Good morning everyone. Did you know that on Project-gc there is a badge for the average amount of words used when writing a found log? 'The Author' badge can be found in the BadgeGen section. The lowest total for the Bronze badge is an average of 30 words. Highest badge is Diamond for an average of 100 words per found log. That makes for long logs. My average is 48. What is your average?
Last week, I was a co-guest blogger for the Geocache Talk monthly blog. This is the second time that I have been featured on this forum. For those that are not familiar with Geocache Talk, it is a weekly podcast show, usually airs on Sunday, around 8pm Central time. It is hosted by Gary (gslink) and Jesse (Memfis Mafia). Every week it's a different topic with different guests and the show runs for about 90 minutes. If you miss the actual show, you can catch the replay on YouTube. They also have a 'network' of other hosts that will appear from time to time on the show. They include vloggers Geoff (Cache the Line) Zak (SoDakZak) and Kaity (Geocaching Kaity) as well as blogger Angie (Jangie).
Aside from doing her own blog which comes out every Thursday https://geocachingjangie.com/, Angie also looks after the Geocache Talk blog. For that blog, the goal is to have regular geocachers send in their stories of geocaching adventures or anything that's geocaching related. You don't have to be a regular blogger. You can send your story by e-mail to Angie, and together, a blog will be created for everyone to read. The Geocache Talk blog comes out once per month, and usually on the first Friday of the month.
My first time appearing on the Geocache Talk blog was in May, 2018 when I gave my perspective of the Planetary Pursuit challenge that Geocaching HQ had run during the late Winter, early Spring of 2018. https://geocachetalk.com/a-canadians-planetary-pursuit-geocacher-ken/ This time around, it was sort of a last minute idea that Angie and myself pulled together and managed to create a joint blog about blogging. This is sort of a look behind the scenes of how that blog came to be, plus my perspective on blogging.
The seed for the idea actually came from a conversation that I had with Angie one day. Another one of her projects can be found on FB; @TheGeocachingGuild. It is a page for bloggers to share their work and be seen by a larger audience. I help her out by trying to find blogs to be featured each and every day along with the regulars that we follow. Since we both attended the North Dakota Camping and Caching event, I thought it would be a neat idea to do a single blog about that event, but with both of our perspectives. A joint blog. Since both of our blogs about the event had been published, I could pull and edit information from both blogs to create the adventures of two bloggers at the same event. Angie did mention that there was a lack of submissions for the August Geocache Talk blog. Our joint blog could be the August feature. Angie came up with a better idea. A blog about two bloggers and how they go about creating their stories. Angie started off by writing her piece and e-mailing it to me so I can add my portion. Now we have a shared file that we can both edit as we needed to (I think I did more editing as I'm bad for constantly proof reading and tweaking what I already wrote). This was on a Monday, with the publishing date scheduled for that Friday. Over the course of the few days that we had, along with everything else going on in our respective lives, including writing our own personal blogs (I was composing my blog about Earthcaches at the same time) we managed to pull a story together and be ready for that Friday morning. If you haven't seen the final product yet, you can read it here https://geocachetalk.com/geo-bloggers-on-geocaching-blogs-geocacher-ken-jangie/
As mentioned, the basis behind the blog was how two people can compose a story about the same thing, and yet have two different stories, two different perspectives and two different ways of getting the same story across to the audience. The same can be said for vloggers as well. One can focus on the adventure of getting to and finding the geocache, one can focus on the cache owner and the featured cache, and another can focus on the history of the cache and the area it can be found in. Same geocache, different perspectives. As for myself, I like to tell my stories as if you the audience is sitting with me at an event. I'm telling my story just as I would be saying it verbally, minus the typing mistakes LOL. What also helps is the addition of pictures. How I include the pictures depends on the story I wish to tell. For example, last week's blog was about Earthcaches. I gave my view and experiences with that. I pulled a few pictures from Earthcaches that I have found and included them to enhance the story. For the Camping and Caching event blogs, I put the pictures up first and spun my story around the pictures as they served as the highlights. It kept the story focused on that instead of going off on some minor details that would have only lengthened the blog. For this blog, I'm just pulling random pictures from my phone to add a little something extra to the blog instead of having it all words. I like pictures. Majority of the pictures on my phone are geocaching related.
