Where Do You Get Your Free Google Blogger Templates Or Themes?

Do you have a Google Blogger blog? It's free to make one (or a lot, if you like), and there are a million (well, it seems that way anyway) free themes and templates that you can use for your blog.

If you use Google Blogger, or if you have a Google Blogger blog, are you using a free template? If so, where did you get your free theme? Which website did you use to download it?

I've seen and found lots of pretty awesome and cool themes (free, of course 😊), but it's hard to choose which one to go with. And they're all scattered around on various websites, so it can be hard to find them all.

It's unfortunate that Google Blogger isn't like Tumblr, which has a theme garden. It's got lots of other templates posted on other sites too, but Tumblr itself already offers a multitude of awesome free themes.

You don't even need to download anything. You just have to pick your chosen template while you're logged on to your Tumblr account and then click on the "install" button that they helpfully provide.

Unfortunately, Google Blogger isn't anything like that. The built-in or free themes it offers on its site are, well, let's just say they ain't awesome, okay?

Your Thoughts and Opinions

So, what about you? Have you found free Google Blogger themes? What website do you use? What kind of them do you like? Feel free and welcome to share your thoughts and opinions by leaving a comment below.

*Notes:
- Image is by GraphBerry (CC:BY-SA) from deviantArt
- This was previously published elsewhere on Friday, October 21, 2016 at 11:30 AM

Who Is Planning to Join NaNoWriMo?

NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. It runs from November 1-30 every year.

Basically, the whole point of NaNoWriMo is for writers to commit to writing one novel with a minimum of 50,000 words (you can write more if you want) in one month.

You can check out the project's official site at nanowrimo.org to learn more.

You can also choose to create an account there. You can then use it to track your progress (like your novel's word count), meet new people who are also writers like you, get encouragement, motivation and support from these people, and more.

It's free to join, but you can donate to the site if you want to.

NaNoWriMo is all about writing. Just let the words flow. Worry about the editing and the proofreading after you've finished your novel

If you manage to finish writing your novel by the end of the month, then you win NaNoWriMo, and you can get some prizes (http://nanowrimo.org/sponsor-offers). It's mostly discounts for a lot of products, so check it out if you're interested.

The real prize is really the fact that you've managed to finish writing your novel, or, if it's more than 50k words, then you've managed to get halfway through it.

The focus of NaNoWriMo is simply to just write and write. You can worry about editing and proofreading when you've got a finished manuscript in your hands.

So, who's planning to join NaNoWriMo this year?

P.S. I made a poll, but, unfortunately, it looks like it can't be embedded here on Niume's post editor, so I just linked to it instead.

Edited to add: this post is no longer on Niume, so feel free to check out and answer the poll below. You can also leave a comment below to share your thoughts and opinions about NaNoWriMo.


*Notes:
- This was originally published on Niume
- Image with added text was modified by Freya Yuki using Canva based on the image by kirimatsu (CC:BY) from deviantArt

Here are some of the comments from this article, back when it used to be posted elsewhere:

Arthur Chappell said on 3/1/17
I write compulsively and prolifically all year round so the NanoWriMo would actually slow me down - great that it encourages new writing though.

Zack Plourd said on 31/10/16
thank you for doing a post about this! Ive been wanting to do something like this for quite sometime
:)

Freya Yuki replied to Zack Plourd on 9/11/16
You're welcome and thanks :-).

Lorinne Lewis said on 31/10/16
Forgive me, but I published my book with Pronoun.com. It was the BEST choice ever. I mean, O.K it was hard work for me because I am slightly disabled due to dyslexia so it takes a little more to deal with things and do things. But needless to say the whole website was easy to navigate and free. One great thing is I was able to get help when needed. Their tech support is awesome.

Freya Yuki replied to Lorinne Lewis on 31/10/16
Haven't heard of Pronoun. Will have to check it out some time. NaNoWriMo isn't for publishing novels though. It's just for encouraging you to write and finish a novel. You can then choose to submit it to publishers.

Lorinne Lewis replied to Freya Yuki on 31/10/16
OH ok.. Wow guess I need to read better.. LOL :)

Freya Yuki replied to Lorinne Lewis on 9/11/16
:-) But thanks for mentioning Pronoun. Haven't heard of it, but will be sure to check it out after finishing my story.

Do You Like the Infinite Scroll Feature?

Infinite or endless scrolling is a feature that some sites have. When you scroll down to the end of a webpage, if infinite scroll has been enabled, then more and more posts or content will automatically load.

This was made using Persona Paper's poll feature

This will keep happening until all the posts have been loaded. If this feature has been disabled, you will see the navigation buttons like 'next' or 'previous' instead. Clicking on those buttons will take you to the next or previous page of your site where new posts will load.

Do you like infinite scroll? I actually don't like this feature for a number of reasons, so I like having the option of disabling it. Some sites let you do that, but some don't.

So, how 'bout you? What are your thoughts on this feature? Feel free to share your thoughts and opinions by leaving a comment below.

Note: you might notice that a lot of the options in the poll are about reasons to hate or dislike endless scrolling. If you know any more pros or positive things about this feature, then feel free to mention them.

Here are some of the comments from this article, back when it used to be posted elsewhere:

cheri wrote on March 11, 2015, 8:50 AM
Just do not like it. Thats all.

FreyaYuki replied to cheri on March 12, 2015, 12:51 PM
I'm glad I'm not the only one. I really don't like this feature too :-(.

crowntower wrote on March 11, 2015, 9:15 AM
If we are viewing photos or quotes in a photo I would love to have an infinite scroll... hehehehe, because I am so lazy to click the next button... hahahahah! But in some cases I would love to disable it. Thanks and God bless.

