A book about blogging? No, wait, a self-published book about blogging by a bunch of bloggers, many of whom are relatively unknown even in the blogosphere and none of whom are exactly rocking slots one through ten on the New York Times bestseller list? Hey, they all laughed at Christopher Columbus (and probably, at some point, at the guys who wrote about it), too.
Intrepid business blogger Jon Strande hatched a stupid, ingenious plan for explaining blogging to the general (offline) public: collect a hundred, that's right, 100, bloggers and see what they had to say about it. Seriously. At the outset, that was the sum total of the plan.
But then an amazing thing happened. In typical bloggy fashion, the bloggers he invited suggested others, which in turn not only suggested a great method of collecting 100 bloggers but a means of illustrating the connectivity, joy and power of blogging in the construction of the book itself.
Here's how it ended up working: Jon invited the first 25 bloggers. They, in turn, invited 25 more. Their 25 invited another 25, and that 25 invited a final 25, for a total of 100 bloggers**, linked by blogging, just like...blogging!
Now that my little bloggy tree is established (me > half mad (former) spinster > Michael Nobbs > Trevor Romain), the next step is to come up with my post, er, chapter. I'd like for it to somehow reference one or all of my people, and at least a few of the other bloggers in the book, like Evelyn and Hugh, whose acquaintanceship was either directly or indirectly responsible for my participation. But that's my problem.
The problem I'd love your help with is selecting a post, or even a style or category of post, since I'm kind of all over the map, for inclusion. "Why I Blog" is going to be a biggish topic in the book, but don't let that stop you. If anyone out there reading this blog with any regularity has a strong opinion on which post I've blogged so far would be my best choice for this book, by all means, let me know, either in the comments section or, if you're shy, via email. Don't hold back, either; even if you think it's an inappropriate post for inclusion in a generic blogging book, there may be some useful information in your preference. For instance, I'm probably not going to choose that perennial crowd-pleaser, the Mrs. Potato Head manifesto, but if it resonates with enough people, I will think seriously about incorporating the elements that I think make it successful, like the list format, the rapier-like wit and the wink-wink/nudge-nudge.
Thanks for playing, everyone! And remember, there are no stupid ideas. Even stupid ideas aren't stupid.
xxx c
*Words to live by from Callie - 1st grader, via Trevor Romain's blog
**Well, we're close, anyway. The math alone makes my head spin, so I'm leaving the collection process to John and other, sturdier souls.