It’s Fighting Time Again!

TToT14 Challenge – Blog Like a Boss Prompt #3

It’s another trial another fight to the death. Ahem. I mean, another fun spirited contest entry. And here, our Overlord – I mean our kindly sweet landlady, SLWalker has tasked us to decide. Decide! Decide! Steff’s prompt was for us to choose:

WHO’S YOUR FAVORITE TREK BLOGGER AND WHY?

With that, she’s certainly thrown down the gauntlet…

Gauntlet throwing … er …

What is Steff at? Trying to pit us against one another? Is this some kind of trial by death? Oh wait… hmmm … shoulda read the small print of the TToT14 terms and conditions. A fight to the death it is. Well, with this prompt she has set the cat among the pigeons.

Wait this ain’t right… Pick the odd one out!

Here a minute! That’s a pigeon among the cats. Oops – here this is the right one:

Ninja Kzinti

(McGregor: Rah, leave the pigeons alone!)

But like, jespah, FalseBill and zeusfluff, I accept this challenge.

I will make mention of my four of the best but some honourable mentions must be made. jespah’s post response to this prompt actually is a great summation of the status of the blogs here on Ad Astra it has to be said. Zeufluff is a breath of fresh air given her newcomer status and yet has enthusiastically embraced the blogging aspect here to promote her work and share her thoughts on her stories. I’ve to give a shout to Trekfan’s Red Shirt Eulogies for the most fabulously titled blog but also a very entertaining and insightful one when he wrote it. Likewise, TemplarSora’s pieces are fantastic and TS is a great responder to many of the blog prompt’s throughout the year, meaning we get quite a fair spread of blog posts from this direction. RogueJawa is another, newcomer who is embracing the blogging sphere and does so to great effect, sharing links to other blogs part of the STO fanbase, which has been fascinating to read and catch snippets of. This is especially refreshing, because it gives a body new stuff to read potentially, particularly as I am not a big reader of blogs be they Trek or not – because sink hole of time!

MDg

Mike’s blog goes to show just how much of a tech whiz he is, as it drips kewl techie pizazz. On top of that, Mike writes a truly great meta blog on his stories and the process behind the writing. Reading his posts reveals just how conscious he is in the design and planning of his stories. He’s also an acutely aware writer when you read how he found the process and his own opinion of the stories thereafter.

SLWalker

SLWaker’s rambling & writin’ is as said a fantastic blog (when she writes it). Steff’s pared down to the nub of the matter writing is reflected here in her posts too and again she has this glorious ability to scrutinise and pick apart her work or collaborated work. It’s scary reading it in action it has to be said. I doubt I’m ever that conscious about my writing process it has to be said. Heck the purpose of my blog is to spur me into something of a more overt conscious approach to my writing. Not entirely working – certainly not to any prolific rate at least.

FalseBill

I love FalseBill’s blog posts. They are pithy and witty and colourful in thoughts and in his decorations. He’s a genuinely open and friendly guy with a fun approach to his writing universe, where it is clear on the page that he loves writing his stories and getting the chance to share them. His blog reflects that personality and it is a mini joy to read. Despite his admitted struggles with the English language, FalseBill does what a writer has to do – be brave and write. He is constantly working on honing his craft with each and every blog post. He responds to most blog prompts and if he can’t at the time he does so after the fact. Likewise, he is an active participant in the Boldly Reading Book Clubs. What I also notice about Bill is the fact he stores and squirrels away nuggets of information and character details when he reads other people’s work and that means he can recall these facts if he brings up an author or their stories in his blogs (or indeed his reviews/forum replies). That’s a truly valuable gift for FalseBill himself but more so for us authors who get these wondrous little surprises as he recalls facets of our stories. His Stolen Toys entry from last year based on my Kestrel series is testament to that.

I made mention of this in response to FalseBill’s prompt response but I think it bears repeating here too. It ought to be stated here that although the prompt is about the best trekblogger FalseBill shares with  jespah hands down the best participant on the blogs because of how involved they get. FalseBill doesn’t restrict himself to his own blog but cross links and react to other people’s blogs. Which better heads than I would comment is the very essence and purpose of blogging. Additionally, as mentioned already is his high participation rate in the prompts and boldly reading book clubs.

jespah

Mention must now go as demonstrated above to our dearest jespah. She would be one of the wiser heads that could inform you about blogging. In fact, I’m pretty sure she has! Her Barking up the Muse Tree blog is a testament to how we should and ought to be using our blogs. She promotes very cleverly her stories and series. However, she uses this opportunities to not just drop links and run. jespah explores the characters with character reviews detailing some of the character background details, her hopes and intentions with the characters from the beginning and heading into the future. These character Portrait (93) drop all relevant links into the blog so you can go straight to the story. Under her Review category there are currently (73) pieces. Many of these are her character portrait or reviews but the blogs also include reviews of her own stories. Again, she does meta reviewing of her own stories to a great degree and it is always insightful reading them. In recent times, jespah has also included linked articles as part of her blog promotion and cross linkage to drive up traffic. As I say, she clearly knows how to do this whole blogging business and it shows.

However, like FalseBill the reason she’s at the top of the pile and claims my prize is by virtue of how interactive she is with her blog. That’s the point and lesson we should learn from jespah. What makes her the best and makes her blog successful is the fact jespah gets involved in other people’s blogs, reviewing or responding to posts, cross pollinates from the forum, to the archive, to FaceBook and Twitter and beyond. More than that however, it makes it a pleasure to have jespah around and it is our good fortune to have her responding to our blogs as much as she does. It’s certainly an example to live up to for all of us.

That’s the battle contested folks, a winner crowned, until the next time, Happy Reading, Happy Reviewing, and hey in the manner of this post, Happy Blogging.