Things Are So Bright I Gotta Wear Shades

The Blogging Empire Moves Upwards

When I was a radio many years ago, I was humbled by the dedication displayed by fans regarding my radio show, especially oddly enough, Little Old Ladies. With a Total Survey Area involving 21 radio stations (I think), I won the Little Old Lady demographic by a landslide. I had more Little Old Ladies listening to me than the other twenty radio stations in the TSA. I guess they loved the Rebel in me and the rowdy country music I played. They were part of my Rowdy Friends audience. (Apologies to Hank, Jr) My point is that every time I went on the air, I had an audience that was very diversified and very loyal. Which brings me to you. I know you are all not Little Old Ladies, but your loyalty to me and my blogs has been overwhelming. Remember last week when I said that we had over 5000 page views for all the blogs? If the current trend of page hits continues for the month, we are on our way to over six thousand page views for Dumbass News alone! That's about five times the page views we were getting just a couple of months ago. It's not my brilliant opinion and commentary that keep you coming back. You come back again and again because you are a sick, twisted psychotic dumbass! Don't get your undies in a wad, I say that with love in my heart. Really I do. :) I can't thank you enough for being a dumbass your continued support. This type of post here may be like a broken record to you, but to me it is a heartfelt "thank you". Your time is valuable and for you to check in on my blogs every day is something I appreciate and do not take for granted.

I am too lazy to do the math right now, but we are read by people in at least ninety countries around the globe, plus all 50 states and the District of Dumbasses, I mean District of Columbia. That's not too bad considering that ten moths ago I was thrilled to get twenty page views a day, total from both Dumbass News and Three States Plus One.  These blogs are now my radio show and my words are the music you hear.Or the noise you hear, depending on your point of view. :)

Whether you read my stuff because you like it or you read it just to get pissed off at me (I am looking at you Liberals), your time and readership does not go unnoticed. Thank you.

The Week That Was - The Alamo, An Egyptian Dumbass and Smoothies

It's been a busy month!

It's been quite a week around the ole TexNetMaine blogging family. We've been busy covering Texas History as it happened in 1836, excoriating dumbasses all over the world, including our first Egyptian dumbass, I remembered the best friend a man could ever have and the cherry on top of the whipped cream is that my 8 year old daughter started her very own blog! Besides all that, my plate has been full with family stuff, doctor stuff and just plain old stuff. I almost forgot something! Thanks to you, the TexNetMaine Family of Blogs has seen several posts go viral! For those who may not know what "going viral" means, here's definition for you, "The adjective or adverb viral and the noun virality may refer to any viral phenomenon, that is, an object or pattern that is able to induce some agents to replicate it, resulting in many copies being produced and spread around." Having read that, you can see why I am so excited about it.

Here's a quick recap of the week:

• Three States Plus One - On Tuesday I began a series of posts that have given us a bird's eye view of the Texas Revolution. Even though the conflict had been going on for a few months, the nitty gritty started with the Battle of the Alamo. This is perhaps the most famous thirteen days of warfare known to man. You can read days two and three here and here. The Day 2 link features Colonel William B. Travis' famous letter seeking reenforcements for the Battle of the Alamo. It's a very stirring letter, especially for us that call Texas "Home".
• Over at Dumbass News, we (by "we" I mean my friend Tim Freestone and me) celebrated our first Egyptian dumbass! A truly monumental event in blogging history. It further proves that at Dumbass News we do not discriminate. We'll ridicule dumbasses the world over regardless of race, creed, color, religious affiliation, sex (or lack thereof) or national origin. Except my Mother. She's off limits. Your Mother? Not so much.
• Meanwhile, at that blogging clusterfuck we call Because Toby Said So, we revealed the Super Sekrit Real Names of some dipshit celebrities. But the Biggest News of the Week was made by an 8 year old, my oldest little girl, Isabella. She created (with an assist by Dear Old Dad) her very own blog! That was large news when it happened as Issy had well over one hundred page views! That's a great start for any blog. But Issy's thoughts on her mama's smoothies, over 100 hits has got to be some kind of record for first posts on smoothies!

