Madam Mayo: blogging

Showing posts with label blogging. Show all posts

Monday, March 27, 2017

Thank You, Dear Readers: On the Occasion of Madam Mayo Blog's Eleventh Anniversary

Images courtesy of Pulp-o-Mizer

Methuselah of Blogdom here. Why am I still blogging? I am heartened to say, dear readers, that I know you're there, more of you each year, and I appreciate your visits and your comments (as always, I welcome comments via email.) As for the granular whys and wherefores of this blog, I wouldn't say much that I didn't say last year, on its tenth anniversary, which echoed much of what I had to say on its eighth anniversary. The latter link goes to my talk for the 2014 AWP Conference panel on "Homesteading on the Digital Frontier: Writer's Blogs." To quote from that:

"Madam Mayo" is not so much my so-called "platform," but rather, a net that catches certain special fish— the readers who care about the things I care to write about.

As ever, I aim to provide posts on a variety of topics that might be, in turn, of use and/or interest for my writing workshop students, and/or for Mexicophiles, and/or for Far West Texasphiles (is that a word?), adventurous readers, and myself.

One of my many motivations for blogging is to iron out my own thoughts, especially on subjects that tend to come up in my correspondence with other writers and in my writing workshops, for example:

(What do you mean, "reading as a writer"?)
One Simple Yet Powerful Practice in Reading as a Writer

(How do you keep up with email?)
Email Ninjerie in the Theater of Space-Time

(Where do you find the time to write?)
Thirty Deadly-Effective Ways to Free Up Bits, Drips &

Gimungously Vast Swaths of Time for Writing

(What do you think about social media?)

Adios Facebook!

Six Reasons Why I Deactivated My Account

You will also find posts on my work in-progress and anything relevant to it (at present, a book about Far West Texas):

A Visit to El Paso's "The Equestrian"

Book review:

Pekka Hamalainen's The Comanche Empire

The Strangely Beautiful Sierra Madera Astrobleme

(What's an Astrobleme?)

Peyote and the Perfect You

Top 13 Trailers for Movies with with Extra-Astral Texiness

The Harrowingly Romantic Adventure of Trade with Mexico

in the Pre-pre-pre-NAFA Era

Notes on Artist Xavier González (1898-1993)

Once in a zera-striped-chartreuse moon of Pluto I touch on nonwriterly topics:

12 Tips for Summer Day Hiking in the Desert

(How to Stay Cool, Avoid Actinic Keratosis, Blood, and Killer Bees)

Yet one more reason to check in with this blog is for announcements about my publications and interviews:

Catamaran and Tiferet:

T wo Very Fine Independent Literary Journals

Biographers International Interview:

Strange Spark of the Mexican Revolution

New Thinking Allowed Interview by Jeffrey Mishlove
and a Review by Michael Tymn

Ax of Apocalypse: Strieber and Kripal's Super Natural

To share my talks and podcasts:

For the 2016 Women Writing the West Conference:

On Seeing as an Artist or, Five Steps to a Journey to Einfuhlung

For the American Literary Translators Association Conference:

Translating Across the Border

> More talks here.

> All Marfa Mondays Podcasts here.

> All podcasts here.

And, something I especially relish, to learn about and celebrate the work of other writers:

Ellen Cassedy and Yermiyahu Ahron Taub on Translating
Blume Lempel's Oedipus in Brooklyn from the Yiddish

Shelley Armitage on Walking the Llano: A Texas Memoir of Place

> More interviews here.

P.S. For those of you who are writers / bloggers, herewith the top five things I would have done differently back in 2006 had I known what I know now:
1. Use WordPress
2. Post once per week, something verily crunchy, otherwise take a vacation;
3. Post interviews with other writers more often;
4. Maybe tweet the link to a post once or twice; otherwise do not waste time with social media;
5. When possible and when there is substantive content, upload the bulk of that content to the webpage, not the blog itself (because of those scraper sites).

(Your comments are especially welcome on this subject. Write to me here.)

P.P.S. Yep, one of these days I will move the whole enchilada over to WordPress. It's still on my to-do list... [UPDATE JANUARY 2019: This blog is now on self-hosted WordPress at www.madam-mayo.com]

> Your comments are always welcome. Write to me here.

