My Three Sons

Stanley Livingston, Ernie on the sitcom My Three Sons, has written a memoir. I loved that show as did many of my childhood generation. You can order it from a TV Ad from MeTV, or at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Of course, there was a doll on that show, later on, which makes it fodder for my bibliopgraphy. Look for exciting news involving my blog posts in 2014, and Happy New Year to all my readers!

An Apologia for Countess Erzebet Bathory: Dr. E's Doll Museum Blog: Seasons Greetings, Merry...

An Apologia for Countess Erzebet Bathory: Dr. E's Doll Museum Blog: Seasons Greetings, Merry...: Dr. E's Doll Museum Blog: Seasons Greetings, Merry Christmas and Peace in 20... : From a Facebook friend; Enjoy!!!

Length is a Guide

From ProBlogger; tips on lenghts of posts: Last week I was involved in a number of conversations with readers about blog post length and whether it was better to write long posts or short ones. I'm always telling my students assigned paper lengths are guides; say whatyou need to say, don't count words. But, practicality is something else. On another note, a KISS memoir is on its way. Now is the time to look for new memoirs and biographies, including a "tell all" but Lindsey Lohan in the works. My thing is, someone ask me if I want to listen to the tell all. :) My short answer to the question was to write ‘useful’ posts, and to use as many words as were necessary to do so. Having said that, I have been experimenting over the last few months with the two extremes of short and long posts. If you’ve been paying attention here on ProBlogger this year, you’ll have seen some of what our team have called ‘mega posts’. For example here on ProBlogger we’ve published: ■The Ultimate Guide to Making Money with the Amazon Affiliate Program (7683 words) ■The Ultimate Guide to Selling Your Blog (5470 words) ■The Complete Guide to Getting Started on Pinterest (4734 words) ■The Ultimate Guide to Leaving Comments on Blogs (2047 words) Over on dPS we also experimented with longer posts including on a post titled The Ultimate Guide to Learning How to Use Your First DSLR (4202 words). These posts have all performed well above average compared with other posts on my sites over the last 12 months (in fact they feature pretty heavily in the most-read new posts on my blogs in 2013). What About Series of Posts? When I recounted the above examples in conversation this week the question that came each time was whether the same content could have been delivered as series of posts. Wouldn’t it make sense to break a 7000-word post down into 10 700-word posts? The answer, of course, is that a series of posts is definitely an option. I’ve certainly created my fair share of series over the years, and will continue to do so, but I also think there is a place for longer-form content. In fact, I think good long-form content has some distinct advantages over series of posts. For me, I think the main advantage of long form content is that its just more useful and convenient for readers to get it all in one go. A series of blog posts is great for page views and helping you to fill a week’s editorial calendar, however if you put yourself in a reader’s shoes, it can also be a little (or a lot) painful. Readers following the blog have to wait for new posts to be published before getting the full information in the series. Readers who come across the series later have to follow links between posts to get each installment. Neither of these problems are enough to stop me writing a series of posts, however, there are a couple of good reasons why I think long-form content is attractive to readers. The other thing I’ve noticed about good quality and useful long-form content is that it gets shared – a lot. While I’ve had great search traffic to each of the above posts this year, they have each been shared at a higher rate than the average post on my blogs in the same timeframe. While I do find my series of posts can get shared around too, I’ve never seen a series that I’ve written shared as much as some of the long-form content I’ve created (the only exception might have been when I first ran 31 Days to Build a Better Blog as a series many years ago). Choose the Best Length for the Topic At Hand Let me finish by saying that I am not suggesting creating longer-form content just for the sake of publishing longer-form content. The key is to choose the appropriate length and style of posts for the topic you’re covering. Long form, short form, series of posts or other formats can all work. Have you tried longer-form content? I’ve love to hear about your experience of longer-form content. Have you tried it? How was it received? Please share a link in comments below – I’d love to see your longer posts. Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger

Dr. E's Doll Museum Blog: Seasons Greetings, Merry Christmas and Peace in 20...

Dr. E's Doll Museum Blog: Seasons Greetings, Merry Christmas and Peace in 20...: From a Facebook friend; Enjoy!!!

Miss Charlotte Bronte meets Miss Barbara Pym: Barbara Pym Doll by Debbie Ritter

Miss Charlotte Bronte meets Miss Barbara Pym: Barbara Pym Doll by Debbie Ritter: From our friend Debbie Ritter of Uneek Doll Designs comes this wonderful portrait doll of Barbara Pym. We love her creations, and own seve...

Miss Charlotte Bronte meets Miss Barbara Pym: Here and There, Pym does Mention her Dolls, Idols,...

Miss Charlotte Bronte meets Miss Barbara Pym: Here and There, Pym does Mention her Dolls, Idols,...: Marcia the Collector from Quarter in Autumn might approve: See below, written by Annetta Miller, a freelance writer who also wrote for New...

Dr E's Doll Museum in the News

See below, written by Annetta Miller, a freelance writer who also wrote for Newsweek wrote a very nice feature about us: When Dr. Ellen Tsagaris was a child in Greece, her mother presented her with a rubber yellow bunny doll that squeaked. “I liked it very much,” she recalled. Two Greek dolls dressed in national costumes followed that present. “By then, I was hooked. I remember saying, ‘I’m going to collect dolls.’” And collect she did. Today, some 50 years later, Ellen is not only the chair of multiple academic departments, but also one of the nation’s foremost collectors of and authorities on antique dolls. “When I was young, I loved portrait painting and I was interested in photography, costumes, and textiles, too,” she said. “I found that doll collecting encompassed all those interests. I’ve always loved having dolls, collecting dolls and reading about dolls.” Wooden dolls, porcelain dolls, dolls made of china and wax, Ellen has them all. And this year, she authored the first definitive book on dolls made from metal. Entitled With Love from Tin Lizzie, A History of Metal Heads, Metal Dolls, Mechanical Dolls, and Automatons, the book addresses the way dolls reflect cultures and civilizations, and how they have given rise to an international “doll economy.” Reviewers have described the book as an “academic text, a photo album, and book of memories all in one.” Ellen’s dolls hail from 50 U.S. states and most of the countries in Europe, Asia and South America. Her family–world travelers–have continued to bring Ellen antique dolls, folk dolls, costume dolls and souvenir dolls from all parts of the globe. One of her favorites is her ‘Vogue Baby Dear,” the type of doll that Communist Party Secretary Nikita Khrushchev took back to his grandchildren in Russia after his iconic “shoe-banging” speech to the United Nations in 1960. She received a Japanese Ningyo doll made of papier mache and covered in white oyster shell enamel when her Uncle Tom visited Japan as a U.S. Serviceman in the Korean War. At Knott’s Berry Farm in California, her father presented her with a strawberry blonde doll designed by celebrated ballet dancer and artist Suzanne Gibson. When she’s not collecting dolls, Ellen is something of an academic renaissance woman. She holds a law degree, a doctorate in Modern British Literature, a Master’s Degree in English, and a Bachelor’s Degree in English and Spanish. She is a member of the Phi Beta Kappa honorary society. A member of the Kaplan family for 15 years, Ellen chairs three academic departments, including Legal Studies/Paralegal Studies, Public Safety, and Humanities/Composition. Her interest in dolls has dovetailed seamlessly with her academic interests. She has researched and written about dolls in literature and about Anne Rice, who was an avid doll collector. Ellen’s next frontier: When she retires, she hopes to establish a non-profit doll museum similar to the one Rice established at the former St. Elizabeth’s orphanage in New Orleans. The museum will tell the story of human history through dolls, dollhouses, and related objects.