FreyaYuki replied to crowntower on March 12, 2015, 1:07 PM
Ah, I see. You're welcome. I was mostly talking about articles and posts though like those that appear on the homepage of a site or blog.

MakeMoneyOnline wrote on March 11, 2015, 10:53 AM
I wouldn't mind to see it on Persona to tell you the truth. I like the feature.

FreyaYuki replied to MakeMoneyOnline on March 12, 2015, 1:09 PM
Ah, let's agree to disagree then 😃. LOL. But may I ask why you like the feature? Just trying to see what others think of the infinite scroll feature. I see there are others who don't like it either, but then there are also those who do.

MakeMoneyOnline replied to FreyaYuki on March 12, 2015, 2:25 PM
I've only seen this feature on Pinterest and Fiverr (maybe one or two other sites I can't remember). I like the feature because I don't have to click "next" to get to other posts. I'd love to see it on Persona because I like to see what's happening on the first page and when I hit the end of the page I either can't find the "next page" button or I'm too lazy to even look for it. But if the next posts would appear, I'd scroll much further and find more interesting posts to comment on.

FreyaYuki replied to MakeMoneyOnline on March 13, 2015, 12:45 PM
Ah, I see 😃.

For Persona Paper - I'd also like it if we could see more posts, but I'd prefer seeing next-prev buttons rather than infinite scroll. It would be good if we can see more posts so we can read even the older ones. Right now, it's hard to find those old posts so I agree that we should be able to see and easily find more posts here.

About Pinterest - what I don't like about the infinite scroll on this site is how, for example, you search for something and you end up seeing lots of pins. You can keep scrolling down and more pins load and show up. But if there's way too many of them, you can't see them all in 1 day. If you have to leave the site for now, when you come back, how can you find the place where you left off?

You can't because all the pins loaded in one page so you have to start at the top again and then start scrolling down again. On the other hand, if there were next-previous buttons, you can take note of the URL link of the page you're on so you can just go back to this page to continue looking through the older pins when you have the time to do so.

MakeMoneyOnline replied to FreyaYuki on March 13, 2015, 2:08 PM
Makes sense. Probably there should be a hybrid option, where you could scroll but also quickly find the place where you left off.

arthurchappell wrote on March 11, 2015, 11:45 AM
I prefer it on big sites as waiting for fresh pages to load can get very irritating

FreyaYuki replied to arthurchappell on March 12, 2015, 1:18 PM
Ah, I see. For me, pages don't really take much time to load so I don't mind. I'm actually not fond of the infinite scroll feature on, for example- Pinterest because, being new there, there are so many pins that I have yet to see.

There's no way I can seem them all in one sitting. For instance, I can use their search feature to search for pics, but I won't be able to finish looking at all of those pins in 1 day. But if I want to go back to the spot where I left off, I can't do that thanks to the infinite scroll feature. I will have to start searching again and then load all the pins again.

nbaquero wrote on March 11, 2015, 5:37 PM
FreyaYuki I don't really mind the feature, but I wouldn't implemented on my sites/blogs.

FreyaYuki replied to nbaquero on March 12, 2015, 1:25 PM
I turned off this feature on my Tumblr blogs and I'm not implementing it on the Google Blogger blog that I'm working on. The only exception is WordPress, but that's because you don't really get a choice. You either end up with the real automatic infinite scroll or the fake manual infinite scroll.

*Notes:
- This was previously published on Persona Paper on March 11, 2015, 7:54 AM

Reasons Not to Use URL or Link Shorteners

Also known as, "What is the problem with shortening links?"

Reason to Use Link Shorteners

People use link shorteners to shorten their URLs especially when they want to share sites on Twitter thanks to the limitation on the number of characters per tweet.

Reason to Dislike Link Shorteners

What are your thoughts on this? Would you willingly click on a shortened link? Or would you actually be averse to doing so?

For me, it’s actually the latter. Shortened URLs look like a mix of letters that don’t make sense at all. That’s precisely what makes me reluctant to click on those links.

It’s because you don’t know where those links will take you. How would you know what website you’ll be brought to based only on the shortened URL?

You can see something like bit.covzxwm (example only), and that doesn’t look appealing or safe especially not when you compare it to something from sites like Daily Two Cents such as dailytwocents.com/article-title-here.

The latter URL tells you which site you’re going to be brought to, so you won’t end up being surprised when you click the link. When you click on the link, you know you’re going to this particular site to read this particular article.

Is It Safe to Click on a Link Shortener?

But with a shortened link, if you’re just looking at the URL, it will tell you nothing, so how will you know it’s safe to click on that link? What if you’re brought to a dangerous site with viruses and malware or something?

Or what if you end up getting redirected to some other site? What if you get taken or redirected to an ad?

Of course, that’s not to say that all short URLs would do something like that, but, with the way they look, they just give that sort of impression or vibe, don’t they?

What do you think? So, are you reluctant to click on short URLs that you see on websites like Twitter, or do you not mind them at all?

*Notes:
- This was previously published elsewhere
- The last updated date is listed as Aug 12th, 2015 1:01:25am
- First image is by GraphBerry (CC:BY-SA) from deviantArt
- Image with added text was modified by Freya Yuki (CC:BY-SA) based on the image by Cpro (CC:BY-SA) from Wikimedia Commons
- Image is meant to symbolize someone using a link shortener
- YouTube video shows you how to shorten links

Reasons NOT to Use Official Social Media Sharing Buttons and 3rd-Party Plugins on Your Blog

Social media sharing buttons (like the ones for Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, etc) are pretty much a staple or a given when it comes to blogs and sites, right? If you have articles, there should be sharing icons somewhere so that your readers and visitors can easily share your posts.

Of course, it's not exactly as easy as saying that you want these buttons, not if you're talking about your own website or blog (like Weebly, Wix, Tumblr, Google Blogger, etc).

