A Step-by-step Guide on Writing a Resignation Letter

I've worked long enough to have seen dozens of resignation letters pass through my hands. Heck, I've written quite a few myself.

When it's time to leave the job you have right now, it's probably in your best interest to leave the company on the best possible terms, even if you feel otherwise.

A resignation letter has to accomplish two simple goals:

• It gives your employer a formal (and legal) notice of your intentions to leave the company, and
• It gives you an opportunity to make an impression that, yes, you are professional, yes, you are rising above the petty things others might otherwise fall into, and yes, you are respectable.

A resignation letter is not a venue to go emo and vent your frustrations, or air your opinions, wishes and grievances. It has to be concise and straight-to-the-point. That's all there is to it.

How To Write a Resignation Letter

1. Treat the resignation letter as a standard business letter. First, you have your name, position and department. The date comes next, two lines down after that. After two more lines, put in the name, position and department of your employer. Then two lines more, you can go into your 'Dear Mr. '.
2. On the first paragraph: State that you are leaving your position, and give the date of the last day you'll be working.
3. Second paragraph: Thank your employer for the opportunity you had working for them. If you want to, mention colleagues you enjoyed working with, or supervisors you want to thank for mentoring you.
4. Third paragraph: For your closing statement, wish the company continued success.
5. After two lines down, type 'Sincerely,' then your name after four lines.
6. Sign your resignation letter on the space above your name with a flourish.

There you have it. A short and sweet resignation letter. Hope this helps.

Cheers, everyone!

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How to Write a Wedding Reception Script

Here's a post that originally came out on another blog of mine, The Life and Times of The Renzie Man. I came up with this post shortly after my brother's wedding last August, and has turned out to be rather helpful, particularly for those who need help in putting together a script for the post-wedding festivities.

So you're about to do emcee work for a wedding reception- how exactly do you come up with a script for an occasion like this?

Putting together a wedding reception script isn't all that hard, really. Bear in mind that as the evening's master of ceremonies, you also have to play the part of a good host, and pretty much fill in everyone on what's going on.

Here are a few tips on writing a wedding reception script.

1. Remember: this is the newlyweds' big night, so the spotlight should really be on them, not on anybody else. Everybody else- family, friends, colleagues- can get their share of the limelight that evening, but special attention must be given to your couple every single time.

2. Get with the Master Plan. Consult with the future husband-and-wife exactly how they want things to happen. If you are to set the tone for the wedding reception, you have to take your cues from them. Sitting down with them will enable you to find out exactly what's important for them:

• Would they want it to be done and over with as quickly as possible?
• Would they want to have lots of ballroom dancing?
• Do they want to incorporate particular wedding traditions on top of, say, the wedding bouquet and garter tosses?
• Maybe they want their reception dinner completely untraditional- so what other fun stuff can you think of working in?
  

Whatever the future husband-and-wife wants, it is your mission to essentially carry out their wishes. After all, it is their night- you want it to be as memorable and magical as possible for the newlyweds, as well as for their friends and relatives.

3. Remember that you're writing a wedding reception script. Which means that once you've worked out the general plan with the couple (and with the wedding planner/s, if need be), you're now off to a PC or a laptop somewhere ready to work your magic.

No need to go verbose and all wordy. Keep it simple, short and sweet. In fact, get straight to the point.

Get a draft prepared well ahead of time, touching all the pertinent events of the reception according to the couple's wishes. Submit the drafts to the couple (and the wedding planner/s, if need be) to get their input. If you've listened well and worked in their needs and wants, then you should do just fine.

4. The usual program flow:

• introduction of parents, principal and then secondary sponsors/wedding entourage
• introduction of the newlyweds
• dinner, as well as accompanying toasts and speeches
• traditional ceremonies, wrapped up by garter and bouquet tosses
• acknowledgments and thank you's
  

Modify elements according to how the couple wants their wedding reception done. For example, the bride would probably want a bouquet toss, but something a more out-of-the-ordinary, like tossing out multiple smaller bouquets instead of just one, or incorporating more cultural traditions into the program.

