When I started this blog I knew next to nothing about blogs and blogging and for quite a while I just wrote and posted and continued knowing nothing. Eventually I started to study, look at other blogs, figured out how to add more features and discovered Freshly Pressed. In spite of the poor odds I instantly aspired to have a post on Freshly Pressed where supposedly 10 new posts are chosen each weekday. So I learned how to add pictures and links and tried to get past my lifelong inability to write a good title.
Then I started realizing that the odds of being picked are far worse than I realized. First, they don’t actually add new posts every weekday (sometimes the same ones are up for four or five days) and often when they do it’s less than ten. Among those few that are picked it seems there’s a bias in favor of photography blogs. Among blogs that are mainly text the content is usually sarcastic or snarky. And unless it’s the week before Christmas a spirituality post has about as much chance of being chosen as you have of being hit by an asteroid.
Okay, so I let go of expectations re: Freshly Pressed. I’m actually not all that disappointed as the ambition led me to lots of good things. I’m enjoying hunting for photos that suit my posts—and more and more creating shots myself. The links are easy to add and I like giving people sites for great teachers and interesting ideas. All that blog reading has been fun and I’ve “met” a lot of very nice people. The process led me to figure out Zemanta. Some of the links Zemanta has suggested have introduced me to new blogs I liked.
Many blessings have been born of that Freshly Pressed ambition so I’m glad I jumped into the quest to be chosen. I guess desire could have led to suffering here if I chose to be disappointed or bitter but I’m just grateful for what I learned and I think it made my blog better. I won’t change what I write to be more Freshly Pressed friendly so I bid the ambition farewell and continue writing my little pieces here in the Bluegrass.
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Comments on: "Letting go of Freshly Pressed" (18)
It’s really hard to get featured on the elusive Freshly Pressed. And whats up with the photography bias?? All I know is, the people on freshly pressed get a lot of traffic (you’d think that I have some money to gain from it huh
)
Note to self: Tag next post with Photography
Good idea! I guess reading words is too hard? But yes, it’s hard not to wish for those thousands of extra views…
Thanks for this insight, although knowing the content of my blog, I’ve never had hopes of being “Freshly Pressed.” I’m going to try Zamanta, though!
Hope you have fun with it — I loved having a way to make the blog more “spiffy” without actually knowing anything about the technical side…
Thank you for the pingback. I was very surprised and honored to be Freshly Pressed. I have no idea why I was picked. I wish you much success and happiness in 2012
I share your thoughts about Freshly Pressed. Spiritual or philosophical content is never featured, but that’s what I do and I know it matters to some people. I love what you write and am glad you are able to let go of Freshly Pressed. Happy New Year!
Thanks. And I’m so glad that there are a bunch of us who write about spiritual life without regard to Freshly Pressed!
This is a GREAT POST Leigh!! info, humor, and a great learning shared… and yes, going fr Zemanta but mostly grateful for the reminder about the nature of intention, desire, ambition and goals and outcome! and how Outcome will be what it is. What we DO with that is where the power lies! Best fr 2012.
Thank you. I didn’t realize that mentioning Zemanta would be so helpful (thought I was the last one to learn how to do everything to do with blogging!).
Leigh! I just had the honor of selecting 5 people under the auspices of the Liebster Blog Award. You are one of the five. thank you for all that you bring to the world of blogging! check out the post here: http://wellnesswithkate.wordpress.com/2012/01/03/and-the-liebster-blog-award-goes-to/
Insightful sentence, Leigh, “I guess desire could have led to suffering here if I chose to be disappointed or bitter but I’m just grateful for what I learned and I think it made my blog better.”
I appreciate how you utilize knowledge, not suffering, in your progress.
Thanks.
Thanks for such kind comments.
I’m probably not the typical person to post a comment here, since I write a sarcastic (yet insightful) humor blog, but I have always felt that many of my posts were FP worthy, only to be supremely dejected each day when I see some pictures of a golf ball featured instead.
I’ve pretty much given up on the idea and have returned to just focussing on writing good stuff that makes people laugh out loud.
Maybe one day, I’ll learn how to use a camera or bake a cookie, and who knows.
Maybe not typical but certainly welcome. You posts ARE funny and definitely FP worthy–although the photos and the cookies and especially the photos of cookies would obviously bump up your chances.
We are always moving into our greater good and your story is a perfect example of that! Thanks for sharing. I was feeling the same way about my blogging too!
Thank you.
Wa-hey! I thought of trying to aim for FP too … but the problem was I’m not the sweet, inspirational type of writer and I don’t do photography very well. So I guess I have to let go as well… and stick to hounding my friends to check out my blog!
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