I wanted social media sharing buttons on my blogs/sites too. I'll focus on Tumblr (microblogging platform and social networking site) in this one since my quest for social icons for my Tumblr blogs was what led me to finding out all this info about these buttons. LOL 😃.

Reasons to Use Third-Party Plugins

Anyway, at first, I thought about going with the third-party social media sharing buttons plugins. Pros for using this include:

• Easy installation - just sign up or create an account on the 3rd-party site, get their code then add it to your blog
• Choices - these plugins usually offer different designs of social icons, so you can just choose whatever you want plus you can decide how many buttons you need, like if you only want 3 or 4 or more icons, etc

Reasons NOT to Use Third-Party Plugins

There are lots of plugins out there though, so it's up to you to decide which one to go with. So, how come I didn't go with any one of these plugins?

Well, I was reading up on the reviews for many of these plugins to help me decide, and what I've discovered wasn't all that good. The cons include:

• Possible breach of privacy for you and your readers - do you know what kind of data these plugins are mining from you and your readers and whoever else clicks on the share buttons on your blog or site?
• Possible redirect to inappropriate ads - if the share buttons are clicked, where will your visitors be taken? Will they be redirected to ads they don't want to see?

Now, of course, not all plugins do that, but then how do you find out which ones don't? That would take lots of time plus you might have to do trial and error too. Besides, how do you even know which ones will work for your blog or site?

Another thing that made me decide to forget about the third-party plugins was how some of them had such long Terms of Services and Privacy Policies. I always read these stuff before joining sites, but wasn't feeling up to it considering the length of these boring documents.

Reasons to Use Official Social Media Sharing Buttons

So that brings me to the official social media sharing buttons. What are these? Where do you find these? You find these buttons by going to the social media platform whose share icon you want to add to your blog.

For example, if you want to add a Twitter share button to your site, all you need to do is go to Twitter and get their official sharing button.

Get the codes then add them to your blog and that's that. Pretty simple, right? Plus, you shouldn't have to worry about privacy or security since, if you and your readers have accounts on these platforms, then it's a given that you've agreed to the terms and policies of these sites.

Reasons NOT to Use Official Social Media Sharing Buttons

• Design - your mileage may vary, but, in my opinion, these buttons don't look all that nice or appealing
• Plus, each of these platforms have their own buttons that look different from the others, so if you add them all to your blog or site, it won't be uniform at all
• Javascript

Did you know that using Javascript can slow down your blog? And did you know that the code for the social media share buttons make use of Javascript, so you end up getting a lot of codes depending on how many buttons you want to add to your site?

Actually, even the third-party share plugins make use of Javascript, so that's another point against them.

Alternative to 3rd-Party Plugins and Official Social Media Sharing Buttons

Yup, there's an alternative and it's to use simple, lightweight sharing icons. These buttons do not use Javascript, so they won't contribute to slowing down your site. They are merely URL links that lead to the social media site so you don't need to worry about your privacy and security either.

Simple, Lightweight Social Media Sharing Buttons

In short, it's like adding links to your articles (like when you interlink them) only, instead of adding links to text, you add links to images or icons so that, when someone clicks on them, they'll be taken to the site where they can share your post.

For example, they can click on a Pinterest share button, and the link in that icon will take them straight to Pinterest where they can log in and pin the pics in your article.

Some Pros:

Pretty awesome and cool, right? Plus, you can design your own icons or use free ones out there, etc, which means that you can end up with buttons that look uniform and that fit your site.

1 Con:

What about cons? Are there cons? There's one that I can think of, but I don't really consider it as a con. Again, your mileage may vary. What is it then?

It's the fact that you don't get counters for these links, so you won't be able to easily tell how many people shared your posts.

But, if you're new to blogging or your site or blog is new, then it's likely that you won't have thousands of shares anyway, so even if you use counters in the share buttons, you'll probably just end up seeing 0, and that's not really nice to look at, is it? LOL 😃.

Example:

Anyway, here's an example of what the social media sharing buttons look like on one of my Tumblr blogs. Look at the screenshot below:

The screenshot is from this article: 2 Ways for Harry Potter to Prove He Didn’t Put His Name in the Goblet of Fire.

By the way, it might not be all that noticeable on the pic, but the title or tooltip only shows up when you hover your mouse on the icon, so you'll only see the "share this post on Pinterest" and the opacity change when you hover your mouse on the Pinterest button.

The same goes for the other social media icons.

What do you think?

Oh, and, yes, for the record, the theme I'm using actually already came with social media sharing buttons, so what in the world was I doing looking 'round and trying to add these buttons to my blog, you ask? LOL.

That's a pretty long story actually. For now, I'll just say that I did keep those built-in buttons, but I wanted the share buttons to be more prominent on my blog. I wanted to customize them further, I- eh, I think you get the point 😃.

Edited to add: I've changed the theme on my Harry Potter Plotholes Archives Tumblr blog, but I'm still using simple, lightweight social media sharing buttons. They now look like this:

The Harry Potter blog is now using the Clarent Premium Tumblr Theme. Check out the demo blog or learn more about this theme.

I am also still using simple, lightweight social media sharing buttons on all of my blogs on both Tumblr and Google Blogger. Even the themes I make use these kinds of buttons.

Here are some of the comments from this article, back when it used to be posted elsewhere:

UK_Writer wrote on February 26, 2015, 12:52 PM
There's 1001 things to think about, discover, learn - and more - when you start doing your own thing.... so many things, choices. So hard:)

FreyaYuki replied to UK_Writer on February 27, 2015, 9:41 AM
Yup. There's so much to learn about when it comes to blogging and creating websites, etc. It may not be an easy task, but you can really learn and discover lots of things about this, which makes it easier for you if you decide to use other blogging platforms or website builders.