Getting Started with Blogs and Websites

Top 10+ Books Read 2016

What the Muse Sent Me About the Tenth Muse, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz

Monday, April 11, 2016

With a Ker-thunking Clash of Gamelan Puggy Hooha: On 10 (TEN!) Years of Blogging

[Newspaper clipping courtesy of www.fodey.com]

The 10 year anniversary of this blog, long looming on the horizon, has arrived with a ker-thunking clash of gamelan hooha. At least in my own mind! And whether you've been with me this long or surfed in a split-second ago, my thanks to you, dear reader.

A shout-out to a few of my blogging friends who've been at this along with me lo these many (or almost these many) years-- you're on my blog roll and in my heart. (I'm waving at you especially, E. Ethelbert Miller and Leslie Pietrzyk.)

Alas, most of the blogs that started back when have gone silent. What has kept me motivated for 10 years? To get a sense of what it's all about, draw some conclusions, and look to the future, in recent weeks I've been posting year-by-year lists of top original-to-this-blog content. (2015; 2014; 2013; 2012; 2011; 2010; 2009; 2008; 2007; and 2006.) And now, at last, I've arrived at five conclusions and aims going forward.

Five Conclusions and Aims for 2016 & Beyond

1. I started "Madam Mayo" blog in 2006 primarily to serve as a platform to announce and link to my work available in-print or elsewhere on the web. Such frankness may not sound too tewwibly chahming, I know. It's sort of like waving a wand over the top hat, then snatching away the silk handkerchief to reveal... a bean burrito. Not that my writing isn't yummy, if I do say so myself! But clearly, it would behoove me to jazz up ye olde blog up with, say, more pugs. Oh! Here's a GIF of Uliberto Quetzalpugtl (b. 2014). I asked him if he wanted a bean burrito.

This still seems like a fine idea, I mean, both using my blog to point to my books and other writing available elsewhere, and to bring on the pugs.

Katherine Dunn says she is "not sure pugs are real dogs, they are mystical little beasts." Here, here. And here's a video of my mystical little beasts Uliberto Quetzalpugtl and his little sister Washingtoniana Quetzalpugalotl:

And here are some of my books, all of which have to do with Mexico, two of which have a lot brown in their covers, and all which do happen to mention Mexican cuisine (but not bean burritos):

(P.S. If you're new to this blog and wondering why my books are all about Mexico, click here for the "secrets and surprises".)

Seriously, though, over the years I have come to see this blog as more than a mere platform. As I wrote on the eighth anniversary of this blog, I think of "Madam Mayo" not so much as a "platform" but as "a net that catches certain special fish-- the readers who care about the things I care to write about."

2. Over the past decade the "top list-worthy" posts for this blog were the ones I wrote as exercises in clarifying my own thinking. Sometimes I was working out ideas that would appear in my books (as with this book review and this book review and this mash-up on Francisco Madero and Dr. Krumm-Heller); other times such posts were for my workshop students or just for myself.

My personal favorite is this post. I reread it now and again, and try to take my own advice.

So: I aim to continue blogging to clarify my own thinking... and to take my own advice. Hence, herewith another pug GIF! This one is of my writing assistant / aka mystical little beast Picadou (2000-2014) and her doting godfather, Mexican actor and James Dean-channeler Fernando Catorri.

3. Several of the posts that made it into my top annual lists were written in a spirit of helpfulness and also, I confess, to save time with email. For example, after three writer friends asked me how I made my Kindles, I posted this; and after three asked me about editing their manuscript, I posted this and this; after three asked me about how to format a book I posted this. Yep, three's the charm.

The thing is, when three people ask me the same question, I can probably expect more of the same, and when my best answer is a more than a little bit lengthy, opinionated, and technical, the easiest thing for all concerned is for me to send my correspondent the link to my blog post. And of course I am delighted if any one else finds said posts of use and/or interest. Like I said, they were written in a spirit of helpfulness.

