Newbie Blogger Initiative - Time to Get Blogging.

Have you ever considered writing a blog of your own? Well how about starting now?

Massively staff writer Justin Olivetti, aka Syp, proprietor of the Bio Break blog has launched the Newbie Blogger initiative to try and encourage new writers to start their own mmorpg blogs and he has asked me (along with some 70 other mmorpg bloggers) to participate as sponsors.

I was actually surprised to be asked because I don't have a celebrity blog that has thousands of readers. Nevertheless I have written a lot of stuff here since that fateful day in 2006 when I tapped on the door and snuck my way into blogging. I have made friends through blogging and it has given me much pleasure. It has enabled me to participate in a community of gamers and writers and it gives me a platform and an identity in the online world. Don't underestimate the value of blogging as a creative outlet. Most of us never get the chance to really write stuff once you leave school so it is terrific as an adult to look over something I have created and put up there for the world to see.

So if you have ever thought about it - how about starting today? Sign up for Blogger or Wordpress or any other free blogging service and start writing. Write about games, write about life, write about something you enjoy. Then get yourself over to the Newbie Blogger forums and sign up. You will get help and support and, shock horror, you will get readers who actually read your stuff and who will help you to get more readers.

For my own contribution to the initiative, in addition to giving advice to fledgling bloggers I have decided to do a bit of a retrospective. I will pick some posts from the past six years of this blog that are special to me for various reasons. I will try to tell the story behind those posts in the hope that it will encourage others to experience the pleasures of blogging.

EDIT: Syp has put up an official kickoff post here: http://biobreak.wordpress.com/2012/05/01/new-bloggers-we-want-you-announcing-the-newbie-blogger-initiative/

Comments

Android Tip 3: Sharing a Folder between multiple users of an Android device

Android has allowed multiple user logins for quite a while now. This is can be very useful for tablets which are shared by family members. Normally Android erects strict Chinese walls between users preventing them from using each others apps and viewing each others files. This is a useful security feature and ensures your kids don't mess up your work spreadsheets when screwing around on the tablet and should also prevent them from buying €1,000 worth of Clash of Candy coins on your account. Sometimes however you really do want to share stuff with other users and this can prove surprisingly difficult. For example on a recent holiday I realised that I wanted to share a folder full of travel documents with my wife. Here are some ways to achieve this. 1. If you have guaranteed internet access then you can create a shared folder on either Dropbox or Google drive. Either of these has the great advantage of being able to access the files on any device and the great disadvantage of bein...

Portal 2 two screen coop on one PC.

I mentioned before that I intended to try Portal 2 in "unofficial split screen co-op mode. Well split screen on a small computer monitor is a recipe for a headache especially when the game defies gravity as much as portal. However a minor bit of extra fiddling allowed us to drive two seperate screens from one PC. The Steam forums describes a complicated method of doing this that I couldn't get working so this simpler method which worked for me might be of use to someone. 1. First I followed the instructions in this post to get split screen multi-player working: http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1847904 A minor issue not mentioned is that you need to enable the console from the keyboard/mouse options menu I am using keyboard and one wired Xbox360 controller as suggested. Getting the controller to switch to channel 2 was tricky at first but as Chameleon8 mentions plugging it out and in again during loading works. The trick for me was to do the plug / p...

Lotro: The Forgotten Treasury

Throg joined a Kinship group for the Forgotten Treasury instance last night. It was an enjoyable change from the solo questing that the now level 55 dwarf champion has been mostly doing so far in Moria. Some members of the group had tried and failed to clear the Treasury before so we knew it would be challenging but we were lucky enough to have a well balanced group with Guardian, Minstrel, Lore Master, Hunter, Burglar and Champion (Throg). Throg (level 55) and the minstrel (53) were both below the 56ish level of the instance but the others were all higher so it more or less balanced out. [SPOILERs ahead] It is a well designed enjoyable instance set in a circular chamber with balcony around. As you enter, a boss absconds to a locked side chamber with his treasure leaving the fellowship to clear trash ringed around the balcony. Once the trash are cleared you have access to a puzzle which must be solved in order to open the locked door. Clearing the (including six mini bosses) also get...

Life is a Mind Bending Puzzle

Search This Blog