. It's publication with none of the overhead (advertising, editors, space limitations, etc). Blogging is an opportunity to write without having to carry a pile of other people with your words.
Lisa mentions Dean Shareski's 'excuse to write'. With blogging you don't need an excuse, just write! If you find you want to write about different subjects, then do that too, it's easy enough to create interest specific blogs, and it's a great way to enter the online community of your new interest. The more you write, the easier it gets (like most things). The trick is not to get all wound up with what you're writing, it'll get better over time.
With that all said, here is Lisa's dare:
Nominating blogger: Lisa Neale
11 random facts about myself: Facts? How tedious... look me up online, it's all there if you want facts. The fictions are far more interesting though, and much harder to find.
List 11 bloggers? I enjoy many of the staff writers on WIRED. Quinn Norton is a genius. If I had to pick a local edu-blogger, it would have to be Jamie Raeburn-Weir. She's a writer's writer, a direct, honest voice. Andrew Campbell is another one I enjoy reading. He writes how he talks, which probably gets him into a lot of fights.
Lisa's Questions:
favourite mode of transport: motorcycles! The more minimal and visceral the better...Random piece of advice: luck is like everything else, you need to practice it to get good at it. If you never test your luck you'll atrophy it. Virgil understood this when he said, "fortune favours the bold." We're all less lucky (and compassionate) than we once were because of the nanny-state and insurance.
Favourite hobby: Reading? writing? photography? art? riding? mechanics? Whatever lets me express myself most completely in any given moment.
How do I like my eggs: sunny side up and runny.
Something I think differently about: it's not how long you're here, it's how you're here that matters.
Must watch movie: anything by Guillermo del Toro, dude's a genius.
When nothing is pressing: take a long ride on my motorbike. It is meditation in the wind, you're completely in the moment.
Preferred hot beverage: loose leaf black tea
How do you say 2014? 11111011110
First job: delivering newspapers, refing minor sports (hockey, soccer)
Lesson learned from relationships: nobody owns anyone
I think that's it... I've been told I haven't done this properly, but I'm ok with that.