 

Number 1 With a Bullet UPDATED: Scroll Down

Success!

It's been a wild week here at the TexNetMaine Headquarters, better known as my living room, and I have reached the point of physical and mental exhaustion. But it's a good kind of exhaustion. The kind of exhaustion you get when you've taken your kids out to do something special, like a carnival or fair. When you get done, you are dead ass tired, but in a good way. That's how I feel today. Tired, but gratified. As you'll recall, a couple of days ago, I told you of some new writing opportunties I have. I have been steady at that plus doing all the Daddy things that are a part of daily life.

I am still in the process of trying to get some loot for giveaways on all my blogs, but I am sad to report that no company wants to play nice. Still, I sally forth in a valiant effort to secure booty (not that kind of booty, I am a married man) for you, my dear friends and readers. That's just how I roll. Besides, what ever free shit I get for you guys, I get some too! is my way of saying "thank you" for your unwavering support.

I would once again like to remind you that if you'd like to write something for any of my blogs, I will be more than happy to review your submission and post it where applicable. Please just make sure you keep it to my usual low standards and feel free to use "colorful metaphors" liberally. I do have a reputation to live down.

I also wanted pass along some blog stats to you. Take a look at this:

• Three States Plus One  is now read in seventy-four countries, all 50 states and Washington, DC.
• Dumbass News is showing remarkable growth. It has followers from seventy-one countries around the globe, all 50 states and the nation's Capital.
• Because Toby Said So is gaining readership every week and is now read in nineteen countries, 42 states and Washington, DC.

As you can see, I have big dreams for the TexNetMaine Blogging Network and with your support, those dreams will be realized. Thank you all for making this a labor love.

UPDATE: I am a dumbass, which many of you already knew, but I forgot to give you my email address for your Guest Blogger submissions. It's TexNetMaine AT gmail DOT com.

My Blogging and Writing Empire Extends Its Reach to Other Venues!

Writer's Block

In my last post I made a point of telling letting you know how well all of my blogs are doing. And doing well they are. Several of my posts have gone viral, meaning that they have been shared and have become very popular on the web. Other than writing the posts, I had nothing to do with them going viral. The credit for that belongs with you, the reader. Let me say how grateful I am that you would stop by to read what I write, much less make the effort to send it out to your friends and family. Thank you.

Over the last few days I have been looking around the internet for other forums in which to "showcase" my writing. Yesterday, I signed up with a couple of them that pay me to write stuff for them. As a matter of fact, I wrote my first piece for one of them last night. If you are so inclined, go on over and give it a read and even rate it if you like. I am always the optimist, so I know that these new opportunities will, at the very least, be beneficial to me and my family. FYI, the things I'll write about on these new (to me) sites, will be quite a bit different than what you read on my blogs. The new stuff will be <GASP> a little more serious in nature. I think I can handle it though.  :)

I am still looking for some cooperative companies to trade out some giveaway merchandise for free ad space on one or more of my blogs. Wish me luck on that. I have a couple of ideas on how to make this work and I'll be checking on them later today.

Here's a list of all the sites, including my blogs, that am writing for and the Pen Name I use:

• Helium.com - Toby Shoemaker
• Seed.com - Toby Shoemaker
• Technorati.com - Toby Shoemaker
• HubPages.com - FishFearMe
• ConstantContent.com - Toby Dillon
• Three States Plus One
• Dumbass News
• Because Toby Said So

I haven't published to all the new sites yet, so you might want to give me a day or two to get up to snuff with them. Please keep in mind that I am doing all of this by myself, so I've got my plate full every day. This would be a good time to remind you that if you want to write a guest post for one of my blogs, just drop me a line at TexNetMaine AT gmail DOT com, and I'll get back to you as quickly as possible.

Thanks to all of you for making what I do worthy of doing. God bless and take care.


Toby, Blog Administrator
Three States Plus One
Dumbass News
Because Toby Said So