Ask the couple if there would be family members giving speeches or preparing toasts, or even friends who might be singing, dancing or otherwise have something prepared for our newlyweds that evening.

Once you got everything, go right ahead and work those elements right into the script.

5. Get to know a little bit more about the couple's family and friends. One of the more important things- pronouncing names. You'll be introducing members of the wedding entourage, acknowledging the presence of guests who may have flown in from some faraway country, or calling them out for a speech or a toast.

You might know who they are, and your other relatives (or friends) probably also do, but remember that other half of the room might not, so introducing them properly to all guests present would work well for everyone.

If anyone should know how certain names or surnames have to be pronounced, it's the couple. So go ahead and ask questions if you have to. If all else fails, look the person up yourself and ask him/her how to pronounce their name or how they want to be introduced. It's all part of the evening's fun, meeting new people.

6. Make the effort to get the story on the smaller details. Just enough detail to come up with the couple's story.

Maybe you can find out why the bride wanted the motif for the day's affair. Is there a story behind the wedding cake- say, any particular reason why the couple chose this specific design or make? Does the couple have a special song? There's always lots of stories behind songs.

Maybe the couple has a bunch of pictures flashing up on screen- you can use those as well to tell the story of how the couple met, or how he proposed, or some other significant event in their relationship.

Play up the little things that are special to the newlyweds, share their story, and convey that same warm and fuzzy feeling to your guests at the reception. Work those into your script as well.

7. Print out at least three copies of your wedding reception script- one should go to the couple, another to the wedding planner (or program coordinator, or whatever equivalent), and one for you.

As for your copy, you may want to come up with easy-to-use cue cards. You are going to glance at them every now and then, as you go about your hosting duties for the evening, so keep them handy. Also have a pen with you to scribble down notes and maybe some last-minute changes.

8 . Yes, you'll be reading off a script, but you don't have to sound as if you're reading it.

More importantly, you have to sound natural and as real as possible. The guests will be getting their cues from you, so your words have to radiate warmth, confidence and a sense of welcoming, but at the same time, deliver the appropriate level of formality for the affair at hand.

Make eye contact with your guests, inject just a little bit of personality, and be generally pleasant.

9. Even the best-made scripts are just guidelines. There may be some last-minute changes, or some sections you might have to do away with really quickly.

Regardless, you might have to make improvisations and maybe even have to adlib on the fly. Don't forget to get all your cues from the newlyweds- if anything needs to be changed, it has to be on their say, and you must be prepared to do so at a drop of a hat.

Don't worry about it- as long as you stick to the couple's Master Plan (see #2), everything will be just fine.

10. Bear in mind that you're also playing the part of a secondary host, someone who would be welcoming guests and keeping them engaged while the newlyweds are attending to other friends and mandatory photoshoots.

So take ownership of your role in the whole affair. Be cordial, be pleasant, be sensitive to the needs of your guests and of your newlyweds. Almost like hosting a party at home, only with more formal clothing.

There you have it. I hope this helps. I used to do a lot of wedding receptions and hosting gigs- mostly back in my earlier days of radio.

Hosting a wedding reception might be a little taxing, but they are lots of fun. It's a big night, everyone's all dressed up and in a festive mood, made even more memorable by the presence of family and friends- and particularly means so much more to the newlyweds.

Cheers, everyone!

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Blogging Full-time Now

Yep. I suppose you can call me a professional blogger now. And I couldn't be happier.

I've started blogging a little bit over a year ago. Though I may have already learned quite a bit about blogs and blogging since then, I still feel like I have much more to soak up on.

This one particular blog of mine- "Blog. Blogger. Bloggest!"- started it all for me. At first, it was a catch-all kind of blog that had a little bit of everything. Then it wasn't too long until I've decided to position them towards a certain niche. So now I got at least eight different blogs right now, each about a specific topic.

I was really just having fun sharing whatever I knew- at first it was just among friends, then friends of friends. Then I was being sent CDs and DVDs to check out, just so I could write about them.

