Tag Archives: mel

June is Blog Posts by Number Month (Plus a BlogHop)

Posted on June 1, 2014 | 1 comment

It’s time for Ketchup With Us. Hosted by Mel and me on the 1st & 15th each month, our link-up gives you TWO ways to play: (A) Write about anything for 10 minutes OR (B) Link up an old post. Or both!

I’m using the link-up today to kick off a ~~half-baked plan~~ … ~~crazy scheme~~ … creative idea that Mel and I have for the month of June. A while back, I was brainstorming for the future of ODNT and playing around on Google. In particular, I was looking at articles that claimed to reveal the secrets behind what makes a blog post go viral. Because clearly, I have no idea about such things. (comical, exaggerated sigh)

One of the many articles I found was entitled “3 Things You MUST Do To Make Your Content Go Viral.” Having just passed over similar posts called “How to Improve Your Chances of Going Viral: ELEVEN Steps” and “THIRTY-TWO Ways To Make Your Blog Post Go Viral,” the idea of only three things to do sounded preferable so I clicked it.

And here’s what it said.

Ensure you have a number in your title.
Be yourself.
Collect data about your market and analyze, analyze, analyze.
Keep it short.*

*Good for you! You’re paying attention. There are actually four points here. That was the author’s ways of playing a little joke on his readers to make them think the article was shorter than it actually was (aka #4).

Anyway, in looking at these helpful points, only one really jumps off the page to me. Because I’m always myself (#2), I’m lazy and SO not going to do this (#3) and, sure, I can get a little verbose at times but I’m certainly not releasing any War-and-Peacian-length blog posts. (#4).

So let’s get back to #1. I’ve written a few “numbered posts” over the years. Examples:

And I love each and every one of them. Plus, lists are popular for a reason. They’re fun to write and often easier than a lengthy epistle. Which gave me an idea.

What if Mel and I each wrote a numbered post every day for the month of June? (I’m going to hate myself by about June 8th for this over ambitious idea.) The posts can be about anything … “Ten things I love about my tennis shoes,” “4 Reasons I Prefer Winter to Summer,” etc.

But WAIT! There’s more.

Mel and I want YOU to play, too.

Write a numbered post in June.
Link it back to us and tweet us about it.
On June 30th, we’ll include your blog link in our final posts listing everyone who played Blog Posts by Number.

Who knows? Maybe at least ONE of us will go viral. It’s worth a shot … right?

Our esteemed Ketchup With Us Featured Writer from last time is ...

Georgie Lee

BEHIND THE KETCHUP

Click here to read how this foolishness all began.

KEEP TRACK OF OUR STUPIDITY

Facebook (Michele /Mel)
Twitter (Michele/Mel)
Instagram (Michele/Mel)
Pinterest (Michele/Mel)

SPREAD THE WORD & POST OUR BUTTON … please!

olddognewtits.com

FINALLY … THE LINK-UP!

WE give you a (completely non sequitor) picture to inspire you to KetchupWithUs.

All YOU need to do is link something up.

And, for the love of the Dr. Scholl’s Gellin’ like Magellan Commercials, TELL YOUR FRIENDS!

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Tagged according to mags, blog hop, ketchup with us, link up, link up an old post, mel, prompt 43, two women wearing ketchup costumes, woman wearing a ketchup costume, write for ten minutes without stopping, writing prompt

Something I “got away with” as a kid (plus a BlogHop)

Posted on May 15, 2014 | 9 comments

It’s time for Ketchup With Us. Hosted by Mel and me on the 1st & 15th each month, the link-up gives you TWO ways to play: (A) Write about ANYTHING for 10 minutes straight without stopping OR (B) Link up an old post. I’m an indecisive pain in the ass so I always do both!

The year was 1980-something. And I was having a sleepover with one of my best friends named … wait, I shouldn’t actually call her by her real name, should I? Well, let’s just call her Bolleen. A few weeks earlier, Bolleen and I had decided we wanted to try to sneak out in the middle of the night after everyone had fallen asleep.

So we spent weeks planning our big escape. Should we use the front door? No, it was too close to my parents’ bedroom. The back door? The side door? No, both of their locks were sticky and we’d surely create too much of a ruckus and wake up my very light-sleeping dad.

Maybe a window. Yes, that’s it. We could sneak out through the big bay window in the breakfast room. But not the one on the left. One of its springs was broken and it made such a loud popping noise every time you opened it that we would’ve woken up my parents, the neighbors and possibly a few families in the next zip code if we attempted it.

Fortunately, the other window was whisper quiet when you slid it open. In the weeks prior, I checked it a few times during the day when no one was around. I just needed to remember to leave it unlocked before we went to bed that night so that the flipping of the lever wouldn’t wake anyone. Never mind the fact that I was leaving us all open to the wrath of any and all escaped axe murderers in the area.

I was on a mission.

Now back to the big night. Bolleen came over for our sleepover and we pretended to go to sleep and waited everyone out until sometime after midnight. Then, we quickly changed from our pajamas into the all-black ensembles we’d preselected for the occasion. Our only references back then were from goofball comedies like Laverne & Shirley.

Now fully clad in black (including dance tights), we snuck out of my room and down the stairs. That whole run was carpeted. No problem. Then, we rounded the corner at the bottom of the stairs from the foyer into the den. At that moment, we were about exactly ten feet from my sleeping father. If we could survive this part, we could survive any part of the night.

Done.

We crept through the carpeted den and into the breakfast room over to the unlocked-by-me-earlier-that-afternoon window and took turns stepping through it into the garden just outside. Then, we walked around the back of the house, through the side gate and into the driveway.

We’d done it. Surely, it was at least one in the morning by now. We were outside. All by ourselves.

And we were free!!!!!

(awkward pause) (blink, blink)

Of course, being kids, we hadn’t really thought about anything beyond that point. I don’t think either of us actually expected to get that far. So we both stared at each other for a moment or two. What we were going to do? Where were we going to go? We had no plans. We had no cars. We didn’t even have driver’s licenses.

We were only children after all. So we just sat in the driveway a few minutes to revel in the glory of our “rebellion,” then we climbed back in through the window, changed clothes and went to bed. And no one but Bolleen and me ever even knew about this little story. Until now.

Oops.

In response to MamaKat’s prompt asking for “something you got away with.”

Our esteemed Ketchup With Us Featured Writer from last time is …