Category: blogging

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Fun way to add spice to your website

letter f - as artwork. copyright JESSICA HISCHEun. Sometimes our blogs need just a little injection of life.

I found this great site by Jessica Hische called Daily Drop Cap. If you know just a tiny bit of html, you can add fun drop caps to any of your blog posts. (Thanks, Jessica!)

Now I’ll add some lorem ipsum text, courtesy of Hipster Ipsum, just so you can see what another of the drop caps look like.

ella mixtape american apparel, marfa raw denim flexitarian brooklyn. Viral semiotics bicycle rights, polaroid master cleanse chambray cardigan. Mustache aesthetic messenger bag, pickled yr you probably haven’t heard of them mlkshk Austin brooklyn cliche bushwick fixie tattooed trust fund wayfarers. Salvia hoodie pinterest cred, single-origin coffee.

And if you need regular lorem ipsum, here’s a great site to get that from: Digital.com’s Lorem Ipsum Generator.

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A new option

Email subscription optionIf you would like to get an email each time I put a new blog post up, you can now subscribe, via the little widget to the right.

Hopefully this will make it easier for some of you to get Shiny Bits goodness.

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The loss of a widget

The new "Sites" tab of my siteNote “Sites” in the tabs at the top of this site.

I took my blogroll off my sidebar. I used to have the links of several sites there. I changed that, just for a little variety. And I also added descriptions to each site, so you know the ride you’re about to take.

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Pause

Pause buttonI am sorry to say that I have to pause this blog for a while. I’m not sure how long. At the moment, there are too many irons in my fire, and something had to go.

Stay tuned. I promise I’ll be back.

Update: This point in my blogging simply turned into my giving myself the freedom to post less often. Again. Thanks for your patience with me as I keep changing my personal blogging experience.

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Blogging inspiration

The inspiration fairyA friend and I had a discussion about inspiration and blogging. Sometimes the spark of creativity has left. Sometimes I wait for the inspiration fairy to touch me, and sometimes that just doesn’t happen.

My friend asked if my move from 5 posts a week to 2-3 had been good for my traffic and engagement. I replied that Shiny Bits is my personal sharing with interested people – and I don’t mind that much if traffic and engagement result.

Sure, I’d love for thousands to enjoy what I put up here. But I won’t water down my posts to try to bring those thousands to my fold. Instead, it’s gratifying when a real connection is made and lasts. That makes it all worthwhile.

Thanks for enjoying what Shiny Bits offers. And thanks for sometimes being my inspiration fairy.

By the way, this great fairy painting is from Dover Publications. They have lots of copyright-free images for your blogging pleasure. And they didn’t share who the painter was.

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Six years ago today

My former blogsI started blogging on August 24, 2005. My first personal blog was My Part of Nairobi. My second was My Part of Colorado. My third? It’s what you are holding in your hands now.

Blogging, it has been good to me. And hopefully to you too. If you’ve been with me since Nairobi, you deserve a loyalty card! If you’ve arrived since then, Check out some of that old stuff. You will enjoy the ride, I promise.

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On frequency

Some have asked why I scaled back my blogging since March or so. The short answer is that I have less free time these days. I’m in the midst of getting Greener Grass Media off the ground, and my spare minutes are precious.

My hope is still to give you at least two or three posts a week here. Some weeks I may get back to five. Thanks for your loyalty!

You can read this blog by RSS too – and then you’ll know when I’m posting here, without having to check back.

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What is Alltop?

AlltopIf you have never heard of Alltop, I urge you to visit. Guy Kawasaki started the site, and my friend Neenz keeps it running quite well.

Alltop is a library. You start by looking within a huge variety of categories. Each category’s page links to some of the finest websites and blogs within that realm. I’m on the “Life” page. You can also find ballroom dancing and Pacific Northwest street food.

And it’s not just for fun – Alltop is a very useful tool for work, if your job involves spending much time online.

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