I never considered it seriously at first, but then the money started trickling in. Not even through Adsense just yet, since I haven't even made a serious effort promoting any of my blogs. It was usually more of companies asking me to help them set up their blogs, or to write for them.
And it wasn't much- first a couple bucks here, a few more there. Then just within a few weeks, I've noticed that the rates were going up, and I was actually getting more writing jobs through my blogs.

Just a couple of weeks ago, I thought I'd let go of my day job to take on a couple of contracts which were, needless to say, very much worth my while. How often does it happen that you do get a job offer that pays a lot more than your current job, for you to do exactly what you want to do for the rest of your life?

It doesn't happen that often to me.

So here I am, happily blogging from the comfort of my own home. Plus I have all the time to do whatever the hell I want- go to the gym, do more business, read a book, travel, blog some more or just laze around at home.

It's all very exciting, really.

Again, I know I'm not the best blogger there is out there, or one with the bb-ranking blog, or even someone with the best content, but I think I'm in a better position now to help other people do more with their blogs. Heck, it's the wave of the future.

To all my fellow bloggers and friends who have been blogging, and to everyone who's read any of my blogs- thanks for inspiring me to blog better. This bold new step forward could never be possible without you.

We keep blogging, and we'll help others keep blogging as well.

Cheers, everyone!

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Improving Your Writing Style

I've recently blogged about the sorry state of English among the vast majority of bloggers in the Philippines in another blog of mine.

I suppose that's one of the reasons why we tend to just choose a small number of blogs we keep coming back to, even if we've seen dozens or even hundreds of other bits of online work.

Remember that as bloggers, we are responsible for developing ourselves. We're author, publisher, editor and reviewer all rolled into one. Responsible blogging does call for an active desire to communicate as clearly as possible. You probably don't have to be a Palanca awardee like Butch Dalisay, but just good enough to at least have your own style and get your message across.

Here are some tips to improve your writing style as a blogger.

1. Read. Seriously, when was the last time you picked up a book? It's OK to read other blogs, a newspaper, or even a magazine- but there's something about an offline piece of hardcopy reading that focuses your attention right at it. Right now, I'm reading Jay Conrad Levinson's Guerilla Marketing- it's some really great stuff, especially if you're in the marketing business.

2. Write, and Keep Writing. The best writers had to start out somewhere- their writing skills weren't genetically engineered, or hardwired into their system. Just like any other skillset, you gain more proficiency the more you use it. There also has to be an active effort to improve your writing style- thus the importance of reading- because you'll need to draw inspiration from people better than yourself.

3. Interact With Others. You gain a lot through interaction. And it's really all about building relationships with others. We continue to learn through constant interaction. That book you read? That post you just wrote? Share it with others! Allow others to react to your work, or to your style of work.

4. Go Offline Too! You do realize there's a world out there, right? Live in it. Experience new things, and find new things you can be passionate about. Join others who share the same passion you have. And it's just so easy to write about things you deeply care about. Besides, it also makes for lots of great pictures!

What other tips can you share to help others develop a better writing style?

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Got Plans For The Holy Week?

I'm the kind of guy who'd like to take the opportunity to do some reflecting for The Holy Week- not just about spiritual stuff, but to really have a good look at where I am right now, what kind of direction I'm headed and what my more immediate action plans are.

Incidentally, Holy Week this year is just a mere 3 weeks away, with Maundy Thursday falling on March 20 and Good Friday on the 21st. Easter Sunday happens on the 23rd.

See, in the Philippines, Holy Week is a time when the city streets look like its something straight out of I Am Legend- the whole place is deserted as everyone has either left town or gone book themselves up in a hotel for several nights.

Me, I'm not a huge fan of going out of town when everybody else is cramming their cars into the North or South Expressways. Staying home is OK, but I'd really rather make some plans if I can.

So this year, I plan to stay in a hotel. Only because I'd like to take my laptop with me, maybe a couple of good books, and use all that time to get some writing done- let all the thoughts flow, you know? And get them all down on Notepad, then publish it online.