GemstonePink wrote on February 26, 2015, 5:09 PM
Wow, there seems to be so many concerns when starting a blog and building it. I think a blog is more than I have time for.

FreyaYuki replied to GemstonePink on February 27, 2015, 9:39 AM
Yes, that's right if you want to add things like social media follow and sharing buttons, popular posts and recent posts widgets, ads, tags, etc, etc.

But if you're just looking to write, then you don't have to pay attention to all these other things, not if you don't want to. A blog does require a lot of time though especially if you want to publish posts on your blogs at least once a day.

nbaquero wrote on March 1, 2015, 8:02 AM
FreyaYuki Great info, this definitely needs to be taken into account for our own sites/blogs. Need to reread and bookmark for future reference.

FreyaYuki replied to nbaquero on March 1, 2015, 12:00 PM
Thanks. I've also been implementing this on the other platforms that I'm working on. If you have any questions, feel free to ask 😃.

crowntower wrote on March 13, 2015, 5:17 AM
I think this will help if we have other personal site, but for us Philippines and India, this is not gonna work for us here in Persona for the changes that we understand. But thanks for the whole thing. I hate plugins because it always make my computer to crash.

FreyaYuki replied to crowntower on March 13, 2015, 12:31 PM
Yes, this is for those who have blogs or sites so they can also add social media sharing buttons to their posts, similar to how there are also sharing buttons here on Persona Paper.

*Notes:
- This was previously published on Persona Paper on February 26, 2015, 12:46 PM
- First image is by GraphBerry (CC:BY-SA) from deviantArt
- The rest of the images are screenshots from my Potter Archives Tumblr blog

Who's Planning to Join NaNoWriMo?

Hi there. What's up? It's been a while since I've last been here. How are you all doing? Anyway, do you know what NaNoWriMo is? Is anyone planning to join NaNoWriMo? What do you think of NaNoWriMo?

What is NaNoWriMo?

NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. This is a writing project (that takes place on the month of November), which challenges participants to write at least 50,000 words of their novel or story.

You're supposed to write at least 1,667 words or thereabouts each day until the end of November. There are other rules, but the basic gist is that, by the end of the month, you should have been able to write 50k words of your novel.

NaNoWriMo site

There's a website that's specifically for this project. You can join to chat with others who are also participating on this challenge, get motivation and encouragement to write and achieve your goals, etc. But do you really need to join the NaNoWriMo site to write your novel?

Will you join?

Anyway, I was thinking of taking on this challenge, but I won't be joining the site in question. Why? It's because I don't really have all the time to read all the site's rules, terms, FAQs, TOS, etc (I always read these stuff before joining a site). Besides, it's not really necessary to join said website now, is it?

Your own personal NaNoWriMo

So I decided to just do my own personal NaNoWriMo with my own rules. Basically, I plan to / am hoping to be able to write at least 2,000 words of my novel each day for the entire month of November.

What about you? What's your plan? Are you interested in NaNoWriMo? Will you take part in this writing challenge? Are you planning to join the site or will you have your own personal NaNoWriMo?

Feel free to share your thoughts and let your voice be heard by leaving a comment below or answering the poll.


*Notes:
- This was originally published on Persona Paper on October 31, 2014, 4:09 AM.
- Image with added text was modified by Freya Yuki using Canva based on the image by kirimatsu (CC:BY) from deviantArt

Here are some of the comments from this article, back when it used to be posted elsewhere:

Feisty56 wrote on October 31, 2014, 9:41 AM:
I'm going to be a cheerleader for anyone and everyone who is taking up the NaNoWriMo challenge. My hat is off to those who are up for this and will be participating.

Roselyn wrote on October 31, 2014, 10:16 AM:
I will just be one of the audience and reader of their novels. Good luck to all participants. I don't have the talent to participate in that contest.

tinamarie wrote on October 31, 2014, 1:42 PM:
Wow, what a challenge and good luck to those that are able to pull it off.

3 Reasons To Add Read More Links To Articles And Blog Posts

Also known as "Importance and usefulness of read more links in articles and blog posts."

A blog’s homepage will list or display all articles or blog posts that have been published on said site. The front page will usually show a preview of an article with a read more link right below said snippet.

Exactly what is so important and useful about this kind of link? Why would you want all your articles to have this feature?

Pique people’s interests with your article preview

The post preview provides a teaser to your article. It helps to pique people’s interest and curiosity while the read more link located right below the teaser encourages people to view or check out the entire post in question.

Read more link encourages people to view the entire article

If your readers or visitors can see the entirety of your articles on your blog homepage already, then what reason would they have to go to the page where your article is?

They don’t need to do that anymore since they can already see and read your entire post straight from your site’s front page. This is why having a read more link is important. This gives people a reason to check out your article if they want to find out more.

Read more link keeps your homepage organized

Furthermore, this feature is useful in cutting or truncating articles that are too long. Instead of having your really long articles show up on the homepage, you can cut these articles by using a read more link.

This prevents people from having to scroll down endlessly on your homepage. It also stops your front page from looking too cluttered and disorganized.

*Notes:
- Image with added text was modified by Freya Yuki (CC:BY-SA) based on the image by hayashinomura (CC:BY-SA) from deviantArt
- Open book in the image is meant to symbolize the read more link
- This was previously published elsewhere

4 Reasons Why You Want To Change The Titles Of Your Articles

Writing sites and blogging platforms like Tumblr, Medium, and Google Blogger usually let you change the titles of your articles whenever and anytime you want to. But what reason is there to want to change the titles of your articles?

Improve your article titles

If you think the titles of your articles need improvement, then, by all means, feel free to change them. Improving the titles of your articles is definitely a good thing so you can get more readers.

