Review Me Today!

I don’t usually like to be negative, but today I am going to start with what is wrong with Men with Pens. If you have been reading my blog at all, you know there is only one color of text I like, black, and it should be on a white background. This blog has white text on black background. In other words, they have it backwards. What is worse is that the links are in a darkish blue on a black background, which makes them almost unreadable to me.

Then the blog is hosted on a .ca domain. What is that? It is not a .com or a .net or any common top level domain. But then I start to think, does the domain really matter? And as I start reading through the blog I find out that the awful white type on black text is only on the home page. Once you find a link to a post and click on it you are taken to a page with black text on a dusky blue background which is actually quite easy on the eyes.

On a side note, some day I will have to write about why I am so picky about the text on a blog. It might have something to do with getting older and finally admitting that I need reading glasses.

Back to Men with Pens. It turns out, men with pens is actually three men and a rogue woman. According to the about page, Tei Lindstrom was such a good copywriter they had to let her into the all boys club. So Tei joins James, Harrison, and Charlie in creating a blog that is full of good advice.

I spend a lot of time reading blogs about writing. Mostly because I still consider myself a wannabe writer. It is one of those things. I know good writing when I read it. I just haven’t quite learned to master it myself. Hopefully I am learning something. I really enjoyed reading Men with Pens. It is the type of blog that talks about freelance writing, and blogging, and business in gereral, and makes me believe that I might be able to do it. Maybe someday I will be a great writer with a blog with thousands of subscribers who lap up my every word and comment on how wonderful I am.

The lead post today is What a Rotten Roof Can Teach You About Your Business and I can tell you it hit home on a number of counts. First because I know I need to get my roof replaced and I am not looking forward to the cost, or trying to find a contractor. Second, because James uses his experience with finding a contractor, and the contractor turning down the job, to illustrate some important lessons about running a business…or a blog. Lessons like “never opt for cheap, even if you are on a budget”, and “your reputation is all you have”.

Harry wrote a whole series on the 7 Deadly Fears of Writing, looking into how fear of exposing yourself, inadequacy, and success can hinder your writing.

I tried to find some posts by Tei or Charlie but I didn’t have any luck. I am sure they are there, I just need to get this post done before I spend the next few hours reading Men With Pens and hopefully becoming a better writer. (I am sure you all would appreciate that!)

So good going guys, and Tei. Just do something about the home page for old eyes like mine. Thanks!

Oh, one more thing. They have a forum that looks to be pretty new. If you have questions for the guys and Tei you could probably get them answered pretty quick over there!

And another thing, I take back what I said about the .ca domain. Apparently that is Canada. I want to be nice to people in Canada. I might need to move there someday. I love the .ca domain, I might just get one for myself!

Do you know what a bloggery is? Any guesses? Well, I know what a bloggery is, and if you spent any time in the Bloggeries forum you would know what a bloggery is too!

Next to blogging, one of my favorite things to do online is to hang out in forums. And one of my favorite forums to hang out in is Bloggeries, in fact, it is one of the few forums that I visit at least once a day.

As you might guess, Bloggeries is a  forum for and about blogs and bloggers.  It is a large enough forum that you will find lots of interesting posts and discussions going on. It is not so large that you will get lost in the crowd.  It is easy to establish yourself, and gets lots of advice and support from your fellow bloggers.

I guess my favorite forum would have to be the WordPress themes forum.  New themes are posted there everyday, and most of them are very good.  Many I haven’t seen anywhere else.  I have quite a few blogs, and I like each of them to have their own special theme.  I can find everything I need at Bloggeries.

Another feature that I am quite fond of, is that on all your posts, near your name, the forum picks up your RSS feed and shows your last blog post.  You set this up in your profile, and you can change it if you would like to feature a different blog.  I know I have received visitors from my feed at Bloggeries.

And finally,  I like that the forum hasn’t been found yet by the whole “make money online by spamming forums” crowd. On a certain large forum that I visit, I get tired of seeing posts that are only there to add to one’s post count, or to promote one’s product, which is guaranteed  to make you a millionaire in only 7 days.  (Produced and promoted by someone who hasn’t made $1 in the last year!)

So do yourself and favor and go check out Bloggeries.  And tell them Kat sent you.

Oh, and a bloggery? Here is the definition from Rob himself:

The term “Bloggeries” refers to the posts inside a blog. The blog is the aggregate of all the bloggeries along with a layout / design. The actual posts within the blog are what “bloggeries” actually are.