Pics! (and a big bloggy dither-fest)

[susie_flo]

Hello fiends, how are you doing?  Longish time no post, n'est ce pas?  (Sorry if I have failed to read or comment on any fab posts...)

Much to my dismay, I have returned from belle Paris and am back at horrid old work, which is a v. poor state of affairs. G remains in lovely Paris until 8th June, the lucky boy.   But I shall stop moaning because I did have an utterly delightful little escape. I posted a few pics on FB and flickr (but they're both f'locked so here are a few for anyone who missed them...)

 

 

On other matters, I'm having a bit of a dither / rethink regarding my blogosphere presence. Any opinions would be v. welcome...
 
I'm debating whether to switch to Blogger for my creative posts (e.g. posts about knitting, art and other crafty things) and keep LJ just for private ramblings and other random ephemera.
 
From what I can see, Blogger is the leading home for 'special interest' blogs, with a strong creative/craft community and a nice, professional-looking sheen for arty blogs.  LJ, on the other hand, seems to be geared up for real friendships, fun and idle banter...  like a cross between a blog and facebook.   (I'm not sure how many people in the outside world ever visit LJ blogs.) 
  
I'm undecided though, for the following reasons:

1. Creating things IS a huge part of my private life so why try to separate it from my personal blog?
2. A lot of my posts are likely to be 'borderline' (could get messy deciding where to post things)
3. It might make more sense to move the whole lot to Blogger rather than flit between places
4. But if I moved I would miss all you lovely LJ'ers...
5. Blogger is a grrr-inducing bastard when it comes to laying out image-heavy posts
6. Is it possible to make LJ look more shiny and feature-rich like Blogger?
7. Why not just post a link to my Blogger posts when I want to share something crafty with LJ friends?
8. What exactly am I trying to achieve? (this links to some scary life questions that I strive to ignore)

Sheesh!  What to do?  (Lets please not mention the fact that I haven't updated my blogger art blog - or even picked up a paintbrush - for approx 300 millennia...  can we let under-carpet-sweeping be the order of the day?)

Comments

[gylfinir.livejournal.com]

I'm really not the person to be dishing out advice, as I've now got 3 blogs (well, 4, but I've just removed all the content from one of them). I've got a separate blog for my craft work mainly because if sellers / suppliers want to know more about what I do, I don't necessarily want them directed to LJ. I'm still working how to put a feed from Blogger onto LJ, which will (hopefully) answer the whole cross-posting thing.

[steer.livejournal.com]

http://www.lexislounge.net/2007/09/publish-your-blogger-blog-to.html

[gylfinir.livejournal.com]

Oo! Ta! I've just figured out how to create a syndicated feed, but the information on the LJ FAQ pages is less than helpful...

[the-meanest-cat.livejournal.com]

Heh... this would become my third blog :-) (best not to include ravelry, twitter, farcebook, flickr and all of the other iinternetty nonsense that I cannot call to mind!)

Thanks for the advice. I am liking the feed suggestion

[gylfinir.livejournal.com]

Oh, god, I know what you mean; I have a more meaningful relationship with my laptop than I do people... Did I mention that I'm about to open a second Etsy shop? (Like I need more things to do) And that I've just taken on the running of the Wales Etsy team (Google group, Flickr group, Facebook group, blog)? ARGH!

I figured out the feed. It's a perfect solution. No need to cross post. Fabulous.

[the-meanest-cat.livejournal.com]

Hee hee, the more the merrier! (I have not quite sorted an etsy shop yet, due to lack of time... but I might do one day). Hoorah for the cross-posting!

[steer.livejournal.com]

I suggest that blog posts on a themed topic like "my knitting" are more likely to attract "random passerby" than an LJ which is generally "all about me and my life". On the other hand, LJ (to me at least) seems to be more about chatting to your friends and is much more likely to attract interaction and comments.

You seem to want a mix of both though. Why not have a blog for your creative endeavours and link, copy or in other ways feed those entries to your live journal.

http://www.lexislounge.net/2007/09/publish-your-blogger-blog-to.html

Your LJ would then be a mix of your regular LJ entries which wouldn't really be appropriate for your creative blog and the creative blog entries which will have a wider audience.

[the-meanest-cat.livejournal.com]

Thank you - you're completely right, I am wanting a mixture of the two... with minimum effort or duplication. I'd like LJ to be about friends and the all-round stuff about my life, and the craft blog to just cover one aspect of that, for people who share the same interest.

Your suggested plan sounds like a good one... (thanks for the link on feeding from blogger.)

[gylfinir.livejournal.com]

What steer said! :)

[kissmeforlonger.livejournal.com]

Stay here! I can't cope with reading any different blog sites!

[the-meanest-cat.livejournal.com]

Alright grandma! :-D

I think steer's suggestion above is ideal (if it works you hopefully won't notice any difference...)