Today is guest blogger day at the Blogathon, and I am happy to be hosting William Kendall. Regular readers will recognize him as this blog’s most steadfast commenter. His dedication to leave comments has astounded me, particularly since I know that he reads many more blogs than mine, so I decided to ask him whether he’d be willing to share how he does it. Thankfully and perhaps not surprisingly, he was responsive and happy to oblige. Thank you for sharing, William!

How did you get into blogging?

William: First of all thank you,
Annette, for letting me play on your blog today. I promise not to be like a
bull in a china shop. Maybe a bear, or a moose.

When I first got into
blogging, it was a learning experience. I had to find my niche and hone that.
Somehow it was never going to be a cooking blog, since I have a tendency to
burn water, unless readers were looking for a recipe for Scorched Chicken Parmigiana.
My blog, Speak Of The Devil, ended up becoming a reflection of myself: an off-kilter world of nutty
humor, utter nonsense, sarcastic commentary, cats, dogs, and a cranky Mountie.
For some reason I’m still trying to figure out, my sense of humour spoke to a
lot of people, and in time, I was getting a lot of comments back.

You also follow a lot of blogs, don’t you?

Over time I found myself
following more and more blogs. At last check, there are well over a hundred in
my list to follow, and a handful that I otherwise click into from other pages.
Not all of those are active blogs (seriously, if you haven’t posted in a year,
how are we to know you didn’t get crushed by a rampaging Zombie Plot Bunny?).
Still, each day more blogs get added onto the total, and it’s easy to fall
behind. I actually am behind in my blog reading, but that’s not always a bad
thing (though if someone’s doing a giveaway for a day or two and you miss it,
you’re out of luck). It gives you a sense of how others are responding, and
allows you to check if there are any spammers making their way past the filters
and let the blogger know.

How much time do you think you spend visiting
and commenting on other blogs?

I probably spend an hour
or so visiting blogs, depending on the day. Even with falling behind, I find
that if I can manage to read a given number of blogs in a day, I’m keeping
ahead of the pack. I do comment back to the bloggers on my list, and to those
who comment on my page. It helps to actually say something meaningful, to let
your personality come through. Even though a “good blog” comment might suffice,
I think saying something specific about the post is better as opposed to just
putting in a “You are invited to follow my blog” comment. That’s a guarantee
for me to not follow a blog.

I comment back, typically in my own twisted way, and
it’s enough generally to get other bloggers to have a look back at my page.
Over time, that builds interest from others in your page, even without
realizing you’re doing it. And it helps if you’re having fun while blogging.
People will pick up on that, and they’ll come back for more. And every once in
awhile you can throw them for a loop with a serious blog. They never see it
coming.

How do you find time in your day for all this
blog writing, reading and commenting?

I’m in the world
of academia, which oddly enough allows for a good deal of
flexibility, in terms of working around your class schedule, and a ready
access to computers for working. Not to mention an Olympic sized pool, which
makes for good exercise.