I've decided that I might check out Legend Hotels this year. Sure there are lots of value hotels in the Philippines, but I've checked out their website- www.legendhotels.com.ph, and the place looks alright. They even have this special promo: The Legend Villas' Family Weekend Package, which seems reasonably priced for a small family or group of friends.

The rates are currently pegged at php2970 net/night, inclusive of buffet breakfast for two, a 20% Discount at the Lola Maria Coffee Shop, business center and laundry services, as well as in-room coffee and tea. The promo is valid until 31 December 2008. I'm sure they have other things going on, so it's probably best to visit the website, give them a call, or drop by for a visit.

Sounds great- coz it means I don't have to spend hours in Holy Week out-of-town traffic but still have my quiet time for reflecting and stuff. I can take a dip in the pool if I feel like it, or just chill with some good reading and some easy listening, then just let the thoughts flow into my laptop.

Cheers, everyone!

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Join the WikiPilipinas Filipina Writing Contest!

Noemi Dado, a good friend of ours, gave us a heads-up on the special event via Facebook:

In line with the principle of honoring the diverse, beautiful, and powerful image of a Filipina, WikiPilipinas will launch a special portal, Encyclopedia of Philippine Women, inside the site which will compile and detail the achievements and triumphs of Filipinas everywhere.

Its sister site, Filipiniana.net, will also have a Philippine Women Microsite containing documents discussing Filipino women, as well as selected texts from the oeuvres of Filipina writers. Through a combined effort for advocacy, WikiPilipinas partnered with Filipina Images to help promote a more empowering image of the Filipina. By having an online platform to showcase Filipina intelligence and talent, the goal of developing more empowered Filipinas becomes achievable.

Many participants, through this project, will discover that they can help bridge the digital divide and promote gender mainstreaming and gender equality.

To promulgate the advocacy, WikiPilipinas.org and FilipinaImages.Com websites will launch “Filipina Stories", a writing contest with the mission of uplifting the image of the Filipina.

Here's your chance to put together an essay and share your thoughts, and win some prizes and props for doing so! Noemi adds:

I hope you join this contest. This contest also aims to raise awareness of the WikiPilipinas.org so that bloggers can eventually add content to the Wiki. For the contest, the WikiPilipinas staff will take charge of uploading your entry to the Wiki. After this contest, there will be a Phase 2 Workshop which is meant to teach us how to use the Wiki.

Be part in uplifting the image of the Filipina, the Knowledge base of the WikiPilipinas and meeting up with other bloggers on March 12, 2008. Remember you are not only writing about Filipino women. You will help uplift the reputation…remove the prejudice, not just against Filipino women achievers but against your mothers, sisters, daughters. Against You.

It's a worthy and noble cause- something definitely deserving of your attention, time and effort. Not only do you have a chance to win prizes, recognition and bragging rights, you also have (more importantly) an opportunity to interact with fellow bloggers and people who share a similar passion for writing, blogging and advocacy. So it should be a lot of fun- check it out now, funk soul brother!

You can find the contest mechanics, critera and prizes at stake, as well as more information and contact details there.

Cheers all!

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Blog About Stuff You Care About!

I just read this article on the New York Times about "Blogging Your Way Into a Business". I find it interesting that regular folks like you and me can find their way into a lucrative enterprise by way of their blogs.

But here's the thing: I feel that this article, along with other features on other newspapers, magazines, even radio and TV shows, seem to perpetuate the idea that blogging for money is an easy thing. Maybe it is, maybe it's not- it totally depends on a number of things, in my opinion:

1> your ability to actually communicate effectively through writing,
2> your natural passion to share thoughts and ideas through writing,
3> your discipline and commitment to keep on sharing these thoughts and ideas,
4> and your aptitude towards picking up necessary skills and using them well, like internet marketing, networking, etc.

Read the rest of this article on my other blog, "Blog. Blogger. Bloggest: Renzie on Blogging".

Cheers, everyone!

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Fifty Posts and Counting. Now What?

This blog- "Blog. Blogger. Bloggest!" has already reached the fifty-post mark. Took me quite a while- probably about a month and a half of steady writing to build it up to this point.