If the titles of your old articles are not as good as the newest or most recent article titles that you have, you should go ahead and change them to improve them. This is especially so if, previously, you struggled to come up with great titles for your articles.

Make your article titles interesting

Are your article titles boring, dull, and bland? You should definitely change them to make them more interesting. Who wants to read boring titles, right?

Put yourself in your potential article visitor or reader’s shoes and think about what kind of title would get you to check out an article.

More often than not, the title is the only thing that people can see before they can look at the rest of your article.

If the title doesn’t interest them or grab their attention, then they won’t bother to read said article. They’ll just look for other articles that are more appealing and interesting to them.

Article titles are too vague and mysterious

A mysterious title is pretty good if it can help to pique your readers’ curiosity and get them to want to check out the rest of the article.

But you can’t be too mysterious and vague about it, otherwise people won’t have an idea on what the article is going to be about.

Or they might get an idea on the article’s topic based on its title and they think that sounds interesting, but when they check out the article, they’ll soon find out that they got it wrong and that would no doubt upset them.

So be sure that your titles aren’t misleading and that they’re actually relevant to the article in question.

Don’t explain everything to your readers or visitors in your article title

Some titles seem to have the contents of the entire article summarized in one line. Don’t do that. You should be giving people a reason to want to check out your article.

If your title already answers their question or explains everything to them, then why would they bother clicking and checking out the rest of your article?

*Notes:
- Image with added text was modified by Freya Yuki (CC:BY-SA) based on the image by CoDLia (CC:BY-SA) from deviantArt
- Image is meant to represent someone trying to change the titles of their articles
- YouTube video talks about some things that can help you make your titles less boring and more interesting and catchy
- This was previously published elsewhere

Can Article Titles Be Too Long?

Is it all right to have long titles for your articles? I don’t know, but I hope long article titles aren’t all that bad since a lot of my articles have pretty long titles (this is one of the few that has a pretty short title actually).

Do you have a hard time coming up with article titles?

It’s hard to come up with a short title though without coming across as way too vague or even misleading. Sometimes, maybe there really is no other way to say some things; what do you think?

Descriptive titles

After all, titles have to be descriptive too, right? And they need to give people a reason to want to check out the article itself by piquing their curiosity and getting them interested.

So you can’t be too vague or broad or generic, and you definitely shouldn’t be misleading or you’ll just piss off the people who decided to check out your article only to find out that it wasn’t what they were expecting or what they were looking for.

How to come up with the right or best article title?

For example, I wrote an article (well, I wrote more than 1, and they all have pretty long titles) about the Malaysian Airlines MH17 tragedy and my title was really long.

This is the title: “How Is What Happened To Sirius Black From J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter Series And To Those Being Blamed (Russia, Ukraine, Etc) For The Malaysia Airlines MH17 Tragedy Similar?”

I couldn’t come up with anything shorter. I mean, I can’t just simply say Malaysian Airlines MH17 tragedy since that would make the title way too plain, and it doesn’t say anything about the contents of the article at all.

Sure, anyone who clicks on it will be expecting to see stuff about the airplane crash, but this topic is broad enough as it is.

There are many aspects of the plane crash that you could be talking about and people need to know that before they decide to read the article. What if they wanted to know about something else and not specifically about whatever your article is about?

What do you think? Can article titles be too long? How can they be shortened then? Or maybe it doesn’t and shouldn’t matter; what say you? Feel free to share your thoughts and opinions by leaving a message in the comments section below.

*Notes:
- Image with added text was modified by Freya Yuki (CC:BY-SA) based on the image by CoDLia (CC:BY-SA) from deviantArt
- Image is meant to symbolize someone trying to come up with suitable and interesting titles for their articles
- YouTube video talks about some things that can help you make your titles less boring and more interesting and catchy
- This was previously published elsewhere

How To Improve Your Article Titles?

Do you hate writing titles for your articles or blog posts? Some people find it easy to improve their article titles. Some will struggle and have a hard time. I’d say I’m more on the latter. Sometimes I hate having to write titles for my online articles or blog posts.

It’s such a pain and hassle trying to come up with one. I always have so many draft titles. Usually, I write a long list of titles before even choosing one. More often than not, I just write my post first and leave the title for last.

Say no to misleading titles

The main body of the article is definitely easier for me. Article titles have to be interesting, not misleading. They should be able to get people to read them. They should be able to pique their curiosity.


I’ve been working on improving the titles on my articles (like the ones on this blog and my other Tumblr and Google Blogger blogs) a few at a time, but it’s definitely not that easy.

Edit your article titles

Sometimes I’ve to change the article title several times before I’m satisfied. Even then I might end up changing them again later on when or if I come up with something new that seems interesting enough. Wouldn’t it be great if there was an easier way to improve our article titles? What do you think about this?

*Notes:
- Image with added text was modified by Freya Yuki (CC:BY-SA) based on the image by CoDLia (CC:BY-SA) from deviantArt
- Image is meant to symbolize someone trying to improve their article titles
- YouTube video talks about some things that can help you make your titles less boring and more interesting and catchy
- This was previously published elsewhere

How To Come Up With Interesting Titles?

How come your articles should have interesting titles? Many people say that it’s important for articles to have interesting titles in order to draw readers to check them out and read them.

The title is usually the first thing that people will see or notice when they come across an article especially if said title is of a different or bigger font than the body of the article.

Creating titles is easier said than done

The problem with saying something like that is that it’s easier said than done. How can you come up with interesting titles that will grab or catch the attention of potential readers?


Some articles about this topic might give some examples, but it might not be all that helpful because the title of a post really depends on what the article is about.

