No One Cares What You Had for Lunch: 100 Ideas for Your Blog (Paperback)

by Margaret Mason (Author)
Key Phrases: Fifteen Minutes, Take Your Time, Thirty Minutes Away (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Tired of filling up your blog with boring posts? Take the next step and get inspired to create something unique. Author Margaret Mason shows you the way with this fun collection of inspirational ideas for your blog. Nobody Cares What You Had for Lunch: 100 Ideas for Your Blog is a unique idea-book for bloggers seeking fun, creative inspiration. Margaret gives writers the prompts they need to describe, imagine, investigate and generate clever posts. Sample ideas include:

• Writing a serial novel
• Conducting unnecessary experiments
• Creating your autobiography
• Public eavesdropping
• And much, much more

About the Author
Margaret Mason has been a professional writer and editor for over a decade. Her shopping blog, Mighty Goods, was recently named number one shopping site by both Business Week and Forbes, and her personal website, Mighty Girl, draws thousands of readers each day. She is a contributing writer for The Morning News, a New York-based Web magazine, and The New York Times. Mason is also a sought-after expert on lifestyle issues. She has been interviewed by The New York Times, Crain's Business Daily, The San Francisco Chronicle and San Francisco's KFOG radio.

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Peachpit Press; 1 edition (August 21, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 032144972X
• ISBN-13: 978-0321449726
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #108,416 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #21 in	Books > Computers & Internet > Business & Culture > Government
  #53 in	Books > Computers & Internet > Home Computing > Blogging & Blogs
  #99 in	Books > Nonfiction > Politics > Practical Politics

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Even old dogs can learn some new tricks here..., August 20, 2006

By	Thomas Duff "Duffbert" (Portland, OR United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

OK... I'm a sucker for an unusual title, and this one grabbed my attention right off... No One Cares What You Had for Lunch: 100 Ideas for Your Blog by Margaret Mason. While it may not be a techie's idea of blog inspiration, it was a fun read that *did* spur some ideas for me...

Contents: Fifteen Minutes to Fame; Thirty Minutes Away from the TV; An Hour at the Screen; Take Your Time; Think Like a Writer; Index; About the Author

Mason is thrilled at the opportunities that blogs have given the average person for self-expression, but laments that too many blogs are obsessive navel-gazing exercises that hold little to no interest over time. She wrote No One Cares as a way to help you come up with creative and new ideas for blog material that can lead to unusual material and interesting insights to the life and world of the writer. Each idea takes just a single page (a few "long" ones take two pages) and throws out a suggestion that you can use to spur the creative juices. For instance, if you kept a diary growing up, you might want to use some of those pages as a glimpse into your past. Your youthful angst *can* be laughed at now... Perhaps you have some "inside knowledge" of the place/city you live... Share it with your readers. Or one that I could take advice from... "Get Defensive". Take a stand on something you like that goes against conventional wisdom, and proudly show your colors. While not every idea will resonate with all bloggers, there should be something in here to push you in a direction you hadn't considered.

For those who are blogging technical information with no personal color, bypass this book. You probably won't "get it". Better yet, try coming out of your shell and show your readers a bit of yourself. While some people can't do that for legal or professional reasons, it's far too often used as a dodge to avoid your readers. For those who *do* mix personal and technical life on their blog, this is a fun read that could help you connect (or re-connect) with your audience...

And now if I do something totally new on my blog, you'll know where I stole the ideas from... :)

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great little book, for newbies or veterans alike, September 24, 2006

By	Manny Hernandez "Author of Ning For Dummies" (Bay Area, CA) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)

I have maintained my blog at [...] for over four years now, so I can tell you it doesn't matter if you've been a blogger for a while: you will find this book useful. It should be noted, like other reviewers have pointed out, that it's not just about blogging (though some of the tips offered pretty much are ideal for a blog as a content vehicle). The book offers the reader 100 ideas to avoid "me-too syndrome" as the author puts it. The result, cleverly conveyed by the title, is broken down into sections, from ideas that will take the blogger fifteen minutes to write about, all the way to involved projects that will take time to gather and publish.

There were so many useful ideas to deal with writer's block in this great little book that I found myself earmarking more than half the pages to make sure I go back to them over time. Whether you are new to blogging or have been doing it for a while, "No One Cares What You Had for Lunch" is an amazing book that will do wonders for you.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beyond just blogging...it's all about creative communication, September 2, 2006

By	E. Rutter "virtual blogger" (Emeryville, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I just finished this book, and highly recommend it (but not for the reasons you'd expect, more on that in a bit.) First of all, this book is fast and fun to read: the author's personality shines through...Margaret is funny, offbeat, down-to-earth and has an heartfelt mission to save the Web from boring and crappy posts. Hear, hear!

But 'tho the book's focus is on the blogosphere, I found that the ideas are wonderfully applicable to all personal writings...journals, essays, letters to friends and family, scrapbooking. Whether you're putting your ideas and experiences online or on paper, these 100 arrows point you to creative communication and *great* writing...because they get at what makes you, you.

That's why I got a copy for my mom...she doesn't blog, but she'll love the book for other reasons!