My blogs aren't always about some adventure I've been on, recently or a few years ago. Sometimes I like to discuss a particular topic and give my point of view. When I do topics, like Earthcaches or powertrails, I know not everyone will agree with my perspective. That's ok. A good conversation consists of having more than one point of view and the ability to listen to and appreciate the point of view that differs from yours. That's why I like listening to other geocacher's adventures. I can also add a more personal touch and mention something that I did that wasn't geocaching. Finding that good burger from a stand alone burger joint, seeing a tribute band or attending a concert. Other bloggers do this as well. You get a more personal connection to the writer and their everyday life. It's what they're feeling and what is important to them to share.
I had contemplated doing a video at first. After asking around and finding out what is all involved to make a vlog, I decided that writing is more my speed. With vlogging, you need the video equipment and the editing software. The first thing you need to be is comfortable in front of the camera. I am not. I have experimented with Periscope but I didn't like the way I came across. You also need fresh material all the time. I've always liked writing and all I needed was a platform to host a blog page. With writing, I can go back in time and reflect on an adventure that I had four years ago. I can also dissect several adventures into a single common denominator, such as the animals I have encountered or Earthcaches that I have found.
Last week, I was a co-guest blogger for the Geocache Talk monthly blog. This is the second time that I have been featured on this forum. For those that are not familiar with Geocache Talk, it is a weekly podcast show, usually airs on Sunday, around 8pm Central time. It is hosted by Gary (gslink) and Jesse (Memfis Mafia). Every week it's a different topic with different guests and the show runs for about 90 minutes. If you miss the actual show, you can catch the replay on YouTube. They also have a 'network' of other hosts that will appear from time to time on the show. They include vloggers Geoff (Cache the Line) Zak (SoDakZak) and Kaity (Geocaching Kaity) as well as blogger Angie (Jangie).
Aside from doing her own blog which comes out every Thursday https://geocachingjangie.com/, Angie also looks after the Geocache Talk blog. For that blog, the goal is to have regular geocachers send in their stories of geocaching adventures or anything that's geocaching related. You don't have to be a regular blogger. You can send your story by e-mail to Angie, and together, a blog will be created for everyone to read. The Geocache Talk blog comes out once per month, and usually on the first Friday of the month.
My first time appearing on the Geocache Talk blog was in May, 2018 when I gave my perspective of the Planetary Pursuit challenge that Geocaching HQ had run during the late Winter, early Spring of 2018. https://geocachetalk.com/a-canadians-planetary-pursuit-geocacher-ken/ This time around, it was sort of a last minute idea that Angie and myself pulled together and managed to create a joint blog about blogging. This is sort of a look behind the scenes of how that blog came to be, plus my perspective on blogging.