Say no to misleading titles

The contents of your article will dictate its title because you can’t have misleading titles. Your titles should convey what your article is about without revealing the entire contents of your text (if people already know what your post is about based on its title, then why would they have any more reason to read the entirety of said article?).

You need to be a bit descriptive when it comes to your titles and yet, at the same time, you can’t be too descriptive. There has to be a balance. Do you think there’s some sort of secret formula or way in which people can come up with awesome titles? If there is, I definitely want to know.

I find that I have a bit of a hard time in coming up with article titles. Sometimes, it really seems that writing the body of the article itself is so much easier than trying to come up with an appropriate and yet interesting title. Sometimes, the titles might seem to be a little too long or maybe even a bit vague.

What about you? Are you having a hard time coming up with titles for your articles and blog posts, or do you find this to be an easy task?

*Notes:
- Image with added text was modified by Freya Yuki (CC:BY-SA) based on the image by hayashinomura (CC:BY-SA) from deviantArt
- Image is meant to symbolize someone trying to come up with interesting titles since the figure in said image looks thoughtful
- YouTube video talks about some things that can help you make your titles less boring and more interesting and catchy
- This was previously published elsewhere

Why You Need To Use Paragraphs When Writing Articles?

This post is also known as "Why huge blocks of text are annoying?" and "Why is it important to use paragraphs when writing articles?".

Articles with huge blocks of text

What do you think or feel when you come across articles that have very long paragraphs or, worse, that have the contents of the article written in one huge wall of text? Who wants to read huge blocks of text? Don’t you get turned off or feel miffed, frustrated, and annoyed when you see articles like that?

Reason to add paragraphs to your articles

They hurt the eyes, don’t they? And they can make you feel confused as you try to figure out which part of the huge block of text you’ve already finished reading.


If I see articles like that, I just leave and go look for other articles that are easier to read. I wouldn’t want to read articles with huge blocks of text unless said article is really, really very interesting. Even then, I'd hesitate to read such articles, and might only do so if there's no other article or post about whatever I might be looking for.

How to make your articles easier to read?

What’s wrong with putting spaces and paragraphs in your articles? What’s wrong with making them easier to read?

Since I don’t like articles with huge blocks of text, I make sure my own articles are separated into small paragraphs and that there are plenty of spaces to make them easier on the eyes.

This should definitely include the need to add spaces between paragraphs, so your article won’t end up looking like one huge wall of text

The spaces might make the article seem longer, but they are easier to read, which is what’s most important. If people like what they’re reading and find that their eyes aren’t getting strained and that the contents of the article are interesting, then they likely won’t even notice the length.

What about you? Do you also write articles and make sure to separate the text content into small paragraphs?

*Notes:
- Image with added text was modified by Freya Yuki (CC:BY-SA) based on the image by CoDLia (CC:BY-SA) from deviantArt
- Image is meant to symbolize someone writing articles
- Second image is from Amazon.com; link shown above via Amazon's Native Shopping Ads card format widget
- YouTube video shows you how to add spaces between paragraphs using a word processor like Microsoft Word
- This was previously published elsewhere

Do You Like Being Forced To Subscribe To A Newsletter?

Also known as "Do you like those newsletter popups, which may not necessarily be an ad, but which could technically still be considered an advertisement anyway?"

So, what exactly am I talking about? You know when you find what seems to be an interesting article online (at least interesting enough to get you to click it and check it out) and then you go to the site where it's located to read it?

When you get to said article, there are some sites which will suddenly display either popup ads or a popup newsletter subscription form. These things will just suddenly show up, and you won't be able to read the article because it will be kind of grayed-out, so you have to close those popups (or sign up for them or something, but who'd do that?) first before anything else.

What do you think about that? Do you like those popup ads or those popup newsletter subscription forms? For me, I don't like them at all (totally an understatement, by the way). Seriously, doesn't anyone find these annoying?

And also, don't you think they're really kind of intrusive? I mean, you arrived at that site to read an article and not to sign up for some random newsletter or click on some ad or something. Isn't this kind of tactic really irritating?

Or does it actually make people want to sign up and subscribe? If they'd placed these on the sidebar or footer of their site, it would be less intrusive, and I wouldn't mind them at all. So, what about you? What do you think?

Here are some of the comments from this article, back when it used to be posted elsewhere:

MsBiz wrote on January 28, 2015, 11:32 AM:
I typically don't like any email newsletters in general. If I want the information, I'll go to the website and look it up myself. Being forced or even pressured to subscribe really annoys me.

FreyaYuki replied to MsBiz on January 29, 2015, 4:17 PM:
Same here. I prefer to just go to the site if I want the info. I especially hate it when a popup ad or email subscription form suddenly shows up like you're being forced to sign up before you can read the article.

arthurchappell wrote on January 28, 2015, 11:32 AM:
The newsletter often turns into email alerts on every slight change on their website - best ignoring most of them.

FreyaYuki replied to arthurchappell on January 29, 2015, 4:25 PM:
Yeah, this is why I don't really sign up for online newsletters.

maxeen wrote on January 28, 2015, 11:38 AM:
I loathe them and it turns me off the original article I was reading.

FreyaYuki replied to maxeen on January 29, 2015, 4:30 PM:
Yeah. Same here. I find those popup ads or subscription forms really annoying. I wonder why sites do that. Are there really some people who don't mind suddenly getting popups when they're trying to read an article?

Bensen32 wrote on January 28, 2015, 12:26 PM:
I know exactly what you're talking about and hate them with a passion, I usually just close the whole page and figure I don't need to read the article after all. It is annoying though, I wonder how many people are like me and just close the whole page.

