From Small Things (Big Things One Day Come)

This is my 20th entry on this blog and I thought I would take this time to evaluate my own blogging so far and also point my readers to other readable (Springsteen related) blogs.

When I started blogging I was terrified that people wouldn’t want to read what I had written and that I would be heavily criticised and “trolled”. Luckily, I’ve had nothing but positive feedback so far.

What I have noticed is that different themed posts receive different quantity of attention. Writing a post about a Bruce Springsteen song or posting a Springsteen show review is playing it safe. If the entry is about Springsteen or his music, I can safely post it in certain Facebook groups and that, almost automatically, generates a certain amount of views. Many BruceBuds read those entries with enthusiasm and I get nice feedback.

In my opinion the best feedback is when something I’ve written incites a discussion in which readers get involved. Like for example, the entry The Wish (spoiler alert, shmoiler alert), which generated a very intense and interesting discussion in one of the Facebook groups.

Other posts like film reviews, non-Springsteen related concert reviews and posts about current issues are not as popular, perhaps because I don’t post/advertise them in the same way and, apparently, they haven’t found their audience yet.

I have decided that I will try and name each of my entries after a Bruce Springsteen song. Some of the recurring categories will have a set name (like for examples the film reviews that are all called 57 Channels (and nothin’ on). These are my categories:

• Bruce Springsteen songs – my personal take and analyse of Springsteen songs
• “first”- a category that presents different Springsteen related first occurrences
• About me
• Current issues
• Concert reviews – will eventually be named Where the bands are
• Film reviews – 57 Channels (and nothin’ on)

During this short time I have also discovered excellent blogs that I would like to mention/recommend/give credit to:

Estreetshuffle.com is an outstanding blog with different series of postings:

• Kingdom of Days: These posts are published daily, they are brief “On this Day in Bruce History” articles. This is a gold mine for rare audio, photos and articles.
• Roll of the Dice: Longer articles on single Bruce Springsteen Songs. The songs are chosen by a random generator, hence the name “Roll of the Dice”.
• Cover Me: Posts on eminent covers of Bruce Springsteen songs by other artists, or of other artists by Bruce.
• Meeting Across the River: About rare duets and guest performances with other artists.
• Where the band was: Reviews of concerts the writer has attended.

If had to choose only ONE blog to read, this is it. Beside the well written entries with at least one (more often two) articles a day, it also has plenty of added media such as youtube videos, audios, photos and articles to keep yourself busy.

blogitallnight.com is a blog that posts Springsteen related news and rumours, some confirmed news coming from the official Bruce Springsteen website, but also wild rumours. The different series of postings are:

• news
• rumours
• setlists
• tour dates

To make sure you don’t miss any new blogposts, follow Blog it all Night on Twitter or on Facebook.

A team of bloggers and fans write articles on the more professional Blogness on the Edge of Town  -blog, which is a blog with news, commentary and conversation about Bruce Springsteen. Sign up for weekly e-mails

Blogger “Nebraska78” has two blogs, mainly written in Italian (of which I don’t know a word) but just recently he has started publishing entries in English: Pinball Wizard, is a blog about music in general with different categories such as:

• Blast from the Past – retrospective views of game-changing moments in music history
• Dischi (“Albums”) – reviews of different albums

The second blog: It’s Hard to be a Saint in the City is a Bruce Springsteen blog. Dealing with a variety of subjects revolving around the Boss.

To conclude: I still consider myself a blog rookie, though I kind of feel I’m getting a bit warmed up by now (from small things…). It has been more fun to blog than I expected it to be, but also more difficult. I’m a bit of a perfectionist and I always set high standard for myself. A text takes a lot of time to write since I review and rewrite it over and over again. I want my texts to be varied and readable as well as linguistic correct and of good quality at the same time as they should feel personal and unique.

The blogs I’ve mentioned above are the ones I’ve come in contact with these last months and I’m sure there are many more to discover. Feel free to send me recommendations, if you have any.