Sunday, January 9, 2011

Clay Times blog article, grr.....

No disrespect intended here to the author of the article or the bloggers mentioned, but really.....
Clay Times has an article about bloggers and the article offers links to several blogs that haven't been active since June and August of 2010. These are fine blogs, but I read blogs every day that are thoughtful and informative and are posted to daily or weekly. How come the same blogs are always mentioned in these magazine articles. Come on, let's show some props for those that are giving it up every day for us faithful blog followers!!!!! Why single out a few when there are hundreds of really really good blogs!??!?! Just check out my blog roll for some great ones. grr...
you can see the article online at Clay Times
PS: those of you that are mentioned in CT totally ROCK and I love your blogs!!! but the article is really weird!

20 comments:

Linda Starr said...

Love your close up photo at the top. Nice to see a different view each time. Wonder why inactive blogs are listed, strange.

brandon phillips said...

That was a weird article. It seemed like they were choosing blogs based on being well-known rather than content(except for me, i'm not well-known.) It seemed like a random choice of blogs. I have no idea who that author is but it was nice to get a plug. I was reading it in the middle of a barnes and noble in dallas and i was like "hey, that's my blog in a magazine, cool."

judith blakeburn-potter said...

I read that article several days ago. I've been just reading blogs for over a year and I was disappointed that my favorite and active bloggers were not included. Most disappointing was not a mention of the Clay and Blogger Show and Merideth.

Phil said...

I wrote a really long post about this article, then I thought better of posting it.
For the most part, that article is a joke; there are blogs much more deserving of mention, like yours, or Fire When Ready, or Dan Finnegan, Linda Starr, June Perry, John Bauman, Tony Clennell, Fetishghost, et al.
And if Reposting pictures of others work and writing two sentences using your "aesthetic sensibility" (snort!) can get you mentioned in CT, then I am starting a blog right away.
Please keep up the great work, Tracey, we DO apprectiate your hard work!

cindy shake said...

Hmmmm. Now you've peaked my interest -guess I need to run over to B&N and sneak a peek at a copy on the rack! I'm with Judith -if it was really a well written and well RESEARCHED article then it seems an obvious omission not to have included the Clay and BLOGS (HELLO?!) Show! Geeze.

Certainly not in defense of the article (as I've not read it yet) but finding the really good blogs takes TIME. If you're just cranking out an article to make a deadline, many times it seems writers are lazy.

Phil said...

Go here:


http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/claytimes/2010winter/#/28

Phil said...

Sorry, it cut the URL off, if you click here you can click on the magazine cover, and it will open up, then you can go to page 27.

[url]http://www.claytimes.com
/index.html[/url]

Tracey Broome said...

Yay for Brandon that he got a mention and MK and all the others, I really don't mean ANY disrespect to them and I was very happy for them and proud for them to get a mention, it was just a really weak and not very well researched article. I sent CT an email saying so. I see a lot of articles that link to Emily Murphy's blog, and as good as it is, Emily just doesn't blog that much, no offense to her she has had a very tough year. But if you are going to write about current blogs then link to CURRENT blogs!!! (and Emily I hope I am not out of line saying this!!!)

Tracey Broome said...

Phil, as you can see I hardly ever think before I push the button :)
sometimes I wish I did, but really, the article that Hollis Engley wrote in Studio Potter was a much better representation of what clay blogs are all about!! and he has a great blog, why wasn't he mentioned?!

Hollis Engley said...

I read it online, Tracey, after I read your post. It looked to me like a catch-up story. An editor saw the piece in Studio Potter and said, "Hey, we ought to have a blogging story, too." Then he or she assigned it. There wasn't much in the way of original reporting done that I could see, and it certainly should have mentioned the Southern Pines show. What the hell ... maybe it will bring more people to our blogs and widen the community. And thanks for the nice words, Tracey.

cookingwithgas said...

Oh this is dicey- I was very pleased with the article written by Hollis last year for our show.
It was well written by someone who blogs and reads blogs.
Key factors- to be fair I have not read the article.
I have pretty much quit subscribing to pottery magazines. In fact we had this discussion among a group of potters just this month.
None of us read CM any more and many of us don't put much faith in the Mags any more.
As a person who use to pour over the mags just 10 or less years ago I feel most have gone to a level that does not reach most of the real world of working potters today.
Me I prefer to read your blogs- the active ones.
And I don;t need an article to tell me who to read.
I find new ones everyday- in fact I see a few here I plan to check out now.