FreyaYuki replied to Bensen32 on January 29, 2015, 4:34 PM:
Yeah, I have to wonder the same thing. If there are lots of people like us who hate these popup ads and subscription forms, then how come some sites are still using these methods? Are there actually some people who don't mind getting ads and forms suddenly popup while they're trying to read something?

j2jworkz wrote on January 29, 2015, 3:22 PM:
I find them annoying as well! I prefer a sidebar option.

FreyaYuki replied to j2jworkz on January 29, 2015, 4:36 PM:
Yeah, I think the sidebar is a much better place for ads and subscription forms so at least they're not getting in the way of the content. After all, the people arrived at the site to read the article, not to see some ad or be forced to sign up for some newsletter.

Porcospino wrote on February 1, 2015, 1:01 PM:
The popups that you can close are annoying, but the popups that you can't close if you don't subscribe to their newsletter are worse. I usually get so annoyed that I just leave the site without reading the article.

FreyaYuki replied to Porcospino on February 1, 2015, 3:52 PM:
Yeah, I hate the popups, but at least you can close them. The ones that can't be closed are the worst. If I get annoyed enough, I don't even bother anymore and just quickly leave that site. I wonder if they even get any subscribers if they are being so forceful by shoving their sign up forms right in readers' faces? Wouldn't that just annoy lots of people?

AliCanary wrote on February 4, 2015, 3:37 PM:
Not fond of pop-up ads, and REALLY not fond of being forced to do stuff, so no, and no.

FreyaYuki replied to AliCanary on February 7, 2015, 9:46 AM:
Me too. I hate those popup ads and the popup subscribe to the site's newsletter ones. I have to wonder if there's someone who likes them though. Is that why these sites still bother to make use of these annoying popups?

AliCanary replied to FreyaYuki on February 7, 2015, 2:29 PM:
I guess it's like telemarketers--everybody hates them, but there have to be SOME people buying, or they wouldn't call! 😟

bestwriter wrote on February 5, 2015, 12:59 AM:
Honestly I have enough on my plate both offline and online that I hardly do justice to what is already there. So. No thanks 😃

FreyaYuki replied to bestwriter on February 7, 2015, 9:47 AM:
😃 I'm also really busy with a lot of stuff lately.

*Notes:
- This was previously published on Persona Paper on January 28, 2015, 11:25 AM
- Image is by GraphBerry (CC:BY-SA) from deviantArt

Results Of The Editing Old Articles Poll

I added an Opinion Stage poll on this post about editing old articles. For reasons which I'll talk about in another post on another one of my blogs, I've decided to delete this poll and replace it with one from SurveyHero instead.

According to my dashboard on Opinion Stage, the aforementioned poll had been created on 31 October 2014. I posted the article in question here on Tuesday, September 13, 2016 at 1:22 AM, but it had originally been posted elsewhere (either Daily Two Cents or Writedge, if I remember correctly).

The statistics page on Opinion Stage for this poll looks like this:

This is the new poll from SurveyHero:

So, what about you? What do you think about editing old articles?

Update on July 7, 2023 Friday: had to delete all my SurveyHero polls.

*Notes:
- Pics are screenshots from my Opinion Stage account

Is Your Story Or Novel Going In The Right Direction?

Are you writing a story or working on a novel? How's it going? The last post I published on Niume was on October 30, 2016. It was about NaNoWriMo. I haven't been able to log on to Niume until now since I've been busy with a lot of things. One of these things is writing a story. Yep, am doing my own personal NaNoWriMo.

In the story am writing, the main chara gets lost in a forest. He ends up encountering a griffin who tries to kill him.

I'd say it's going pretty well so far. Have been talking a bit about it on Twitter using the #NaNoWriMo, #NaNoWriMo2016, #amwriting and #amwritingfantasy hashtags. Yup, am writing a fantasy story. I've written a few thousand words already, but I've still got a long way to go before I finish the entire thing. I think it might take me more than 50k words.

I hope to be able to write as much as possible for the whole month of November and then be able to continue doing so even after NaNoWriMo ends. So, how 'bout you? If you're writing a story, what genre is it about? How's the plot coming along? What can you say about it? Hope it's going well for you too. Good luck 😃.

Here are some of the comments from this article, back when it used to be posted elsewhere:

Zack Plourd wrote on 6/11/16:
I started a profile on NaNoWriMo, with the intent to write a thing, but I found the site slightly incomprehensible as to how to go about that. It wasn't very clear.

Freya Yuki replied to Zack Plourd on 7/11/16:
The site does have a FAQ (http://nanowrimo.org/faq) and how it works (http://nanowrimo.org/how-it-works) page. Note: you can't actually write your novel on the site. You can just use it to check your word count or get to meet other writers, etc.

Zack Plourd replied to Freya Yuki on 7/11/16:
^see thats the kind of stuff i wasn't clear on. thank you for clarification.

Freya Yuki replied to Zack Plourd on 9/11/16:
You're welcome.

Barbara Ciruelos wrote on 6/11/16:
Good luck! The fact that you´re trying to complete NaNoWriMo is more than impressive. I´ve always been more of a self-time author, to be honest, but every approach is effective as long as it fits your style!

Freya Yuki replied to Barbara Ciruelos on 7/11/16:
Thanks. Am trying to write as much as possible to finish this story.

*Notes:
- Image with added text was modified by Freya Yuki (CC:BY-SA) using Pablo by Buffer based on the image by kirimatsu (CC:BY-SA) from deviantArt
- This was previously published on Niume on 5 November 2016

What Will Make You Think That Critique Circle Is Awesome?

Critique Circle is an online writing critique group. It's free to join although the site also offers a premium or paid version.

Is Critique Circle really a perfect and awesome tool for writers?

How does it work?