Since I've already tackled just about every question I can about writing and publishing, I aim to write more travel articles because the one question I keep getting is, what is there to see and do in Mexico City? (I do wish more people would ask me about Far West Texas.)

(Why don't I publish more often in magazines and newspapers such as LA Times and WSJ as in days of yore? That's another post.)

4. Over the past decade I started up then phased out guest-blogs that followed what I called my super-simple "5 link format." A chubasco of lotus jpegs upon y'all, dear fabulously talented guest-bloggers! (See the archive of "Madam Mayo" guest-blogs here). But alas, it was too much trouble to seek them out, then edit and format them, so, sorry, dear reader, you will just have to settle for guest-appearances by my mystical little beasts. Here is Uliberto Quetzalpugtl demonstrating the Orphic Journey:

But seriously, albeit not via guest-blog posts, I aim to continue seeking out and featuring other writers whose work I admire. Over the past couple of years, and especially since 2014, I started running infrequent Q & As such as this one with historian Carolina Castillo Crimm and this one with historian Paul Cool and this one with writer and editor Michele Orwin. These are far more work to prepare, yet far more satisfying for me, for the other writer, and for my readers (so I am told). It's hard to say how often I'll feel comfortable doing these Q & As, but my guess is, probably every other month or so.

(Yes, I am still running my Conversations with Other Writers podcast, but it's an unholy amount of work to edit audio, so for now I plan to post those on a more or less one-podcast-a-year basis.)

5. Another type of post I started up and then phased out was what I call "cyberflanerie." In 2016 I'll let other blogs, such as Swiss Miss, Brain Pickings, and Marginal Revolution natter around with that sort of browsing and curating, fascinating fun as that is. My aim for 2016 is to fry the monster.

Five Things You Can Expect to Stay the Same at "Madam Mayo" in 2016

1. Look for posts every Monday, except when not, and oftentimes more often.
2. Your emailed comments are ever and always welcome. But no, I won't be publishing comments on the blog itself.
3. Look for occasional Q & As, book reviews and, at year-end, my top 10+ books read list.
4. Look for more posts about Texas, Far West Texas, and literary travel writing-- may this be the year I finish the draft of the book.
5. My philosophy of blogging, that it is not so much a platform (although, yeah, it is) but "a kind of net, to catch the readers who care about what I care to write about" remains essentially unchanged from a couple of years ago. See Writers' Blogs (and My Blog Blog): Eight Conclusions After 8 years of Blogging, my talk for a panel on writers blogs at the 2014 Associated Writers Conference.

And finally, know that you have my appreciation, dear reader.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Blogfully Pro-Blog

Comment du jour by Seth Godin re: blogs.

Saturday, April 26, 2008

This Blog is Not a Log or a Diary of My Life; Neither is it Forum or a Community Bulletin Board

It is a filter. You want to know what blogs to read? Come see what I recommend here and here and here. Want to find out about some extraordinary books? Try this 1,000-year-old apparently true adventure that almost defies belief and Hypnerotomachia Poliphili and all 10 of these. And how about this mind-blowing (literally) video, this Icelandic movie and this sleep-inducing CD and the magic Baby Muse... I blog about my books, events and workshops (yeah, I'm flogging) but also, generally, my interests, my tastes, what I want to share (e.g., "All Hail E.T., Minister of Information!") and celebrate (e.g., Mexico's beloved English eccentric's masterwork, "Las Pozas"). If you don't like it, fine, there is an ocean of blogs out there, wade in. Why not start your own?

Excerpted from "On the Occasion of Madam Mayo's 2nd Anniversary: 5 Lessons Learned (So Far) About Blogging"

--->Click here to return to Madam Mayo's home page.

Thursday, April 03, 2008

Alice's Tulip Analogy

The other day I described this blog as not a diary or log, not a community bulletin board, but a filter. I've also said many times that a blog doesn't have to be this or that; it can be whatever the blogger wants it to be--- a diary, a newsletter, a column, a recipe book, a whole novel.... I recently met with fellow blogger Alice of Alice and Pabu, who posts a little something a couple of times a week in the channeled "voice" of her Tibetan spaniel, Pabu. She's not trying to sell anything--- there's no book, no DVD, etc.--- she does it, as she puts it, as one would plant tulips in the front yard.

