I’ve just come across a great new word!

BLOOK

The word was originally used in the 1990s to describe imitation books – things that look like a book, but contain no text. These were often used for advertising, packaging, toys or displays, and examples can be found as far back as the 16th century. The word was formed by shortening the two words: BOOK and LOOK, ie. looks like a book.

More recently the word has taken on new meanings. It is often used to refer to books which are serialized on blogs. Increasingly people are self-publishing their own books, a chapter at a time on the internet. Readers can then subscribe to the book using their RSS feed.

It can also refer to the reverse of this situation; where people are payed to write books about their blogs.

Blook was short – listed for the Guardian ‘Word of the Year’ Award in 2006.

I’m sure that there will be lots more blooks in years to come, and one day I may get round to reading one!

I’ve just found £35 inside the dust jacket of a second hand book I bought. They are old notes, not in circulation any more, but hopefully I’ll be able to swap them for useable notes at a bank.

Have you ever found anything interesting inside a book you’ve bought?

This is the third week of the Blog Improvement Project. Our task for this week is to add ten different types of post to our blog.

Blog Post Bingo!

• Take a look at the 10 types of blog post below.  Over the next two weeks, try to write as many of these different kinds of posts as you can.

1. A Link Post – share a series of links your readers might find interesting
2. A Short Post – less than 200 words
3. A List Post – simple as it sounds, a list of some sort
4. An Opinion Post – take an event, news, or another blog post and share your opinion on it
5. A Poll or Question Post – post a poll or ask your readers a specific question for feedback
6. A How-To Post – You’re an expert in something; big or small, share how to do it
7. A Long Post – more than 700 words
8. A Review Post – self-explanatory, I think
9. A Definition Post – show your expertise about a topic related to your blog
10. FREE SPACE – a type of post of your choice (that is not the same as one of the previous posts)

This is a really interesting challenge for me, as I do seem to be stuck in a rut – just posting book reviews. I look forward to creating a more interesting, varied blog!