Fifty posts should be sufficient enough content to somehow set the general tone for any given blog, as well as provide enough reading for any casual passerby curious about the work you've put together.

For me however, putting together fifty posts is really more of an exercise in discipline and structure. It's more of a habit-forming activity, and I'm glad that it had worked for me. In fact, when I get up in the morning, the first thing I do is log on to my Blogger account and put out a post or two- if not on this blog, at least on another upcoming piece of work.

So at this point, what's next?

Now that I feel that I have enough content, and now that generating content seems to take less of an effort- we can now focus our attention on marketing this blog.

That would entail reading up on Internet Marketing in general- and various blog-specific aspects of it- Search Engine Marketing (SEM), Search Engine Optimization (SEO), directory submissions, link building, Social Media Optimization (SMO), and more importantly, perhaps- interaction with fellow bloggers.

So for the next few posts, you know what you'll be expecting- we'll be discussing more Internet Marketing strategies, while consolidating gains from the content-building phase of putting a blog together.

"Blog. Blogger. Bloggest!" will continue its direction as a blog-building resource for starting bloggers- an online source for tips and advice for anyone who wants to get into the blogging lifestyle. That has always been the grand plan.

Seems we still have a lot more work before us, so let's get to it, shall we?

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Squeezing The Most Out Your Stories.

It is the day after Yehey's much-talked about TriNoma Blogger Food Tour. It was a rather hectic, but incredibly fun affair, and I can imagine my fellow bloggers hard at work right now, labeling and sorting through pictures, putting together posts for different kinds of blogs, linking up new acquaintances, etc.

Now, an event like yesterday's Food Tour has so much potential in terms of story generation- in fact, you can blog about it in so many ways.

As a blogger, you probably have a number of blogs in your blog-stable already, and you can come up with a variety of fresh content for all your reader segments, even with just one event. There are many angles to any given subject matter, event or story, and therefore many ways to write them up.

You can even come up with a whole chain of posts on the matter, or an entire series, pics and vids if you have them, and then cap everything off with a blog entry that brings them all together nicely.

Take the TriNoma Blogger Food Tour organized by Yehey! yesterday- I can write them up as...

1. A blow-by-blow account. I could talk about going from restaurant to restaurant, and about all the food me and my new blogger buds tried doing so, rating the restos as we went to each one. I made my own blow-by-blow account of the event here:

• Part 1 of 5: Getting to Trinoma. The Bloggers' Food Tour is on!
• Part 2 of 5: La Maison, Cabalen
• Part 3 of 5: Abe, Hossein's Persian Kebab, Haiku
• Part 4 of 5: Bubba Gump, Cyma, Jack's Loft + Holy Cow!, TGIFridays, Italianni's and Fish & Co.
• Part 5 of 5: Conti's, Mann Hann, Pho Hoa, Sizzling Pepper Steak, Marina, Mangan, Bangus, Heaven N' Eggs + Event Wrap-up
  

2. A technical analysis. I'm a marketing/events guy, so I would naturally tend to observe how the guys of Yehey! and TriNoma put it all together, worked out the logistics, and basically made it all work.

3. A personal experience. I could go talk about which restaurants were everyone's easy favorites, or how our arms hurt by the end of the day lugging around all those goodies and food-to-go, or how we had to beg off on food by the end of the day because we just had so much. Check out my story and photos here on my Multiply.

4. Individual restaurant reviews. This would be great, especially if you've been able to have a leisurely sit-down, and had a chance to talk with the resto managers. You could check out my reviews on:

• La Maison
• Cyma Greek Taverna
  
• Abe
• Heaven N' Eggs
• Others To Follow (Sizzlin' Pepper Steak, Jack's Loft and The Bubba Gump Shrimp Company)
  

5. A list of recommendations. It was my first time at TriNoma, and it had a lot to offer. To people visiting TriNoma, we could easily put in a good word for any of the many restos we visited. A lot of them were indeed very accommodating, taking time to talk to us about the food, about the business, etc.

