Give a hearty official welcome to the blogmistress-o-sphere to LGBT journalist Karen Ocamb, who has contributed guest posts on the Blend a number of times. She’s launched her own pad, LGBT POV.

It’s up now with a few posts at www.lgbtpov.com. My webmaster and I are still working out some kinks particular to this WordPress site so I hope you’ll be patient with us.

I’ll be focusing primarily on LA and California – but I also plan to continue writing news briefs, political analysis and long form essays.

I’ve also invited some friends to contribute when they have something to say. Right now West Hollywood City Councilmember John Duran has a long piece up (with my photos) on the weeks of protests surrounding the veto of the gay rights bill AB 101 in 1991. We thought it would be interesting, given the Prop 8 protests and the upcoming march on Washington.

And today is John’s 50th birthday.

I’ll be posting at times that don’t conflict with my regular paying gig as news editor of Frontiers in LA. Plus I will continue to post and cross-post at Huffington Post and The Bilerico Project and Pam’s House Blend. But my intention is to have fun “thinking out loud,” as it were.

Karen’s just getting her feet wet in the fast and free-wheeling world of blogs. Her background is in traditional journalism and it’s impressive…

She started her career over 30 years ago at CBS News in New York where she clerked for Walter Cronkite, Dan Rather and Bob Schieffer during the Watergate era and the end of the war in Vietnam.  She eventually became a producer, leaving CBS News after producing coverage of the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles for CBS affiliates.

As a freelance reporter and independent producer in Los Angeles, Karen produced, hosted and has been a guest on many local public affairs shows. She has contributed to numerous media outlets, including the Los Angeles Times, TV Guide Online, The Advocate, and OutQ News on Sirius/XM Satellite Radio.

But as we all know, the blogosphere is completely different world. More below the fold…

 

Of course you know I’ve warned her about the challenges of blogging:

  • Fresh and unique voice (don’t have to have the reporter hat on all the time);
  • Good eye for editorial content you like, and think your readers will like as well;
  • Keeping fresh content up every day — this is what usually does in most people; and it’s always the dilemma for a successful blogger. As in – do you ever get to take a vacation or get sick, lol? Racking up guest posters is essential if you don’t have a community blog;
  • Smart use of Twitter and Facebook and other social networking tools;
  • Linking to smaller blogs and larger blogs to get name rec up;
  • Cross-posting at other blogs to generate interest in your work as a writer. It’s often advantageous to do full cross-posts first, then work to teasers if your diaries/guest posts are popular.

And there are many more; she’s keen to pick up this nutty medium; so help her out by clicking over to pay a visit and give some blog-worthy feedback. One — she needs her link to the RSS feed to be more prominent.

Karen’s posts on the Blend:
*  ‘The Religious Right Is Swiftboating Same-Sex Marriage In Maine’
* Cultural Incompetence Is Hurting Us
* Prop 8 and Obama/Biden
* Is GLASS the first non-profit domino to fall?