Community Blogger

[Melalvai]

I'm a community blogger! I responded to the newspaper's facebook post asking for community bloggers. He's interested in my topic, Bicycling and Walking in Kirksville. I'm to write twice a week, but posts should be around 300 words. I was looking at my personal blog and my science blog...there may be a lot of multi-part posts. I can write a lot. (You might be astonished to learn that I talk a lot too. But not as much as some people. I CAN shut up, if I try!)

He wants me to start after the new year, or maybe a little before. I've already written several posts in my head. I'll probably have quite a few actually written down before I start. It'll be good to have some in reserve anyway, because some weeks it will be really hard to get two posts out.

The competition wasn't exactly fierce. He said he was hoping to get two community bloggers started. He has no idea what our readership might be. It's a pretty small town, so I don't expect a huge following.

I'm really excited about this. :)

[PamNY]

That's great! I hope you will keep us posted on how it goes.

[Tri Girl]

Fantastic!!! Congrats! Let us know the blog address so we can read what you write. :)
And just because the TOWN is small, doesn't mean you won't get readers from all over the country/world who are interested in what you have to say.

[Melalvai]

Good point!
I would not be surprised if TE features in some of my blog posts. :) It has been a major influence on my cycling.

[shootingstar]

You might be surprised Melavi since the newspaper might be read a bit by folks living a bit beyond your town.

Hope you ignite some cycling love in your area!

I write (still) for Tourism Vancouver's blog in primarily niche areas of visiting Metro Vancouver by bike/alternative transportation.

Some of my links are listed on one of their pages here. (http://www.insidevancouver.ca/author/jean/) This page is not listed in my electronic signature below.

I think people might appreciate some different ways of exploring their local area.

[tangentgirl]

awesome!!

[Melalvai]

There were some delays because of technical problems but it went live this week! I have my first introductory post and a second post already.
http://www.kirksvilledailyexpress.com/community/blogs/bicycling_and_walking_around_kirksville

[PamNY]

Great blog post! I like that you listed your reasons for cycling. You might very well inspire people to get started on a bike.

[shootingstar]

You write in an accessible, friendly manner. Keep it up. It's just a matter of time before you will get blog comments. Enjoy the dialogue!

These cycling specific blogs embedded in local newspapers, are written by local journalist on a regular basis:

http://blogs.calgaryherald.com/category/calgary/pedal/

http://therecord.blogs.com/take_the_lane/ (In a twinned city area of over 300,000, I think. I grew up in this area..but moved away decades ago).

[OakLeaf]

Very cool! I like your writing too. Congrats and good luck!

[goldfinch]

Nice! I enjoyed the columns.

[Melalvai]

Thanks! I'm having a lot of fun with it already.

[bluejellybean]

Awesome! I'm both a writer and cyclist too...bookmarked it! Looking forward to following the blog :)

[Melalvai]

I've been doing this for a year now and it's been a ton of fun. The newspaper changed websites this summer and that was a pain. We were supposed to get all the old blogs transferred over to the new site but it didn't work--only a few made it and then only the titles. So I lost all the old posts. I mean, I have them saved myself, but they aren't online so I can't link to them. On the bright side, I get to re-use the old posts, which makes it easier to hit my 3 posts/week goal.

The new site is here (http://www.kirksvilledailyexpress.com/section/blogs01?taxid=743).

When the new site went live, my coverage expanded from the Kirksville Daily Express to all the company's papers in Northeast Missouri.
Today I got a message that 5 other towns--all over Missouri-- have picked up my blog.

That doesn't mean my readership is very large. They are all rural communities about the size of Kirksville (pop 17,000). I actually have no idea what my readership is. The Daily Express prints my articles frequently. I thought they only did that once in a while but recently I met someone who told me they print my article "2 or 3 times a week" -- but that's as often as I post! So I guess they've stepped up how often they print me. All the time in town I meet people who say "Oh yeah, I know your name, I read your article regularly". But I'm sure my readership is higher here because my blog has been running longer here and because it appears in print here.

I'm on facebook with my favorite author, the Metal Cowboy aka Joe Kurmaskie. Last week I was excited because he shared my article about bicycling & taxes (http://www.kirksvilledailyexpress.com/article/20130227/blogs/130228821/-1/blogs01). So my favorite author not only read something I wrote, but liked it! :D

I'm excited to have a wider audience. It definitely motivates me to be more consistent about posting. Last weekend and already this weekend I got 3 posts ready to go so that Monday, Wed, and Fri I just upload them and hit "publish". (Even better would be if I could upload them ahead of time, but the new website blogging software is almost as clumsy as the old one, and that is not a feature.)

[shootingstar]

Congratulations, Melavi. Great to spread cycling love. Does this give you even more different ideas to write now that you know it's a bigger audience?

[Melalvai]

Not yet. I did make a point of being less Kirksville-centric. Instead of just saying "Baltimore St" and assuming everyone knows what that means, I say "Baltimore/ US 63 Bus Loop" and I try to slip in something descriptive like "busy traffic".