Preston Bloggers' Meetup: The Aftermath

Just a little post, as I'm oh so weary after two nights on the trot away from my house, my little desk and my computer.

Preston Bloggers' Meetup #1 was fantastic - a lively workshop by Andy Dickinson, full of advice on what to write, what not to write, how to keep your public and private lives separate, deal with spam, generate traffic and even make money from your blog.
With tips on everything blog from typepad to technorati , the blogger beginners in the crowd left the Snug that night itching to get home to their keyboards...

After the questions were over, at least thirty of us stayed behind for a natter (networking, I believe, is the official name) and I got to meet a few people IRL whose blogs I'd read and enjoyed. Somehow, we managed to break twitter about half way through the evening, so even though there are a few updates on at #prestonbloggers, you're better off visiting Ed, Chris, Gemma and Rick, who've all blogged the event already.

Were you there? Are you starting a blog? Post your link in the comments, and we'll put you in the links and very probably feature you in the Blogging Round-up post by Mr Viv. Special thanks go to Ed, Andy, Robyn and Kerry who all played massive, massive parts in making the night as successful and enjoyable as it was.

Now I'm wondering what's next for Preston Blogging? One of the ideas I floated during the networking session, during a discussion about what exactly qualified as a 'good blog' was for an annual Preston Bloggers' Prize - recognising all the different kinds of community, arts, journalism, personal, family and technology blogs that we've got going on in Preston and the hundreds and hundreds of words that are written, read, commented on and discussed by our active blogging community. We're growing into a writing city, and we're certainly a blogging one. Getting some sponsorship and putting that together as an event is possible - what do you think? Any blogs that you'd nominate?

And if, by some small chance, you're not interested in Blogging - check this out. Someone's writing a sequel to Catcher in the Rye.