6. More lists! People love lists of all kinds- come up with "The Top 10 Most Interesting Food Items", or the "TriNoma's 10 Must-Visit Restos", or "My New Blogger Buds".

So as you can see, that's a lot of stuff to blog about. And just looking at the list, I suppose I have to get to it!

Yehey for Yehey!

Much thanks to TriNoma and Yehey! for putting all this together. It was a fresh concept executed rather well. A lot of hard work, but it was pulled off rather nicely. Although the activity can benefit from a number of improvements, all the bloggers had fun, and was therefore a success for the most part.

Happy bloggers make for a good amount of buzz and word-of-mouth. I say more power to the good people of TriNoma, and everyone from Yehey!

Well done, guys. Well done.

For those of you interested in viewing the pics I took at the Bloggers' Food Tour, you can check em out on my Multiply right here. I have several more posts on the way on the Bloggers' Food Tour, and I'll have em up in a day or two.

Cheers!

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Building Your Online Authority Through Your Blogs.

Even as I write this blog on blogging, I know I'm hardly an authority on the topic, knowing that there are so many others who have come before me- bloggers, and various other blogs about building a better blog.

The beauty of blogging, however, is that everything you write about is all about you and your experiences. Who knows? Maybe in a few years, I might actually just turn out to be a blogging guru of sorts. Or some authority figure in some other way.

Read the rest of this article on my other blog, "Renzie on Blogging", right here.

Cheers, everyone!

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Tips For Bloggers.

I suppose it doesn't matter whether you've only just begun or if you've been at it for a while. There are some rather basic things we can all come back to from time to time. Here are a few tips to consider if you're seriously into blogging.

1. Write now. When you have the urge to hammer away at a keyboard and churn out some words- go right ahead- there's no better time than right now!

2. Write regularly. It's all about setting a rhythm- not only for your readers, but also for yourself!

3. Focus. Know what you want to write about and stick to it. If you want to write about something else, well you can always have another blog :)

4. Let your personality show. Your blog is all about you!

5. Write for your target audience. Can't please everybody. At least appeal to the kind of people you want to keep coming back.

6. Offer something fresh. This is where the effort comes in. Or sheer luck. You never know when an idea is going to be big, right? So keep those ideas comin'.

7. Offer something useful. It's great to come up with something interesting. But it's even better to come up with something useful.

8. Be neighborly. If you want others to read your blog, read others' blogs too. Drop a comment, interact and even cross-promote! All about the linkage, baby!

9. Instead of writing long, looongg paragraphs, stick to short ones. Makes it a lot easier to read, and it's easier on the eyes.

10. People love lists!

Read the full version of this article here on my other blog, "Renzie on Blogging".

Cheers, everyone!

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Blogs, Bloggers and Blogging.

Blogs (short for Web-Logs), are essentially online showcases of a person, usually posted for all the world to see.

Blogging is just like writing something on your journal, except that this journal is now online, and that (depending on how much you want to share) it is available for people to interact with.

When you do maintain a blog, you are in effect, a blogger. And there are thousands of bloggers out there all over the world, blogging on so many different things.

Read the rest of this article on my other blog, "Renzie on Blogging".

Cheers, everyone!

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Build Your Portfolio.

I was with a friend the other day, and just like me, she's just started blogging recently.

So we've been talking about how blogging can open so many doors for anyone: not only is it a great way to practice writing, and general English use, it's also a springboard for learning other cool stuff like internet marketing, SEO, programming, digital photography and graphics.

So after a while we started talking about what our plans were for blogging- basically, exactly how do we see ourselves as bloggers.

Right off the bat, she said she wanted to write for other companies- which really wasn't a bad idea. After all, one of the companies I worked with recently paid their copywriters quite the hefty sum as long as they churned out quality material. I'm down with that; writing for a company helps give you discipline and structure, and helps you build a body of work.

Read the rest of this article here on my other blog- a blog on blogs and blogging- "Renzie on Blogging".

Cheers, everyone!

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Blogging My Way To Work.

