A lot of people say to me, hey, mo, i love your blog. (I may get embarrassed and try to redirect the conversation). Especially when they usually follow it up with, Actually…it’s the only one  i read. (I still have friends who haven’t entered the ‘mobile phone’ realm). I smile, unsure how to proceed. Sometimes they might stop for a moment, puzzled, and say How did you even manage to start a blog?

Now, I’m a person who wishes that I was easy and comfortable with change, but frankly, I’m not. With me it takes a long time. Here’s a picture of my old tapes, full of dirt and grime from camping trips around British Columbia and Mexico. Yuck.

Here’s the day I finally threw them in the dumpster, circa 2009. I was not a happy camper.I wanted to keep them – to hold them and to love them and sometimes even listen to them – which by now i can barely do in any location – as tapes have been for the most part, sadly phased out. But trust me, I’ve still got the vinyl, and believe me – it’s only getting cooler.

That day at the dumpster, Mitchell did give me a moment with them – all those stinky old grateful dead and phish tapes, old bootlegs made from someone made from someone and someone else who knew a taper – and i picked my very favorite shows. I picked from the very best, and carrying that forward,  i simply moved on.

I was on the cusp of a change, clinging to my old white pages while yearning for something more. And then, I met real live blogger. She was authentic, she had her own voice, and moreover- she had been blogging for years and years. And I thought, BLOGS?! Really? Where the hell have I been?

Here’s the day I started blogging.

I wanted to write a post about how to get into blogging, but frankly, i felt the expert bloggers out there – and there are definitely experts – should be left to that. And I should probably just keep writing about the bridges to the moon and delivering updates from planet  sagittarius.

But for you bloggie newbies, here’s a few tips i learned along the way, about spotting the blogs that we love, and trying to get into the same clubs that they do. (Unwritten Rule #1: join Twitter)

Where can i find the blogs i love? 

In this day and age, Google makes it very, very easy to search for and share information. If you’re living in 2011, and I can assume that most of you are, then you know this already. Like design? So do bloggers. Like parenting? So do bloggers. Like traveling? So do bloggers. Like learning how to do stuff? So do bloggers.

How can I make it easier to find good blogs?

Well, you could start by reading a blog about it. But I like the human contact direction – talking with a friend, co-worker, or anyone other internet junkie you can spot – because it’s guaranteed – they’re reading one.

Once I find a blog i like, what do i do then?

When you find a blog that you like, remember to interact with the blog! Share it or tweet it – even suscribe to it (get the blogs by email) for a week or two and see if you like the author’s posts . Sometimes I even leave a comment on the blog, especially since i try to remember that behind the blog there is a always a blogger, who is trying to share something with you, fighting to connect with the human spirit!  And chances are, they want to hear from you. 

How did i ever live without blogs?

So if you ever need advice on encouragement, democratic reform, or writing that last chapter, remember that blogs travel in packs – in tags, groups, and forums. Find them, connect with them, and join the dozens of  ways we can stay, well, virtually connected. If you find a blog that you like, most blogs will have a list of other blogs they like, too.

I’d like to finish off with this Neil Young video that describes how he made his new blue-ray, “A Treasure”. It is a hilarious account of he came to “recover the technology” while going through his archival footage. tapes, blogs, whatever. we experience, we struggle to express, and we share, and whatever forms we can.  

We had to hack around to make it work but we hope that you enjoy it  -neil young

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