Monday, December 06, 2010

Rememorandom: 500 Posts Later

Aesthetics
You very likely noticed a stark change here on Rememorandom if you happened to stop by after Friday afternoon.  (Unless, of course, you read via RSS feed or Facebook.)  Since the beginnings of my blog, back in 2005, I've always kept with a simple motif: keep it green.  See, green has always been my favorite color, and since this is my blog, I figured it should be reflective of me.  But then I noticed the stat counter on my blog that I was approaching my 500th post and thought there should be a change or two.  So I started playing around with Blogger's limited tools and my rudimentary HTML knowledge (plus a basic Google search) and came up with what you see now.

At first I wasn't sure about it.  The only greens left were for hyperlinks, and that's a faint green at that.  But, the more I looked at it, the more it grew on me.  I'm not one of these people that hates change.  A little change every now and then keeps us always on our feet and keeps us from getting complacent, comfortable, and idle in our daily life. 

Another change, apart from the color scheme, was the two gadgets on the right of the page.  The "Currently Reading" box changed from one book cover to a montage of all the books I'm currently reading.  I had a "Up Next" box or somesuch prior to the "TBR" box, which really wasn't true, as I'm never 100% sure what book will be up next.  (Usually this process is determined by a number of factors, including, but not limited to how much I enjoyed the book I just finished reading, how long certain items have been in the TBR pool, whether or not the book is in at the library (and it's due date), and other things.)  My new "TBR" box is a better idea of what's to come.  I'm considering doing a similar montage for yearly reads, but I'm not sure about that yet.  (All of these montages are linked to my Goodreads account, and they were created from that site.)

Content
My first post, "Alpha," stated that "Mostly it [this blog] will probably be random thoughts going through me, similar to a journal. Perhaps I shall write on current events. Mebbe religious thoughts. Mebbe STAR WARS. Definitely STAR WARS."  For the most part, this is still true, though perhaps the motivation has changed since then.

At the time, I probably had no desire to start book reviewing like I do now.  I really just wanted to keep up with my life, and being a child of this techno world, blogging seemed the way to go.  Of course, there are many posts dealing with creative writing, and this is still another reason Rememorandom has kept going.

I think I've fallen into a rather succinct pattern for posting.  I review every book I read (if not here, definitely on Goodreads), and I enjoy reviewing.  But what reader doesn't like recommending a good book they've read?  In no way do I consider my reviews even a third as good as the blogosphere's esteemed SFF bloggers, but these are my words, my recommendations, and my joys.

Lastly, and mentioned above, is the creative writing content.  If I've got the next installment written, I post a serial piece on Writing Wednesdays, otherwise I treat the day as a regular post.  I've also started writing flash fiction, which has been loads of fun and rather trying, and these sometimes appear on Flash Fiction Fridays.  Plus, even if my posts aren't creative writing, they're still a writing exercise.

Bloggers
When I started, I had no Followers and few readers.  That pretty much stayed the same until late 2008/ early 2009, likely because the blogging from 2006 until then was sporadic at best.  Now I have 39 public Followers and I don't know how many RSS & Facebook readers.  On some levels, I view this as a success, that I'm somehow attracting readers.  But honestly, it doesn't matter if I have 39 Followers or 39000, I'm still blogging for the same reason.

However, I do enjoy meeting new people, and whenever I get a new reader, I make every effort to visit their blog (if they have one) and check it out.  I've met several folks with similar tastes in music, books, and whatnot, and these friendships are special.  When a blogger stops writing, I wonder what happened to them.  Did they burn out?  Did they spontaneously human combust?  Will they ever come back?  Who knows.

The Future
Rememorandom has no plans of retiring any time soon.  Where once I went from irregular posts to daily posts to semi-frequently posts, I think I have enough material to keep me busy for a while.  There are nigh a hundred books on the TBR pile, not to mention the occasional surprise read, and I fully intend to review them.  Keisha is pregnant and we're expecting our first child come June/July 2011, so this will undoubtedly generate some posts.  I am constantly thinking of stories to write and explore, and while many of them seem to start and get abandoned, a few do actually make it on to completion. 

I am proud of Rememorandom, and as long as I remain in this mindset, I see no problems continuing my blogging.

So, for those of you that have read my blog, I thank you and hope that you continue to do so.  And for those of you that have not read my blog, the ones that are not reading this sentence right now, I shake my right foot at you and call your dog names.