Currently, my everyday commute from home to work takes about an hour in a cab. I usually take the time to do my phonecalls, prepare my to-do list for the day, or scribble down a few notes.

As some of you may have already read, I have acquired for myself one of these sweet Asus Eee PCs. Which means I could actually take out this sexy little laptop and do some work on the way to work.

Or blog while I'm on my way to work.

I simply can't stress it enough: when you're a blogger, if and when the urge to write hits you- by Bob, you better get down to writing.

Thoughts are very volatile stuff. You could have a nice idea, or a well-worded insight, or some rant or rave you have working in your mind at the moment, but as you may have noticed- that can all evaporate just as quickly as it was formed in your head.

Thus, the urgency to blog as soon as you can. Can't get any fresher than that, right?

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How Much Cash Do Bloggers Make From Blogging?

Remember just a few months ago how we had a couple of workshops on Blogging For Money? The idea really was to show our participants how to make extra cash by putting in a few hours a day churning out a few posts on a blog worthy of attention.

Yes, you can blog for money. Some locals actually have gone completely professional, and have foregone a regular job to do just that: blogging.

The real question is, how? How can you make money from your blog?

The answer to this seemingly very important question can easily elude the amateur blogger. And while most blogs are really a labor of love more than anything else, it doesn't really matter to a lot of people if they make cash or not.

Read the rest of this article here on my other blog, "Renzie on Blogging".

Cheers, everyone!

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My New Asus Eee PC

Ladies and gentlemen, I am the proud owner of a new Asus Eee PC! Just like the one in the pic to the right, except that 1> mine comes in black, and 2> no chick comes with the standard retail package. Check out the specs right here.

At any rate, it's charging now right next to me. Got it from Virra Mall earlier this afternoon.

Dang, I really couldn't help it. I first saw this baby at last Friday's Bloggers' Mix-up. A fellow blogger of ours- Juned, I believe- took out his brand new Asus Eee PC, and in just a short time, everyone was positively raving about the cute little thing. You can check out the pics taken by Noemi here, and even more pics here.

I got it for just a little over Php17,000.00. It's a great little toy if you want something compact (just about the size of a hardbound book), comfortably light (it weighs a little less than 1kg) and functional- especially if you're into blogging, doing a lot of presentations, or just working a lot outside the home or office.

Don't expect too much though: it doesn't have much hard disk space. The Linux-run models have about 4GB of space on them, but if you install XP on it, you'll probably be left with less than 2GB. Not much of a problem, since you can attach any array of removable media (whether a flash disk or a full external hard disk) through its three USB ports.

Despite the limited hard disk issues, the Asus Eee PC works like a charm: it allows you to go online, whether through a broadband cable or via wi-fi, thereby enabling you to go on Skype or Yahoo!, check out your mail, hit Facebook, watch videos on YouTube, and (most importantly) blog! Aside from the USB ports, it also has a card reader (who needs CD/DVD drives now?), a built-in camera, mike and speakers, and a solid-state disk for excellent shock protection.

Officially classified as a subnotebook, it's not hard to imagine the Eee PC to be an instant favorite not only by bloggers, but by students, regular office people, entrepreneurs- just about anyone who's into the market for a decent notebook or laptop.

Personally, the Eee PC works best with your other PCs (your home or office desktop will still be the mothership). It's not designed to be your main workstation; just the cute little computer you take with you when you're working on the go. Bring along some removable hard disks or flash disks, and you're pretty much set.

Let's see how this baby goes in the next few weeks. I'll keep you posted.

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Write Now, and Keep On Writing!

One thing I've noticed is that, sometimes when you compose an entry for your blog, it's such an easy thing to get distracted.

Particularly when we're at a time when publishing systems- such as this one on Blogger/Blogspot, and even the ones on say, Wordpress or Livejournal- are so easy to use. Since you can easily add links, pictures, change fonts, colors, etc. it's so easy to get lost just tweaking something on the fly.

So here's some useful advice:

Once you think about something worth blogging, get down to typing it right away. While it probably wouldn't matter if you go use Notepad initially (then just upload it whenever you can), it's still best to write straightaway into your blog.

