Artful Dodger

The other day, I found myself in need of entertainment, and I wandered into Barnes and Noble to find a magazine and came out with this, Artful Blogging, which has to be one of the strangest magazines ever.

Let me start by saying this isn't really for people like me, hobbyists who blog with whatever they are working on, without expectation of compensation; people who don't spend hours and hours on the "look" and "brand" of their blog.

But should it really exist at all? I mean blogs are a staple of the virtual world. Why would you stick it into something as static as print form?

The photos in the magazine and most of the blogs are beautiful. And most of the people I read about were trained artists, And if they weren't trained photographers they
were people who spent a lot of time learning about and paying attention to their photos. Not like me--since my camera's battery "door" broke and won't stay shut, all my blog photos have come from my phone. You probably noticed but were too polite to say anything.

Photo from Death to Stock.

The bloggers all focused on different things--some were painters, others bakers; some were lifestyle bloggers and others interior decorators. That said, the blogs were all of a piece. I mean you could have dropped this photo of a succulent (especially if it were in a milk glass container) into all of the blogs and it would fit right in. They looked rather samey.Well, maybe if the shot weren't so crisp, but rather moodier and gauzy (Maybe that was an editorial decision to focus on a "look"?) .

The advice from the bloggers was similar--and maybe there's just not that much to say about writing. Words like "voice" and "authenticity" over and over. (How many months can you run the same story?) And it's not like you can't find the same advice...on the internet where blogs live!

This publication has been making it in the world for almost a decade (!) now. I'm pretty sure my buying it this time but never again isn't going to make or break them!

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I bring you this foray into the publishing world because I did not work on the Deruta biscornu at all, after all the drama of not being able to find the next project in my rotation. We had a busy weekend for a change. I think the dude is taking one of those "say yes" challenges so when I asked him to go to IKEA to look for a chair to replace the one the dog has chewed, he said yes. (He hates to browse even more than he hates to shop!) When I asked him to help me with yard work, he said yes. (He's a delicate flower from the north who wilts under our harsh Pennsylvania summers.) When I asked him to go to an open house with me, he said yes. (That browsing thing again.) Anyway, I didn't spend the weekend on the couch, so no stitching.

Today's not much better. I snuggled into my massaging spa chair for my monthly pedicure and took out Tis the Season only to realize that I didn't have a needle with me! Welp.

Onward!