Unknown said...

Funny thing, I happened to be at Borders this weekend and thought I'd pick up a copy...was surprised and excited to see another article on pottery blogs. I was also disappointed in the article. I agree with the last post- I only get Studio Potter now. I prefer to read pottery blogs (like yours) for a real view of life as a potter.

Sandy Miller said...

Tracey, love your blog. I usually find other blogs by looking at the blogs listed by other potters ...... on their blogs.

The amount of us currently blogging is overwhelming, by the time I get through my morning coffee, read through my favorite blogs, check emails my morning is shot. I stopped subscribing to all the periodicals.

Welcome to the age of information and notice it has really cut into my time in the studio!

so my question ....... has blogging changed your work? has it improved your life or work or is it a time suck? Gosh there are just so many hours in a day..........

Sandy Miller
and yet I still blog on......

Tracey Broome said...

Good points everyone! Sandy, I don't consider blogging a time suck, I get my work done first, or I blog very early in the morning and it has definitely brought more people into my life, lots of interesting thoughts and conversations and new friends. I have learned a lot from many of the bloggers out there and have new pottery that I might not have found otherwise. Very much worth the little extra time it takes!

Emily Murphy said...

It was an odd list. Hopefully anyone who reads it takes a moment to explore all the list of links that everyone has on their blogs to other blogging potters. It's the best way to discover who's out there. But I also know that it can be many many months after someone submits an article to a magazine before something is published. Not sure of the timeframe for Clay Times, but I know with CM it could be a year for something to be published that isn't timely (like not related to a new exhibition, etc...).

I know that I haven't been active with my blog. You're right, it's been a very hard year for me and I literally haven't been able to write over the past several months.This is actually a big deal for me to write something that has 2 paragraphs. But I've often approached the majority of my posts as more timeless (that's not really the right word)- like tutorials and less of a day to day journal. So hopefully if someone finds themselves there, they won't be too disappointed. I'm working back up to it, hopefully it won't be inactive for much longer.

Tracey Broome said...

Hi Emily! I miss your blogging and I truly hope you weren't offended that I mentioned your name. Good point about the article being written a while back but it just didn't seem like it was very current and was sort of a half ass effort at writing about this vast and wonderful blog world.
Thanks for your input, get back to blogging girl, you have lots to offer!!!

Unknown said...

I have been a blogger for a year and a half and wonder sometimes who is reading it since I do not get many comments. The stats show some activity. I would love to hear some input, but I wonder how to get noticed.

Emily Murphy said...

No offense taken, Tracey! I was surprised to be mentioned. I do miss writing. I just have to get past the first post, explaining where I've been. That's the hard part.

Judy, A good way to become known is to do what you're doing- and comment on other people's blogs. I didn't know about your blog before this, but now that I do, I'll add you to my blog roll. Another good way is to link and write about other people's blogs and work.

Sandy Miller said...

Hi Tracey,
no I don't consider it a time suck either or I wouldn't blog. I never wrote a word before blogging started, nor did I have a record of what I did in the studio, garden or kitchen. Last week I clicked on an entry I had posted a year ago....... quite enlightening!

Yup I have learned alot too, exchanged seeds, glazes, bread recipes and so it goes.......

Ron said...

I took a peep at the article online but had a hard time turning the virtual page! Ha. Anyhow, it's good blogging is getting some sort of press, but like you all have said, the article in Studio Potter was very well written and more thoughtful. (And I was mentioned!!) (So of course I like it better).
Going on 6 years of blogging for me and my posts seem to be getting sort of few and farther between each one. I sometimes used to post several times a day! Emily's blog was certainly one of the first ones out there that made any sort of impression and I also hope she'll blog more in the coming year. Anyhow, it's good we are all here doing our thing. It's a great community to belong to, this virtual clay community of bloggers. I know I'm missing out of some of the newer blogs out there, I try to keep up but really there's only so much I can keep up with. Well, back to work for me (maybe a blog post later too)