We talk about some of our favorite books and science fiction, the loss of James Doohan who played Start Trek's engineer Scotty and play some music by Kiorda Däkin's Interstellar Paradise from the One Bit Wonder label.

Enjoy!

We also feature great music from our friends in The Kitchen, an up and coming Vancouver band. They have a show today at Radha Yoga and Eatery in Chinatown at 728 Main St. (upstairs) @ 8pm.

Let us know what you think of the content and the sound quality. We are still evaluating our recording setup and we'll make changes depending on our experiences and your feedback.

Download and enjoy!

Tris & I thought we would share some event blogging tips with everyone. We both approach it a little differently, but there are some simple tips you can follow to get out both quality and quantity with your posts. Preparation and fast typing are only part of the picture. One of the hardest parts is actually remembering to type when you are enjoying the speaker.

But, tune in for all the tips we share. Feel free to leave any comments you have about your own event blogging experiences. Fun? Hard? Tiring?

Canadian Professional Blogging Podcast #3
15.3 MB 16 mins 48 sec
Show notes on Qumana blog

Technorati Tags: gnomedex, podcast, blogging, event blogging

So, what makes QumanaLE kick some butt? Well, first, it's free. That's a great bonus. It also comes packed with features to achieve one simple thing: easy blogging.

Qumana offers:

WYSIWYG editing
Seamless publishing and cross-publishing to all the major blogging platforms from a drop-down menu
Easy uploading of images and documents for blog posts
Simple image alignment
Simple, integrated Technorati tagging
Spellcheck
Saving/opening HTML files for offline blog writing

Plus, tons of new stuff planned to come out soon.

Tris & I recorded a podcast in honour of the occasion. Granted, it was 1:30am and we were quite tired, but it's a good little infocast.

Qumana Release Podcast

(4.9 megs 5 min 23 sec)

View the press release for QumanaLE! Then, go download it and give it a try. :)

If you have any questions, send us an email or go visit the Qumana site!

Technorati Tags: Qumana, QumanaLE, blogging, blogs, blog software

To follow up with our last podcast on your blogging voice, Tris and I recorded this podcast with tangible tips on how you can go about developing your blogging voice. We really wanted to explore what series of steps you can take to have a distinctive and unique voice that comes through no matter where you write. We developed a set of notes for you to follow along:

How to develop your blogging voice:

* Read a lot online and offline
* Experiment on a "test blog" or personal blog so you can experiment with your topics
* Have fun - try some wacky posts on your personal blog to learn how to write casually consistently
* Practice, practice, practice
* Write like nobody is reading--with caveats
* Have an edge. Something to make you inviting
* Write like you talk. Cut things up if you talk like that or get excited and go on. be you.
* Write like you're having a conversation with a member of your audience
* Don't forget to interact. -- know how pushy your interaction is - do you ask questions? Are you stating something or trying to invite discussion?
* Ask yourself the role you want to take when writing and let it reflect. If you are an authority, then you need to write differently than someone who is just learning

General writing advice:

* Save to draft the first few posts on any new blog then post
* Know your topic. or at least cover your bases
* Have boundaries. watch your opinion and how far you want to take it

Canadian Professional Blogging Podcast #2.2
(11.9 MB, 13 min, 5 sec)

Credits:

Intro music - The Kitchen (full mp3 music online!)
Welcome message - Nicole Simon of Useful Sounds

Series in snapshot:

podcast #1 - becoming a ProBlogger
podcast #2 - your blogging voice part 1 of 2
podcast #3 - your blogging voice part 2 of 2

Technorati Tags: professional blogging, podcasting, podcasts

Part one examines what Tris and myself think of our own professional voices and our struggles toward making these realizations. We both agree that you don't just start blogging and have a voice - ours emerged after much self-examination and really listening to commentary. We do give some insight into how you too can find your voice. But, I'll not ruin the podcast for you.

Part 2 in this mini "voice" series will examine some more tangible things you can do to find your blogging voice and, perhaps, to make sure it evolves right along with the work you're doing and your growth as a syndicated author.

As with all our podcasts, we will begin the session addressing any comments we've received and offering some follow up to our last podcast. In this podcast we answer Robert's question about being a professional blogger for religion-oriented blogs.

Canadian Professional Blogging Podcast #2
13.3 MB, 14 min 35 sec

Credits:

Intro music - The Kitchen (full mp3 music online!)
Welcome message - Nicole Simon of Useful Sounds

Series in snapshot:

Series podcast #1 - becoming a ProBlogger

Technorati Tags: professional blogging, podcasting, podcasts

Our series will discuss being a professional blogger - how we got where we are, some hot blogging issues, and tips for others interested in professional blogging. In particular, we'll try to highlight the vibrant blogging community here in Canada and what it's like to base your blogging career here.

Topic- our first topic rounds off how Tris & I came to be where we are: as professional bloggers. Our paths were different, but we now sit at the same point in a very exciting industry.

Tris & I are excited to deliver this series on professional blogging - we may be in different parts of Canada, but we have the wonder of Skype to make it all possible. Thanks to Tris for the great editing job. Looking forward to more podcasts!!

If you have a suggestion for a topic you'd like us to cover, drop a comment into the post.

Canadian Professional Blogging Podcast #1
3.73 megs 16 mins, 18 seconds

Our intro music is from a local up-and-coming band called The Kitchen. The intro piece is called "Flow."

Welcome message - Nicole Simon of Useful Sounds

ADV: Listen to two FREE audiobooks RISK-FREE from Audible

Technorati Tags: professional blogging, podcasting, podcasts