Questions
Any feedback is appreciated.  What do you think about the new layout?  Is the text hard to read?  Are the colors distracting?  Does my site take longer to load now because of the gadgets?  Anybody else hate cold coffee as much as I do?

14 comments:

Bill said...

Cold coffee is only good if it was intended to be cold, vis a vi iced coffee.

Otherwise congrats on the 500 post mark! That's pretty significant I'd say, and definitely commendable given the average person's attention span these days.

I wish there was a better way to track RSS readers because I'd like to be counted when it comes to all the people I follow through Google Reader (still the best online feed reader out there IMO).

Crystal said...

Congratulations on 500 posts! Keep 'em coming!

I like the new layout! Love the colors and I think the TBR montage is cool.

I am not a fan of cold coffee, either.

Jay Belt said...

Cold coffee is good at times, but only with ice. Coffee that has naturally become cold is gross.

Congrats on 500!

ibeeeg said...

COngrats on your 500th post! I do enjoy your posts so keep them coming. :)

Your new blog colors are great! I really like it.

By the way, I am a coffee snob. I love my morning coffee and it must be hot!!! Once it cools down well...down the drain it goes. With that said, I did drink a few Dunkin Donuts iced coffee over the summer, and it was not too bad, but most definitely not my favorite.

Carl V. Anderson said...

Congrats on your 500th! I like the colors and the new look, especially seeing that mosaic of book covers...makes me drool!!! Glad you plan on keeping on, keeping on.

MT said...

great milestone. Like the new look, though I would definitely continue to work on it until you've wound up with the new fit. Glad to hear that you will continue to be posting!

Anonymous said...

i don't like coffee. but i like this new look, i like the colors and the book boxes. i like the light text on dark background.

really enjoy your blog, the writing, the random, and the reviews; must try to figure out how to throw a blogosphere baby shower in june/july...

congrats on the 500 posts and blessings on many more.

~L
aka Leslie (as I sent you a friend request on goodreads and I didn't think about the fact I shorten my name)

Sam said...

I really like your blog layout! It isn't difficult to read and everything seems orderly and visually pleasing. That's exciting that you're going to be a dad! Congrats :)

Also, I just finished listening to the Joe Purdy album. I'm in love. I definitely see me blogging about him in the future as well. Thanks for the recommendation!

Krista said...

Wow! Congrats on the lil' one! Thats amazing! I will keep you guys in my prayers over the next several months to come. I pray that you have one healthy baby! :)


I like the new back ground, though I'm not sure I dig the gray but I love all the colors! And I can read your posts just fine.

Glad to hear Rememorandom will be sticking around for some time :)

logankstewart said...

@Bill: Thanks. I tried a Mozilla reader, but gave it up. As poor as Google Reader is, it's still the best, I think.

@Crystal: Thank you!

@Jay: Absolutely. "Coffee that has naturally become cold" is really what I meant, and that's disgusting. Now a blended frap, that's a different story entirely.

@ibeeeg: Thank you! Coffee snobbery is okay in my book, just as long as you don't get too pretentious. ;) Seriously, though, I especially love the Christmas blends. Just something super tasty with their flavors.

@Carl: Aye, I like the montage, too. And thanks!

@Mattson: Thank you. I intend to get it to how I like it, but as a quasi-perfectionist, that may never happen. We'll see.

@L: Oh man, sometimes all I want is a good cup of coffee, but then sometimes I equally want a strong cup of hot tea or Mt. Dew. And thanks for liking my blog and the new look!

@Sam: Aye, super exciting. I thought you might like Joe Purdy's music. I envy you, as you've got a ton of music ahead of you to listen to for the first time.

@Krista: Thank you, for the congrats and the prayers. My two prayers are that it's healthy and human. Other than that, I'm cool with whatever. ;) Thanks!

Thanks for the feedback everybody.

Kristopher A. Denby said...

Congrats, Logan. Blimey (sorry, still have Harry Potter on the brain), I don't even know how many posts I've done.

Anyway, I had tons of problems with Google Reader and dropped it for Thunderbird. Tabbed email browsing and blog reading is awesome.

logankstewart said...

@Kris: Thanks, mate, and it's quite alright to have HP on the brain. You can check your post count through the "Edit Posts" button in your dashboard. If you've got drafts, ignore those, and viola, there's your total posts.

Unknown said...

Wow 500 posts.. and what a great contrasting color combo going on here... how fun!

Congrats on your 500th post.

logankstewart said...

@Shellie: Thank you, and glad you like the new layout & colors.