Friday, December 21, 2012

Weekly Round Up

It's been a good week. I love Christmas and can't wait to give and to receive presents. The kids are home and we aren't too overscheduled, so it's been fun. I got myself a genuine pair of Uggs, so you know that trend is dead—but my feet are really warm. Sam is watching Heroes on Netflix, which I like remembering.

I've had time to read and write, which I enjoy. You may have forgotten about Babble, but it is newly re-designed and I am still writing posts for them every day. I find that writing more often is good for sharpening my writing skills, but I am still not a very good blogger. I like to choose titles that obscure my meaning so you'll have a nice surprise at the end of the post. I can barely rig a slideshow to work properly and I still don't know what makes something "clicky." I would definitely like to learn to write snappy headlines and clickable posts. I think it's a valuable skill to write a compelling title. What I don't want to do is trick people with a "clicky" title and then have a post that doesn't deliver. Like I wouldn't want to name a post, "Innovative New Parenting Technique!" and then have the post be about hugging your kids. Drab titles that don't unfairly trick people in to reading my posts are a tiny subset of my integrity. Maybe I should let it go?

This month has been especially puzzling because I'm like the lowest page-view author on Babble. I say that not just so you'll look at my posts, but also because I find it interesting and unpredictable. It's quite thrilling, as a matter of fact.

Here are a few posts from this month for you to peruse:

Rough Stuff My Kids Will Go Through (And I Dread)

What to Expect When You're Expecting a Tween

Kids And Clothes—Pick Your Battles

Parenting Tips From Gandalf

Golden Retrievers Comfort Newtown

The Trouble With Texting

What do you think, do I talk about older kids too much? Is that a turn off to young mommy bloggers? Is it maybe not good to focus so much on advice from Gandalf? I wonder. I do try to write things that will appeal to my readers over there. It's not like I'm posting videos of myself playing the ukelele or something.

14 comments:

  1. I don't know...I think you are really funny and real and relatable. I read you on babble and that's about it. I just don't like the other blogs much. I like the babble stuff that comes across my facebook feed, but I love your blog and have for a few years now. I'm not a big commenter, but I always read! I should comment more. I never get comments on my own blog, which is lucky to get 50 views per post. I like to do it, but I'm just not a good blogger. You, on the other hand, are. Don't worry about your numbers over there. You are great.

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    1. Don't you hate when you write something then when you go back and read it, it sounds dumb? Yeah...me too.

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  2. Well, nothing you said sounds dumb to me. I find it quite encouraging. Thanks.

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    1. I am glad you found the comment encouraging, just as it was meant to be. A side bonus is that you visited my blog. I am extremely pleased you did so! I promise I wasn't fishing for you to visit or comment. Especially if you read the lame "mug" post. It was a moment of weakness.

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  3. You know what makes me a bad blogger? The fact that I can't fathom what it is that's so enjoyable about other bloggers that aren't you. I just don't get it. And I suppose that's why I am a bad blogger--because I don't get it.

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  4. You guys are so great and validating, especially when I fish for compliments. Hailey, you are not a bad blogger.

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  5. I have tiny kids, but I still click through to all your Babble links. I'm a fan. I agree that lots of parenting info on the Internet is geared toward the baby/toddler stages, but parenting is parenting, ya know? I feel like it all interests me. Plus, I'm going to be at that next stage before long. It's a mystery.

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  6. As someone who has children in/entering the tween years, I appreciate your insight. No babies or toddlers here and heaven knows I need all the help I can get. Keep posting links to your Babble posts because that's the only way I know that you've written something for Babble. :)

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  7. Kacy - I feel the same why about Titles. When I wrote my post about my favorite Trader Joe's foods I originally called it "I Smell it in the Air!" which is a line Galadriel says in The Lord of the Rings when she is speaking of the impending arrival or the powers of evil. Then right after I published it I changed the name to "My Top Trader Joe's Picks!" because that seemed so much more clickable (and actually told people what the post was about) even though I really liked the oddness of the first title.

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  8. So it might just be me, but when I go to http://blogs.babble.com/kid-scoop/author/kacyfaulconer/, I don't see any posts after November 14, which is why I haven't been reading for a while. That, and I had a baby on November 15th. But now, knowing that you have been writing all along, I am going to go on a Kacy Faulconer/Babble binge.

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  9. Anonymous11:41 PM

    I mostly only read your stuff on Babble--except once in a while I will read one of NatTheFatRat's or some other people whose names I can't think of--and I then feel compelled to click the links to all the photos of fashionable clothing I couldn't or woudln't ever wear. I think what I'm trying to say is that their posts make me click, but they don't make me happy. Yours do.

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  10. Anonymous7:21 AM

    I love your blog, but i'm just not crazy about Babble. All the arrows and clicking, and sometimes it shuts down my computer. I think your own blog is so thoughtful and well written, and I love the advice about parenting older kids. I also love your comment about Uggs...:)

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  11. Anonymous10:20 AM

    I read all your Babble posts, because you're one of the few writers i've ever encountered who is both witty and incisive, whilst also being warm and emotionally generous! However, I thik that people who'd never read any of your posts, would nver be able to surmise any of that from your titles.
    Personally, I think that you could make your titles more relevant to your readers without being duplicitous / comprehmising yr integrity. Eg. I think that you could have renamed 'The trouble with texting' as 'Why I confiscated my tween's phone' and it would have been more relavant and probably more 'clicky'.

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    1. Thanks for the input. I am very bad at titles.

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