Thursday, October 28, 2010

My Ideal Reader

 "Casandra"  ©Toni Ruppert
With a commitment to building a more vibrant blog, I signed up for the 4-week Blog Triage class with Cynthia Morris and Alyson Stanfield.  Today’s assignment is to describe the people I want to visit and read my blog.  My hope is that by envisioning my Ideal Reader I will get focused and get at the heart of what I want to post about.  

Though I had to imagine my Ideal Reader, I’m grateful to my family members, friends  and fellow artists who have kept up with me through my blog.  I appreciate you.

So here is the assignment.  Using the following questions:

  • Are they of a certain age or background?
  • Do they live in a particular region?
  • What are their interests – including, but not limited to art?
  • Are they comfortable with the blog format?
  • Are they likely to comment?
I imagine that my Ideal Reader:

...is ageless - he/she knows age is just a number.  He may even be like my buddy Gabe who is the father of teen girls which keep him youthful.  My reader might have a rags to riches story in the making - a Paula Deen before she was Paula Deen.  Because of this, my ideal reader exudes light and is a faith-filled person.  My ideal reader appreciates all things creative.  

Thank YOU for being my ideal reader.

11 comments:

Beth (Elizabeth) LaMie said...

Hey, I may not be your ideal reader, but I can certainly comment. I love the look of you blog & that you are working to make it as exciting as you are! Great job.

Unknown said...

Oh Beth, yes you most certainly can comment. And I LOVED your comment. Thank you. You are right--I am working to make this exciting for my reader--and me too.

Melanie Jongsma said...

What a great exercise! I too have been trying to improve my blog, and I've learned a lot from an ebook by Darren Rowse (he's the guy behind ProBlogger.net, and he's a Christian). It's called 31 Days to Build a Better Blog. Each day is a brief teaching with an exercise to help you apply the teaching. You might like it as a follow-up to this class you're taking!

In fact, the URL I used in my signature this time is to a blog post inspired by Darren Rowse: The 7-link Challenge!

Anyway, keep up the good work, Toni. And keep enjoying the process!

Anonymous said...

Ooh...you know what is good? The more of you that you put in here, the more you reveal, the more likely we'll ask questions. You'll get us mroe curious and we'll want you to go deeper.

Hey, can I pop one at you? You did a portrait of my Dad so soon before he died. You saw him with no reference point of him as healthy. You said you wondered how much to reveal. I would LOVE to see you write about that...what was it like for you to do a portrait of a dying man while we were there that day? Did you see him as dying? (We didn't know he was THAT close, I don't thin...)

Diana said...

I came thaaat close to signing up for the class as well, Toni. At the very least I was going to take the self-study method. Just have no available time right now.

Good first class assignment. Something to think about.

I will be following you as you learn. And living vicariously through you!

Unknown said...

Melanie, Thanks for commenting and your tip about Darren Rowse. I love the way you write, too, so he is one to watch. You shared the magic words, "keep enjoying the process."

Laura, you are the Blog Queen and so I value what you said about revealing myself leading to more questions and more interaction.

Your question about your Dad is an easy one to answer. I took him as he appeared to me. I had no point of reference. Of course no one could have predicted that one month after that painting session, he'd be gone. Thanks for asking, I will write about that experience.

Diana, you may live through me, my dear. It's been interesting so far--so glad that post resonated with you.

Talisa Selby said...

Hi Toni - it's another fellow blog triage classmate. Your portraits are stunning! And your blog is great too - I love the header!
Talisa

Unknown said...

Hi Talisa! Thank you for the encouragement. Our class is awesome, isn't it?

Unknown said...

Hi Toni ~

I love your work and the inspirations behind each project! What an exciting gift to have!

Blessings!!!

dannie woodard said...

Oh, the life of a young mother! I can see it all over again.
No, I'm probably not your ideal reader...I just got her and its late and I need to visit again when I have more time.
I;m Dannie from the Triage class and this is the first 'free' time I've had since Nov. !! What a workout Alison and Cynthia gave us!

Unknown said...

@Tracie--Thanks for stopping by and for your comment. I agree, I'm blessed to be an artist.

@Dannie--Thanks for taking time to read the post. The class was awesome wasn't it?