"You hope other people enjoy them. But they might walk by without noticing. Their dog might pee on them. They might steal them. But most people are happy that you've planted tulips. Anyway, like I said, you do it for yourself."

That's Alice's photo of me with my pug, Picadou, admiring some early spring tulips.

Monday, March 31, 2008

On the Occasion of "Madam Mayo's" 2nd Anniversary: Five Lessons Learned About Blogging (So Far)

So, it's the end of March; I've been blogging steadily for two years. Why did I begin? For a bit of an adventure, and to promote my then-hot-off-the-presses anthology of 24 Mexican writers, Mexico: A Traveler's Literary Companion. So, like most literary bloggers, I waded in somewhat naively and self-servingly (if promoting an anthology of 24 Mexican writers can be called self-serving... humph... no, I think not. Would somebody please award me the Aztec Eagle now?) Here are the five lessons learned--- thus far:

#1.Blogging isn't necessarily "blogging"
By which I mean, a lot of people, especially literary types my age and older, have set ideas about what blogs and the so-called "blogging culture" are--- and they are missing the whole point. It's a literary genre, kindasorta, but it's also a delivery system, the whole Web 2.0 social networking technology-phenomenon--- in sum, we do not yet have the precise vocabulary to describe this. I've told writer friends who resist blogging (with that inevitable oh-so-subtle curl-of-the-lip), if you have a newsletter--- and many do nowadays, as adjuncts to their websites--- you already are "blogging." Just call your newsletter a blog. And if you have some resistance to that, well, then, call your blog a "newsletter." Call it a cupcake, whydoncha! Apropos of which: "To Blog or Not to Blog, That is Not the Question".

#2. Good blogging is more than flogging.
I don't read "flog blogs"--- the thud of "me, me, mine," is deadly. The best blogs offer quality writing and quality information--- however quirky a combination (e.g., Phronesisaical's politics, philosophy, international affairs & fruit) or specialized (e.g., Seth Godin's Blog on marketing). (That said, um... why take ads when I can advertise my own books? Yes indeed, look over to right side of this screen for all relevant links.)

#3. My blog is not a log or diary of my life; neither is it a forum or a community bulletin board. It's a filter.
You want to know what blogs to read? Come see what I recommend here and here and here. Want to find out about some extraordinary books? Try this 1,000-year-old apparently true adventure that almost defies belief and Hypnerotomachia Poliphili and all 10 of these. And how about this mind-blowing (literally) video, this Icelandic movie and this sleep-inducing CD and the magic Baby Muse... I blog about my books, events and workshops (yeah, I'm flogging) but also, generally, my interests, my tastes, what I want to share (e.g., "All Hail E.T., Minister of Information!") and celebrate (e.g., Mexico's beloved English eccentric's masterwork, "Las Pozas"). If you don't like it, fine, there is an ocean of blogs out there, wade in. Why not start your own?

#4. Blogging (and balancing blogging with my other writing, and the ever-roaring cascade of e-mails, etc, etc.) requires increasingly advanced time-management skills.
As I noted in my recent post, Time to Blog & Read Blogs & Everything Else Everywhereallthetime, apropos of writers' blogs, "...it seems to me that, as artists--- artists who live in this world of unimaginable quantities of information 24/ 7--- we need to develop a set of skills we never knew we needed." I've learned a lot about organization and productivity (two of my gurus are Regina Leeds and David Allen) but I know I have yet to learn more than I can probably imagine--- and this would be true whether I were blogging or not. That said, I rarely watch television or use a cell phone, and I've moved this blog to a more regular (if flexible) schedule: posts on Mondays and in-between more often than not; guest-bloggers generally on Wednesdays.

#5. Lists are good. Links are even better. Lists of links, yay!
I love my guest-bloggers. Check 'em out. (Coming up in the next weeks: Leslie Pietrzyk, Graham Mackintosh, Daniel Olivas, and more...) Like I said, it' all about Web 2.0. More anon.

--->For the archive of Madam Mayo's posts on blogging, click here.