301 Links in a Story - Chapter 9 The Lists of 10 and the CanCan

[For those of you just tuning in, this is based on the 301 Lists that Darren Rowse’s List Group Writing Project brought together. You’ll find Chapter 1 here –> A List Becomes 301 Links in Story Ã¢â¬â Chapter 1 ]

The Show Goes On

Backstage, Lizzie, who wore white satin and sequins, and Amanda Congdon, in beautiful blue, discussed the traits that Jeremy. Jeremy Wright had in common with James Bond and Jack Bauer.

“J”

“Too bad his last name isn’t Bright.”

That’s as far as they got when it was time for them to walk out together.

“Welcome back, everyone,” Amanda called to the audience. Then, walking past each contestant, she clicked each contestant’s button to say hello as she went by. They all smiled back.

“Hi Arianna, Dave, and Jeremy, Jeremy! Shall we start?” Lizzie said, grateful that our two VIDSTARS got to come out after the music, lights, introductions, and rules had all been taken care of.

“Tonight the Blog Board starts with the category Lists of 10. We’ll move from contestant to contestant under a time limit. Each person will be asked to blog one item on a list of 10. Each answer that is actually on the list will be worth 100 points. Scores when we left last night were Arianna — 500, Jeremy — 100, and Dave — 0.”

“Dave, we’ll begin with you.”

“I was up all night, studying every blog at Technorati.”

Top 10 Ways to Get a Technorati Top 100 Blogger to Link to Your Blog or Website

Dave: Take a photo of yourself wearing a rubber nose and send it to any Technorati Top 100 blogger who likes that kind of thing. All bloggers are a little quirky, not just the Top 100. Score: 100

Arianna 500 Jeremy, Jeremy 100 Dave 100

Amanda clicked a title for Jeremy, Jeremy.
Get traffic to your top – Top Ten

Jeremy, Jeremy: Sheesh! We don’t talk traffic at b5, we’re the blogger’s network. I’ll try, Yaro Starak Blog Traffic School Score: 0

Amanda revealed the next one for Arianna.
Top 10 Things IÃ¢â¬â¢ve Learned from Problogger

Arianna: Oh, Lizzie, I don’t blog and tell. . . . My guess is . . . Lists are the new black in blogging. Score: 0

Amanda smiled at Dave Sifry. Dave Sifry smiled back.
Top Ten Favorite posts on Random Stuff

Dave: Oh, finally! All I do is read the random posts at Technorati. Why do you think they renamed Explore to Discover. They thought I’d quit going exploring for weird posts to read all morning. I’ll go with the IMac see through design post. Score: 100

Arianna 500 Jeremy, Jeremy 100 Dave 200

“Another hundred on the scoreboard for Mr. Sifry.” Lizzie said. The crowd went wild and started chanting “Janice! Janice! Janice!” (because most folks don’t know Dave that well, but everyone knows Janice.)

Amanda gave a nod to our Jack Bauer.
The Ten WordPress Plugins For Super Bloggers
Jeremy, Jeremy: Akismet Want more? Want more? I bet I could nail this whole list! Score: 100

Arianna 500 Jeremy, Jeremy 200 Dave 200

Amanda waited while Arianna told Dave Sifry about one of her daughters.
10 Ways to Feature Crucial Posts

Arianna : Oh, Lizzie, what is a crucial post? My daughters and I discuss that every day. What I thought was crucial at 22 isn’t crucial to me now. . . .”

“I know, Arianna.” Lizzie coaxed. “I was just telling my son that myself, but I think the guys and our audience are waiting for us. So I need to ask you for the answer.”

Ariana: When in doubt, be exclusive, darling. Score: 100

Arianna 600 Jeremy, Jeremy 200 Dave 200

“Now for our Lists of 10 Lightning Round,” Lizzie said. “Amanda will read two post titles after each, all contests will have 5 seconds to blog one 500 point answer.” The camera swept over to Amanda who smiled her classic Amanda smile looked to the contestants for their attention.

“Ready contestants?” Amanda asked. They nodded. She clicked the first post title. Amanda read from the Big Blog Post.
“10 Essential Ways to Improve Your Profile as a Blogger,”

Dave, Jeremy Jeremy and Arianna typed quickly.

“Time’s Up! Hit Publish!” said Amanda as she looked up at the Big Blog to read the answers.

Dave’s blog: “Ping, Ping, Ping”

Jeremy Jeremy’s blog: “Link, Link, Link”

Ariana’s blog: “Relationships, darling. Be a Guest Blogger.”

“Everyone hit!” said Lizzie.

“They should,” Amanda whispered to Lizzie. “Pinging, linking, and relationships. Add alcohol and stir to get any gathering of bloggers.”

The score changed to Arianna 1100 Jeremy, Jeremy 700 Dave 700

“Last question for this round. This time blog one or lose 500,” Lizzie said.

Amanda read the new title
10 Blogs You Should be Reading from Watermark a Poet’s Notebook

A hush came over the crowd. No kidding. The entire room got incredibly quiet. One womam in the back from b5 media swooned as if this were the corseted Civil War period. Another put her hand to the back of her forehead, realizing the difficulty, she all but fainted, saying, “Poetry blogging, Oh, not that!”

“Time’s Up! Hit Publish!” said Amanda afraid to see whether the contestants were still standing.

Jeremy Jeremy’s blog: “The Canadian Geek”

Arianna’s blog: “KnifeGunPen”

Dave’s blog: “Bells and Whistles”

“Okay, so blogging poetry isn’t our strength,” said Lizzie.
“But their answers might make an interesting horoscope.” Amanda added.

The score was now:
Arianna 600 Jeremy, Jeremy 200 Dave 200

It was time for an entertaining intermission — the entertainment was sponsored by a resort called “Bloggers 7th Heaven. ” A group of seven CanCan dancers shocked and awed the audience with their individual skills — instead of for the usual 10 minutes they did their tricks for only 7. It was a moment in blogging history. At the end each bent over and they had signs pinned on their underwear that read like this from left to right..

7 Usability WordPress Plugins
7 Free Software Programs Every Computer Should Have
7 Hollywood Blockbuster Blogging Movies Not Coming to a Cinema Near You
7 New Ways to Use Google and Gmail
Seven Ways to Communicate Value with Your Blog
7 Reasons Why Joining a Blog Network Might Take You to Another Level
You Know That Blogging is Taking Over Your Life WhenÃ¢â¬Â¦ You haven’t been to Bloggers 7th Heaven.

Robert Scoble got the whole thing on video.

It was supposed to be just an intermission, but the bloggers all went wild. They were applauding and live blogging at the same time, which isn’t easy — In fact, it’s impossible, yet they were clapping and typing, typing and clapping. Some were even typing, clapping, and trying to imitate the CanCan.

The end of show music started playing. Everyone left the stage. The lights came up and the bloggers were still at it.

“It’s like I say,” Lizzie remarked. “There’s no holding back a good blogger.”

“I know,” said Amanda. “I know.” And our two video stars returned to the Hilton for their usual meal of pizza with fresh tomato, a dozen chocolate covered strawberries, and two bottles of Perrier-Jouet.

The uncontrollable force and an unpredictable influence didn’t mention what they did after dinner.

What happened with Arianna, David, and Jeremy, Jeremy?

You’ll find that out in —————————-> Chapter 10.

–ME “Liz” Strauss