The seed for the idea actually came from a conversation that I had with Angie one day. Another one of her projects can be found on FB; @TheGeocachingGuild. It is a page for bloggers to share their work and be seen by a larger audience. I help her out by trying to find blogs to be featured each and every day along with the regulars that we follow. Since we both attended the North Dakota Camping and Caching event, I thought it would be a neat idea to do a single blog about that event, but with both of our perspectives. A joint blog. Since both of our blogs about the event had been published, I could pull and edit information from both blogs to create the adventures of two bloggers at the same event. Angie did mention that there was a lack of submissions for the August Geocache Talk blog. Our joint blog could be the August feature. Angie came up with a better idea. A blog about two bloggers and how they go about creating their stories. Angie started off by writing her piece and e-mailing it to me so I can add my portion. Now we have a shared file that we can both edit as we needed to (I think I did more editing as I'm bad for constantly proof reading and tweaking what I already wrote). This was on a Monday, with the publishing date scheduled for that Friday. Over the course of the few days that we had, along with everything else going on in our respective lives, including writing our own personal blogs (I was composing my blog about Earthcaches at the same time) we managed to pull a story together and be ready for that Friday morning. If you haven't seen the final product yet, you can read it here https://geocachetalk.com/geo-bloggers-on-geocaching-blogs-geocacher-ken-jangie/
(some people lose their heads over geocaching)
As mentioned, the basis behind the blog was how two people can compose a story about the same thing, and yet have two different stories, two different perspectives and two different ways of getting the same story across to the audience. The same can be said for vloggers as well. One can focus on the adventure of getting to and finding the geocache, one can focus on the cache owner and the featured cache, and another can focus on the history of the cache and the area it can be found in. Same geocache, different perspectives. As for myself, I like to tell my stories as if you the audience is sitting with me at an event. I'm telling my story just as I would be saying it verbally, minus the typing mistakes LOL. What also helps is the addition of pictures. How I include the pictures depends on the story I wish to tell. For example, last week's blog was about Earthcaches. I gave my view and experiences with that. I pulled a few pictures from Earthcaches that I have found and included them to enhance the story. For the Camping and Caching event blogs, I put the pictures up first and spun my story around the pictures as they served as the highlights. It kept the story focused on that instead of going off on some minor details that would have only lengthened the blog. For this blog, I'm just pulling random pictures from my phone to add a little something extra to the blog instead of having it all words. I like pictures. Majority of the pictures on my phone are geocaching related.
(I have found a few golf balls and even a puck that's been converted into geocaches. I don't think I found a baseball yet)
My blogs aren't always about some adventure I've been on, recently or a few years ago. Sometimes I like to discuss a particular topic and give my point of view. When I do topics, like Earthcaches or powertrails, I know not everyone will agree with my perspective. That's ok. A good conversation consists of having more than one point of view and the ability to listen to and appreciate the point of view that differs from yours. That's why I like listening to other geocacher's adventures. I can also add a more personal touch and mention something that I did that wasn't geocaching. Finding that good burger from a stand alone burger joint, seeing a tribute band or attending a concert. Other bloggers do this as well. You get a more personal connection to the writer and their everyday life. It's what they're feeling and what is important to them to share.
(A bacon cheeseburger, fries and a root beer. The perfect geocaching meal from a burger place)
I had contemplated doing a video at first. After asking around and finding out what is all involved to make a vlog, I decided that writing is more my speed. With vlogging, you need the video equipment and the editing software. The first thing you need to be is comfortable in front of the camera. I am not. I have experimented with Periscope but I didn't like the way I came across. You also need fresh material all the time. I've always liked writing and all I needed was a platform to host a blog page. With writing, I can go back in time and reflect on an adventure that I had four years ago. I can also dissect several adventures into a single common denominator, such as the animals I have encountered or Earthcaches that I have found.
(I wonder if this frog knows where the geocache is hidden)
In my opinion, anyone can be a blogger. You just need time to sit in front of a computer and tell your story. There is no right or wrong way to tell it. It's your story and you tell it the way you want it to be told. Plain and simple. The only publishing schedule is the one you make for yourself. I've always done a weekly schedule to maintain a regular audience. You can publish every other week, once a month, or simply when you have the time and you have something to share. It's up to you. With that said, give it a try by sending an e-mail to Angie and be a guest blogger on Geocache Talk. It's the best way to dip your toe into the blogging waters. She can be reached at JangieGoWest@gmail.com
August challenge: I haven't really thought about a challenge for myself until just now. I can try to reach my 100th Letterbox find. I'm only 26 away. Sounds challenging, but there's a Letterbox powertrail just outside of the city that can easily meet that challenge. I just need the time to get there and do it. I also need 43 more finds to reach 5,700 and 44 more finds for August to bring that total up to 700. I have found 12 from that powertrail so far (that helped boost my July total), but I think there's still enough there to find to complete all three challenges. We shall see.
That's it for this week. Until next time, enjoy life, hug your loved ones, be safe, be happy and have fun.
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