Do You Feel Like You’re Blogging In An Evening Gown?

That’s how it feels when I write a post on WordPress. I need to put on an evening gown to write, unlike Blogger, which has a casual dress code.

English: Geraldine Farrar in evening gown

English: Geraldine Farrar in evening gown (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In September Ron, head writer of the fabulous blog Being Ron, wrote a post asking which blogging platform we preferred WordPress or Blogger?

I responded with this comment:

If I could do it all over again, I probably would have stuck with Blogger. For some reason, I had more fun when I had a Blogger blog. I think upgrading to a “professional” site has taken the fun out of blogging. It’s more formal. It’s like typing in an evening gown. I’d rather write in jeans…I miss Blogger. I upgraded my site for my writing platform. But, what’s the point of upgrading for your writing if you end up writing less?

I then told Ron that I would eventually write a post about the subject, citing him as my inspiration.

Well, I did write that post and called it Blogging In An Evening Gown. It was published yesterday at Huffington Post.

Thank you for starting the conversation, Ron.

Since upgrading my blog to WordPress, I’ve had to deal with many technical issues that were far above my pay grade. I’ve spent hours searching for answers online that I never found. Finally, I hired a tech-savvy avatar to fix all the problems that pissed off Google — who gave me a timeout.

For writers who blog, it’s difficult enough switching between writing in the sky and writing on earth. (It’s a different mindset.) Add tech issues to the mix and blogging/writing becomes toxic. That’s why I stopped messing with stuff in the dashboard I should have left alone. — I was ground zero. — I am my own worst enemy in the sky and on earth.

Shortly after being released by the CDC (Centers for Disease Control), I learned how to achieve a fragile balance between blogging and writing. The result: I blog less but write more. It was the only way I could remain almost sane.

Thank you for reading the words of a somewhat sane madwoman.

I hope you’ll stop by Huffington Post and read my post that was inspired by Ron. And please stop by Ron’s place for some great stories and photos.

 

24 Comments Do You Feel Like You’re Blogging In An Evening Gown?

  1. Ron

    Lauren, I just stopped back after reading your post on Huff. Brilliant! As I’ve shared with you before in my comments, I freaking love the your style of writing!

    As you know, I’ve had blogs on both WordPress and Blogger, and I have to agree with you that Blogger is much simpler and less formal. Blogger has come a long way since I started back in 2006 and has added a lot more features, making it more professional. Although, I think it could still use so much more work when it comes to its native commenting system because hands down, WordPress is waaaaaaay better. But the freedom that Blogger gives you in many ways, is what keeps me there. The only time I would move back over to WordPress would be when and if I should ever decide to self-host.

    Again, brilliant post on Huff!

    X

    P.S thank you for the shout out.

    Reply
    1. Lauren

      Thank you so much, Ron.

      Blogger has come a long way. Even though I’ve can navigate my way around the dashboard and stay out of trouble these days, Blogger is more intuitive and offers more advantages as far as using Google products is concerned. As soon as I upgraded to WordPress, I lost Google Friend Connect. I also lost a bunch of Disqus comments when I upgraded.

      Reply
  2. rob paxton

    Boy, there’s a lot of truth to what’s being said. I’ve used WP, and I really liked it but there were way too many choices for this kid, and I was doing a lot of admin stuff that was driving me nuts. Maybe I should have stuck with it, but I’ve been doing my own web site for so long, it just felt strange to do it with WP. I also like Blogger, it’s functional, and a good place to start. Now, if the truth was known, most of us probably do our blogging in our underwear.

    Reply
    1. Lauren

      Hah! You’re probably right, Rob. Probably the more formally dressed bloggers are wearing bathrobes. : )

      There are way too many choices for “this kid,” too. And too many ways to screw things up. I’m dangerous around here.

      Thanks for stopping by and commenting. -Lauren

      Reply
  3. Brenda

    First, both posts are fabulous. I prefer WP to Blogger. I do agree the later is jeans and a white Haynes Tee… still, I like the options. Like you, I don’t mess with most of the stuff on offer, although if I did I’m sure it would be beneficial. I can’t though.. working mother, writer, blogger, self-marketing, and chef, cfo… only so much time. I have to go don my evening dress to respond to comments. 🙂

    Reply
    1. Lauren

      Thanks so much, Brenda.

      You wear a lot hats like I do, though CFO isn’t one of them.

      Speaking of hats…I didn’t put on my Tiara tonight to respond to your comment. The reflection of the diamonds on the screen were killing my eyes.

      Reply
  4. Katherine

    So proud of your published writing. WAY WAY WAY cool!!!!! You know what bugs me about WordPress? (the only thing I have used) You get the updates and something almost always “breaks” on your blog. Usually it is some kind of plug-in, which is not the fault of WordPress… but something ALWAYS happens when I upgrade.

    Reply
  5. Medical Negligence

    My husband and I are both website designers/developers; though all of our sites are WordPress, we recently started using Blogger. Surprisingly, the simplicity truly makes it more fun and less pressuring to blog. In WordPress, we tend to have loads of distractions wanting to make the websites more and more pretty and creative yet losing time in writing. Very true Lauren…

    Reply

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