The basic premise is that you critique a person's work and they do the same for yours. So, it's a give-and-take (or tit-for-tat) relationship. You can post your story on the site and people can choose to critique it, giving you constructive criticism that can help you improve your writing, plot, characters, etc.

However, before you can post your story to have it critiqued, you will need credits. You get credits by critiquing the works of other people.

It's only after you have the required number of credits (meaning, after you've critiqued a certain number of other people's stories) that you'll be allowed to post your own to receive critiques. It seems to be a pretty neat system that ensures that everyone's work will be critiqued.

Is Critique Circle really awesome?

I've been trying to find more information about Critique Circle since I wanted to join an online writing group and have my stories critiqued. I've found a number of positive reviews that recommend this site, however, most of them are dated several years ago.

The site itself seems pretty okay, though the layout could maybe use an upgrade in terms of looking more modern. There's a lot of info on the site including help pages and the like. However, I noticed that they don't have a Terms of Use and Privacy Policy pages. At least, I can't find these 2 pages anywhere on the site.

I wonder why not? Do these pages even exist? If they do (and, really, they should), then where are they? If you try to register for the site, you'll be asked to agree to the rules, but there's no mention of their TOS and Privacy Policy. What's up with that? Weird.

Is Critique Circle still active?

Critique Circle has a Twitter account, so I thought I'd send them a tweet to ask about their terms and policies. But they never responded (even now, they've yet to respond). So, I wonder if the site is even still active?

Unfortunately, you can't tell for sure unless you join because the main site itself (minus the help and FAQ and other such info) is locked and visible only to members. That's not really a bad thing.

In fact, I prefer it to be that way, so your work is only visible to site members, which should ensure you don't lose your story's first publication rights. But, on the other hand, if you want to know more about Critique Circle, this does mean you won't be able to find out much.

Who has joined Critique Circle?

Has anyone joined or tried out Critique Circle? What can you say about it? Would you recommend it? Is it still active? Does it really not have a Terms of Use / Terms of Service and Privacy Policy? Do you think it's a legit site?

Other online writing critique groups

If you don't like Critique Circle, can you recommend other online writing critique groups (except Scribophile)? What other groups have you joined or tried? What can you say about these sites?

Edited to add: I've joined Critique Circle and will be writing more about it in upcoming articles.

*Notes:
- Image with added text was modified by Freya Yuki (CC:BY-SA) using Pablo by Buffer based on the image by sayuko (CC:BY-SA) from deviantArt
- This was previously published on Niume on 14 December 2016

Results Of The Readers Being Ignored By Article Writers Poll

Way back when this article had been published elsewhere, I added an Opinion Stage poll to it. For reasons I'll be talking about in another post on another one of my blogs, I've decided to replace this poll with one from SurveyHero.

The article in question is about authors or writers not replying to the comments or questions left by readers or visitors of their articles or posts.

The poll was made on 21 October 2014. So far, it has had 9 votes.

The original poll looked like this:

On my dashboard on the Opinion Stage site, the statistics page for this poll looks like this:

Here's the new poll from SurveyHero: 

So, what about you? What do you think about this? Do you want authors or writers to reply to the comments you leave on their posts or articles? Or do you not mind being ignored?

Update on July 7, 2023 Friday: had to delete all my SurveyHero polls.


*Notes:
- Image with added text was modified by Freya Yuki (CC:BY-SA) based on the image by hayashinomura (CC:BY-SA) from deviantArt
- The rest of the pics are screenshots from my Opinion Stage account

Readers, Do You Like Being Ignored By Writers Or Authors?

Who wants to be ignored? As a reader, do you like it when writers or authors ignore you? Do you like feeling like you don’t matter and they don’t care about you at all? What exactly does that mean? What am I talking about?

Some readers take the time and effort to comment on articles they read

You know when you read an article or post or whatever you want to call it, and there’s a comments section at the end? You take the time to read the article and then decide that you liked it enough to leave a comment. Or maybe you have a question and you think the author of the piece sounds like an expert or that they know what they’re talking about, so you decide to ask and see if they can help you.

The least writers and authors can do is reply to their readers and visitors

As a reader, don’t you hate it when writers or authors don’t bother to reply to the questions and comments that you took the time and effort to leave on their articles?

What should happen after you comment? What do you expect or what do you think will happen? Do you want to get a response to your comment? Or will it not matter to you in the least if the writer doesn’t reply to your comment? This is where the being ignored part comes in.

There are many writers or authors who don’t bother to respond to the comments left by their readers. All the comments just accumulate or pile up in their articles and they don’t seem to care; they won’t respond. If they won’t bother to reply, then why would they leave the comments section open in their articles?

Don’t ignore those who bother to comment on your posts

For me, as a reader, I hate feeling or being ignored. If you take the time and effort to comment on someone else’s article, don’t you want that person to at least take the time to acknowledge your words? If you asked a question, don’t you want an answer? This is why I always respond to all the comments that I get on my articles.

Of course, I understand that the replies can’t always happen right away. I also take the time to reply to comments depending on the circumstances. For example, I might have missed the email that I have new comments on my articles or I might be busy with other tasks, etc.

Also, I can’t always check, but when I see that I have a comment on any one of my articles, I respond; I’ll always reply even if it might take some time. If someone doesn’t bother to respond to comments, it makes me want to avoid their articles or at least not bother to comment anymore. I mean, why should I bother to say anything if no one is going to respond anyway? What do you think?

To add: check out this post to see the results for this poll back when it used to be made using Opinion Stage.

*Notes:
- Image with added text was modified by Freya Yuki (CC:BY-SA) based on the image by hayashinomura (CC:BY-SA) from deviantArt
- Image is meant to symbolize the authors who ignore their readers or those who bother to comment on their articles because the figure is facing the other way
- The second image was made using the free site called Quozio
- This was previously published elsewhere