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 25 Pages of Interesting Ideas, But 103 Pages Too Long
In "No One Cares What You Had for Lunch: 100 Ideas for Your Blog" by Margaret Mason, we get as advertised.
I blog a lot, on everything from running to Hungarian recipes, as well as my thoughts on life. Arguably, my blogs are like 99% of the ones which are out there. Except, rarely is my lunch discussed. I tossed my lunch, if you will.
The audience is the new blogger who is not a writer by trade. My friend who is chronicling his weight loss adventure in a blog, brand-new to blogging in general, might find this modestly useful before he quickly graduates into veteran status.
Was there anything I could learn?
Yes. Two things. One: I'm on the right track. Two: Anything, but lunch, goes. Pardon me. 2.5 things. The point five is that there is not much here for experienced writers and bloggers.
Anything goes? Which parts of anything? All of them.
* Hobbies (that would be my running blog, but could be your praying mantis kit).
* Food (that's my Hungarian recipe blog, but could be your ice cream tasting blog)
* Books (my personal blog does a lot of this, with reviews just like this one, but could be about bookbinding too)
Where the book runs aground is its self-indulgence. 128 pages? Why not 25? It is laid out like a bathroom book, with more white space than is needed. I read it in two hours. I was lucky enough to borrow my copy from a library, and recommend you do likewise.
The veteran blogger will gain a thing or two from reading other blogs, and richer books like Blogging For Dummies (For Dummies (Computer/Tech)). Not here.
Anthony Trendl
AnthonyTrendl.blogspot.com
 A Lot Of Good Ideas
A lot of really good ideas are presented here. The author loses focus and creativity around numbers 98 to 100, but aside from that, there is still a lot to take in.
 Surprisingly helpful treatment of a trendy topic
Margaret Mason's No One Cares What You Had for Lunch promises us 100 Ideas for Your Blog. This is the sort of trendy topic that tends to inspire writers to try to make a quick buck by whipping through and capitalizing on a subject's popularity without having to put in a lot of hard work. In this case, however, Ms. Mason has done a fantastic job of addressing the topic of blogging in a manner that will be of great benefit to her readers and is fun to read.
The suggestions in each chapter are divided primarily by the amount of time they're likely to take. Some suggestions involve individual posts. Some tackle your overall approach to your blog. Others deal with ongoing projects within your blogging, or your relationship to other blogs and bloggers. The entries are short and pithy, much like blog entries themselves, serving as great examples as well as instructions. Many of them further include real-world examples from various blogs (the author's and those belonging to other bloggers) that entertain and amuse while perfectly demonstrating Ms. Mason's points.
Ms. Mason has a great handle on the kind of posts that intrigue and interest people. Better than any particular individual suggestion, what I took away from this book is a general feel for the kinds of personal posts and details that readers find fascinating and why.
 Blogging has arrived it seems
Well, blogging has arrived. I mean really.
This book is a good example of that, one of those 101 and "in 24 hours" books.
The subject is fun, the content is about 100 blog posts, the price for this is ridiculous.
The author complains that people are writing about their lunch, but funny thing is that her 31st idea for blogging is - yes, you guessed, lunch.
The book is basically about how to bare youself more to the public, how to put more of your private life on the net - hey, you got an embarrassing memory that makes you cry and curl up? Post it!
You got embarrassing photos? Post it!
No one cares what you had for lunch, but hey, why don't you tell us what's in your purse?
Blogging has arrived. And this book is one of those "lets make some money without any effort" books.
But, if you don't mind the price - 20 USD? for this? -, you can have a good bedtime reading. And there are some good thoughts in this. Just not too much.
Little Book with Big Blogging Ideas
I was in the mood for a book on blogging, and after finding this title on Tom "Duffbert" Duff's site, decided to give it a read.
Contents:
Fifteen Minutes to Fame
Thirty Minutes Away from the TV
An Hour at the Screen
Take Your Time
Think Like a Writer
This is not one of those "how to create a blog" books. "Nobody Cares What You Had for Lunch: 100 Ideas for Your Blog," by Margaret Mason, is a book that will provide you with some excellent ideas for content. Each chapter consists of about 20 ideas for a blog entry. If you suffer from writers block or have no idea what to write, this book will provide you with some ideas. As you may gather from the contents list, each chapter will require a little more time than the preceding one. "Fifteen Minutes to Fame" includes a topic that will get you away from the computer - your family. Spend some time with them and you will come away with a blog topic. Specifically, the author recommends that you spend time with your children, as they will provide you with some great material. I have already put this one to use, when I blogged about losing a tooth. The section, "Take Your Time," is at the other end of the spectrum. In this chapter, Mason recounts some blogs that require thought and time, such as one where you post a picture of everything you eat for a week/month/year. Even those midnight snacks. Somewhere between these two extremes, she asks you to provide some item that will date you - like posting your high school senior picture. Sure, we may all laugh at it, but the result is that you may get others to do the same and you will definitely get some comments. And we will be back to see what other embarrassing thing you may have for us.
The book is a quick read, at only 128 pages, but you walk away with some thoughts for blog posts. Some may not suit you or your blog, but they are entertaining reads, nonetheless. If you haven't posted something in quite a while, want to jump start your blog, or are lacking for ideas, this book will get those creative juices flowing.
Case in point: She recommends taking pictures of items in your closet. I took her advice and shot that picture of a Lotus Collection sweatshirt and wrote about the memories that it invoked in me. It was a fun post, as you don't know that trouble that I went to, to get a good picture (it could be better still). And then when it came to writing the post, that I was amazed at how much I was able to recall. I am now looking through some other closets for similar stories.
I will keep this book close by, for those times when I am hard pressed to write about something. Not everyone will be able to use every idea in this book, but they do help you to put more of a personal touch to your writing and to your blog. Hopefully, you will post more and not let your blog become stagnant or stale.
I've already taken some of her advice. :-)
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