Help Me Cross Off a Bucket List Item . . .

. . . by helping my blog reach 10,000 page views this month! I only have 1,000 to go. If what I write resonates with you or encourages you, please share it with your friends and family. I am very careful about who I share it with myself because, for job search reasons, I want to remain anonymous as I write, but if anybody else wants to share it, that's great!

Also, please feel free to email me at the address listed on the right side of this page: comments, critique, etc. If you want to do a guest post or have me do a guest post for you, please email me and let me know.

New to my blog? Never been on my blog at all until this moment?

You might like some of these posts:

Reflections on Grace

Is the Gospel Offensive?

I'm Tired of Hearing that True Love Waits

Validation Addiction

The Great Chick-Fil-A Boycott

Just One Touch

You can also find some of my thoughts on social justice and the necessity of compassion for Christians, the biggest myths about relationships, social media, the role of desire in the Christian life, unorthodox but effective prayer, and politics and faith, as well as my mission statement for life and a piece on my favorite Bible verse of all time.

Thank you to all of my readers! You are what makes writing worthwhile.

Blog to Check Out . . .

And in other news . . . I hope you all will take a minute to check out my sister's new blog. It's brand-new so there's not a lot of content yet, but I know she would love to get some readers right away as she's trying to minister to women in the Richmond community and beyond. Thanks!

New to My Blog?

Readers, I know that some of you have been reading this blog from the beginning, while others of you may have just stumbled across it (purposely or accidentally) really recently. If you're a new reader and are trying to get a sense of what type of posts I try to write regularly, feel free to check out these:

• When Profit Becomes Loss
• On Disagreement, Tolerance, and Love
• Waiting for Answers
• What Do You Want Me to Do for You?
• Finding God in Our Brokenness
• Is the Gospel Offensive?
• Validation Addiction
• Biggest Relationship Myths
• What Do Politics Have to Do with Faith?
• Worship High

"I Can't Live Without Finding God"

So when I look at the statistics of how many page views I am getting on my blog, and what countries those viewers are coming from, I can also see what kinds of Google searches led people directly to my blog. Usually the search terms are just obvious, like the title of this blog or something about lawyers in this state and so on. But every once in awhile, someone stumbles across my blog by using some really unusual search terms.

Here's what it was a week or two ago: "I can't live without finding God." Someone, somewhere, put this search into Google and then found my blog as a result. I don't know who they are or where they are or what exactly they were hoping to find that day. But knowing that someone with such a desperate hunger for God, someone I almost certainly don't even know, is reading words I've written? That reminded me of what a responsibility I have to write in a way that glorifies God and points people to His grace.

Those of us who are Christians all have a tremendous responsibility to write and live and work and love in a way that points people to the hope we have in Christ. And honestly, this can be more important than ever when, via the Internet, people can peruse our lives in ways never imagined possible even 20 years ago.

This experience reminded me that I don't know everyone who reads this blog, or who looks at my Facebook page, or who observes the way I conduct myself in everyday life. For that matter, I interact with people every day that I don't know--whether it's the person who helps me at the drive-through or who swipes my student ID card at the gym or the random 1L I pass in the hallway or, indeed, the strangers who read my blog! We all have these interactions--are they positive? Do our lives exude the joy and compassion of Christ, even to people that we don't know? Would people be closer to understanding the grace of God as a result of their interaction with us?

Just some food for thought--and a reminder that the way we live DOES matter, even if we think no one is really looking.

What Not to Do to Make Your Blog Great

I'm noticing a trend on this blog: I tend to write about things I'm not really an expert in. Like dating. And figuring out your career. So today I'm going to write about another topic that I really can't call myself an expert in: blogging! I just started this blog this year and I know I'm nowhere near an expert. But it's something I enjoy experimenting with and I've learned a lot of new things along the way.

Lots of bloggers produce those lists of "things you should do to build a better blog," and they usually boil down to consistently writing high-quality content that people will not only want to read, but will also feel compelled to share. While that's good to know, that's easier said than done, isn't it? Blogging is hard work. And it can be hard to build a new blog from the ground up--I think some new bloggers get totally discouraged because they think if they were already well-known before they started blogging, they would have had 594, 657 page views by now! But a lot of us have no choice but to blog anonymously (for me, it's because right now I've decided my writing needs to be kept separate from my law career), and so we have to have our writing speak for itself since most people don't know the person behind the keyboard.

That said, sometimes it's easier to know what NOT to do than to have a checklist to follow when starting up a new blog. So without further ado, here's my list of what not to do to make your blog fantastic:

• Make your writing as whiny and full of complaints and negativity as possible. Don't just make it an occasional post--constantly write about your pet peeves and how frustrated you are with life and how everything makes you grumpy. (I know some people whose blogs really are like this--not too fun to read!)
• Make sure that your blog is not user-friendly at all. Have it be completely cluttered with gadgets and ads, and make sure people aren't going to have a clue how to post comments, or where to find the archives.
• Disable all comments so that no one can respond to your posts (exception: sometimes doing this once in awhile for particular posts is necessary). But the point of a blog is conversation and interaction with your community of readers. A blog should be the Internet version of a coffee shop, not a lecture hall. People want to be able, metaphorically, to get their caramel macchiato and be invited to stay and chat for awhile.
• Be sure to write only once every few weeks or months. (Most people take unproductive blogs off their Google Reader subscriptions pretty fast, unless the content is so good that it makes it worth a long wait.)
• Give up when it's been 6 months and your stats indicate that you still only have 6.7 readers. For one, many, if not most, readers use RSS feeds or follow blogs by email, so the times they are reading may not be included in your statistics. What's more, Google Analytics shouldn't destroy your self-esteem. Write if it brings you joy, no matter who reads or who doesn't.
• Never write about anything remotely controversial. While you don't need to feel compelled to dive into political, social, and moral debates all the time, contributing to big debates is one thing that will make people want to read your work.
• Only pull material from others (like quotes and links) without ever producing any of your own.
• Never edit your posts.
• Never comment on other people's blogs or websites.
• Lose sight of why you're keeping a blog in the first place. Why this is something you should NOT do: you've got to remember your ultimate goals with blogging so you'll stay motivated to keep doing it even when it's difficult. I write to inspire other people, to glorify God, and because it's something I love to do.

New bloggers: what has (and hasn't) worked for you? Where do you find blogging motivation/ inspiration? What's been the hardest thing about starting a new writing venture?