Do you blog from your phone?

Posted on by Josephine Corcoran

I learned so much from my previous post and not only about poetry pamphlets and poetry collections! First, I learned that it’s OK to quickly type a post and press publish: not every post requires hours of planning and drafting.   Second, it’s OK to ask you (yes, you, dear reader) questions and seek out your opinion – in fact, asking questions in this way, sounding people out, was not only a way of informing myself, it was also an opportunity for you to contribute to my post and share your knowledge  – *thank you*.

Something completely different this time..

..not really to do with poetry but with blogging and, in particular, mobile blogging.

What do you know about mobile blogging?

I’ve mentioned before that I’ll be blogging for Winchester Poetry Festival later this year so I’m already planning ahead and thinking about how I’ll organise my time.  I want to attend as many events as possible and I’d like to post several blogs each day.

Do you blog from your phone?

I’ll take my laptop with me but I’m also thinking that I might post some blogs directly from my phone.  In this way, I speculate, blogs might appear more frequently and in quicker time.  I’d love to hear from you if you have experience of doing this, especially using WordPress.  Obviously I won’t be composing long blog posts on my phone – I was thinking quotes from readings and accompanying photos or vox pop from the audience, that kind of thing.

Have you blogged in this way? Did it go well? What, if anything, went wrong? What’s your advice? Feel free to leave links to posts you’ve written on your phone in the comments section so I can see how the posts look.  Preferably not just images – it would be great to see posts combining words and images if you have any.

I’ll definitely be taking my notebook as back-up and recording everything in this way as I usually would.  I won’t be live blogging from live readings, I can just imagine the catastrophes that could occur!  Having said that, with the excitement of so many poets together in the same place and with so many events going on, who knows what might happen??

All contributions welcome!

Image: A Centennial of Independence by Henri Rousseau from the J Paul Getty Museum

27 thoughts on “Do you blog from your phone?”

  1. Hi Josephine, I’ve taken to blogging a bit from my little phone and have found it fine. The first few times seemed to take forever, mainly because of the small keyboard. Uploading photos is easy peasy and also videos. I’d do a few dry runs ahead of the Festival but definitely go for it.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Hi Jean, thanks for the tips! I’m planning on trying out a few posts before the festival and I also need to upgrade my phone. I like the idea of uploading a short video, that could work really well. Thanks so much 🙂 🙂

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      1. My phone is bottom of the range (I can’t cope with banjaxing good phones out at the beach) so I wouldn’t upgrade unless you really need/want to. Old friends are best!

        Liked by 1 person

  3. Best of British with your Winchester Challenge – as my eyesight deteriorates (good as Specsavers is/are), I find that locating keys is difficult enough on this keyboard.
    I’m also old-fashioned enough to believe that I owe it to readers to deliberate over messages I’m sending (even on Twitter).
    That will be the former teacher of English perching permanently on my shoulder.

    Liked by 1 person

  4. I think if you can source a phone that you can type on quickly (Samsung with their swype function is good) its better than a laptop. Laptops even with the light models today tend to get really heavy when you have to lug them around, then there’s the charging, finding power points etc.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thanks for your thoughts, Sean. Yes, the idea of lugging my laptop around isn’t appealing – even if I’m given desk space, there’s always the worry about security. I’ll probably end up blogging in a variety of ways from Winchester and try some phone posts before I go to see how I fare. Thanks, again! 🙂

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      1. No worries. In terms of what I might like to read or know about. I think if you can give a sense of the festival, alert the readers to what you found really interesting and limit your largest post size to no more than 200-300 words, you won’t run yourself into the ground.

        My experience is in commentating on National Science Fiction Conventions in Aus – fatigue was a major issue ie travel, sleeping in a back packers, staying up late drinking with… i mean interviewing authors.

        The other thing is that you are going to a festival and you want to have fun and be engaged with what’s happening, not furiously composing/notetaking.

        Personally I’d be tempted maybe to take a phone and an mp3 recorder a paper notebook and leave the laptop until you got back to your accommodation. Capture photo’s and comments on twitter, then use some service like Storify to help group your twitter postings into a story for your blog, set aside 1 hour before the event each day to write and after (although I found that at these sort of events you tend to get invited out after – depends on the crowd I suppose).

        Liked by 1 person

  5. Hi Josephine, fledgling poet over here and I almost exclusively blog (my own) poems from my phone (I have a 1 year old and a 3 year old so time is precious and I can do it on the train on my way into work). I use the wordpress app and another app to make headers which are easy to insert into the post. My only complaint – and I don’t know if this is to do with my phone or the wp app – is the app can freeze if I try to do too much updating at once or if I don’t fully allow the picture/header to upload before saving. Good luck! Look forward to reading. Nicole

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Hi Nicole, Thanks for this observation. I did a test run with a blog post from my phone and I wasn’t happy with the result. I have heard of freezing issues so I suspect the app needs further tinkering with. It’s undoubtedly an area for app designers to develop. Thanks, again, for being in touch! – Josephine

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Hmmm yes for what you’re doing I would personally go for a “micro-blogging” approach via your Instagram account automatically linked through to twitter & Facebook if you use that too.

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      2. I tend not to automatically link through to other social media sites, other than Linkedin, as people don’t tend to engage (in my experience). So much is trial and error. I’m finding ways of gathering interest and sharing information via all my social media channels. Good to hear your thoughts, they’re extremely welcome. 🙂

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    2. I’m intrigued by the world. Blogging from a phone. My phone cost a tenner from Sainsbury’s and a ten quid top up lasts about six months. Minimum. I can send texts on it sometimes even ring someone up. But I read the replies with a kind of anthropological interest. Repressed Luddism, my specialist calls it. xx

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      3. It’s certainly a lot less complicated. On the other hand, my eldest son, who runs his own IT company, points out with impeccable logic that a smart phone takes takes better quality photos than my Canon (I have to trust him on that) whereas I lug a phone AND a camera around, and that that is more complicated. I point out that if I lose a smart phone, I lose two things at once. Stalemate. But thank you for your comment. I feel better, now.

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      4. This is going to blow your mind but you can automatically upload everything on your smart phone to the cloud & never lose anything! So I think he might have won. If he’s right on the phone point. Sorry.

        Liked by 1 person

  7. I lugged my laptop to aldeburgh and wished I hadn’t. I’ve only recently discovered the joy of an iPad keyboard (what I’m writing this on). It got me through the summer hols quite well, when I wanted to carry on posting but without lots of kit. Have only ever posted one by phone then spent a week cleaning up the mess I / it made of it. Whichever you choose I know your posts will be great. Go well and enjoy it. As ever, Anthony

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    1. Thanks for this advice, Anthony. I hope I’ll manage with my laptop which isn’t very portable. I had a trial run with my phone and it was a disaster as you found out above! Thanks for your kind words and encouragement. 🙂 xx

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