Once you start typing in your first word, keep on typing. Forget about inserting pics and links, or stuffing in keywords, or editing or whatever. Keep churning out those entries while everything is still fresh in your head, while your train of thought is still running on track.

You can always edit later. The most important thing, really, is to get that post out right away.

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My First Bloggers' Mix-up.

One thing I noticed back at that Bloggers' Mix-up was that, apart from blogging, everyone was trying to capture the moment somehow.

You had at least 5 or 6 cameras on at any given time, taking pictures not only of everyone who was there, but pretty much taking pictures of things that caught their attention- like Juned's Asus Eee PC at the time.

At another table across the room was Azrael capturing the whole occasion on video through his laptop, and even interviewing guests for his internet show.

Being the newbie blogger that I was, I was watching everything unfold before me, soaking up on the experience. What I did realize was that, being a blogger means you would eventually get yourself into:

1. Digital Photography (so yeah, this is my first assignment for myself. So I have to bring a camera with me wherever I go. That's a pic of my cat- Chloe.)
2. Digital Audio-video: viral videos and podcasts (I think I can already do podcasts- being a radio dude. Still learning how to do viral vids.)
3. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM) (This I'm already learning actively now. Thus the blogs.)
4. Programming. (I admit, this will probably be the hardest for me, since I'm not exactly the IT-oriented type.)
5. Photoshop. (I admit, I'm not exactly the most artistic dude in the neighborhood. But I suppose learning the basics will still be well worth it.)

And probably any other marketable skills you can imagine overlapping into your blogging lifestyle.

The event was a melding pot of talent and creativity. I like it that ideas were continuously sloshing around- everyone contributing and sharing and discussing with everyone else.

So for all of you who'd want to get into blogging, there you have it- get ready to get into a whole new bunch of crafts, and not just blogging.

As for me, well it seems that I may have to get myself a decent SLR soon enough. Give me a few weeks to save up for one. :)

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Woohoo! Battlestar Galactica!

I fondly look back earlier this year when I discovered Battlestar Galactica. Well, more like re-discovered. I remember getting interested in the show when it first hit local Cinemax in 2005, but never got to follow it enough to get a good grasp of the story.

When I took my retirement from the last radio station I worked for (which was Mellow 94.7), I found myself with, interestingly enough, a lot of spare time on my hands. And it was this one particular Veronica Mars episode which sort of inspired me to 'acquire' a copy of the re-imagined BSG from the very start.

After the four-hour mini-series/pilot, I immediately fell in love with it- it was sci-fi, but not campy, it had chicks, a compelling storyline, interesting characters, and enough action to keep you locked in.

And locked in I was, indeed. I was able to finish all 40 episodes- the first 2 seasons + the webisodes + the first few episodes of season 3- within a month of watching the pilot, thus bringing me up to speed and current with what's showing in the US/UK. I wasn't just locked in, I was incredibly hooked.

Season 3 wrapped up by the end of March (with a killer season-ender, I might add!), leaving a gaping hole in my chest where the Galactica should be.

So you could imagine my surprise when I found out- just today- that the prelude to BSG Season 4 already came out!

The prelude is called Battlestar Galactica: Razor. Why it's called "Razor", I have no idea just yet, but I intend to find out. It currently has seven (7) 2-minute Flashback episodes + two (2) full episodes thus far.

I've already seen the Flashback episodes and -well- it's like my obsession for BSG all of a sudden came back to the fore.

Man, I can't wait to watch the other two episodes...

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How Many Blogs Can You Maintain?

Indeed, how many blogs can you realistically maintain?

I got into blogging in March 2007. I knew nothing about how to start a blog, or what it was for, or what good it was to your everyday life.

Shortly after starting out with my first blog, I suddenly realized that I wanted to have a blog for each of my various interests. Soon enough you had one for music, another for TV and movie reviews, and then another on PC gaming, then one came up on business and marketing, followed by one on cats, another on writing, and it just went on and on.

Read the rest of the article here on my other blog, "Renzie on Blogging".

Cheers, everyone!

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