by Margie Boulé

Sunday, March 23, 2008

The Oregonian

Change your life. Write a blog.

Forget hypnotism. Don't call your friends for support. Don't pay a life coach.

Want to finally keep a resolution, kick that bad habit, learn that quirky skill? Make a commitment right online. Put it in your blog.

A blog, for the uninitiated, is a Web log, an online journal in which people share their thoughts or their lives on a regular basis. Readers add comments.

Bloggers around the world share jokes, advice, baby pictures, personal crises and political opinions.

And, it turns out, the world often pays attention.

Which makes the blog a great tool for personal change. Psychologists have known for a long time that public commitments are more successful than private resolutions.

You tell your blog audience you're going on a diet and write about your daily hungers, chances are you'll get more than attention -- you'll get support, advice and peer pressure. Just what you need to succeed.

The Web is filled with daily entries from bloggers who are trying to quit smoking, lose weight, exercise daily.

Then there are those who have looked at their lives and found them lacking. They want to make changes. They want to shake things up.

Julie Powell was a frustrated secretary in New York City. The only thing in her life she felt she'd done well was marry a great husband.

Looking for a fresh approach to life, Julie started a daily blog she called her "Julie/Julia project." On it, she committed to cook every recipe in Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking," in one year.

As she struggled through the cookbook, her readership grew. And grew. At the end of the year she had gained weight and a professional writing career; her book about the experience became a best-seller.

Portlander Marc Acito already has written a popular novel, "How I Paid for College: A Novel of Sex, Theft, Friendship and Musical Theater." In fact, its sequel, "Attack of the Theater People," will be published next month.

Marc's publisher suggested he start a blog; it's almost a requirement for authors today.

But Marc realized, "What did I have to say? 'Today I faced a blinking cursor on an empty page, in my pajamas.' "

It dawned on him: His life was stagnant. "When I looked at my holiday letter for the end of 2007, I realized . . . I could have reprinted 2006 and sent it out."

So Marc began his new blog with a commitment: For one year he would do something every single day that he'd never done before. He began in late December.

And he's stuck with it. Follow his adventure at http://marcacito.blogspot.com.

He wore an eye patch for an evening. "It gave me a totally different perspective. For starters, I had no idea how much it affects your balance."

He ate salad with his fingers. This week he had a barber shave him. "That guy having a razor that close to my throat . . ." made him nervous.

Actually, he's faced several fears already. "I held a snake, which terrified me. A six-foot long python, on Day 16."

He also went to an Asian grocery "and bought the most mysterious, disgusting looking thing I could find." He wouldn't allow the checker to tell him what it was. "She said, 'Even Japanese people don't eat this.'

"It was horrible . . . it tasted like grass clippings in vinegar."

Most days, he says, he wakes up not knowing what new thing he'll attempt that day. He's looking for suggestions.

Leah Jorgensen is looking for love.

Leah, who lives outside Portland, also has made a yearlong commitment, on her blog "365 Days Until Love -- and counting" (http://365daysuntillove.wordpress.com). After a very bad year, Leah decided to write a daily blog dedicated to love of Portland, her friends, herself and, possibly, a sweetheart.

And then there are the folks who aren't looking to shake up their lives. They just want to try something new, acquire a skill or share their expertise.

A Longview man who calls himself AlpineTrout committed to drink 365 kinds of beer . . . and accomplished his goal Feb. 16 (http://365beers.blogspot.com).

Just two weeks before, a Portlander named Andrea completed a one-year project to post one new photo every day (http://hulaseventy.blogspot.com).

Portland artist Kevin Cross is trying to post a daily sketch (http://kevincross.blogspot.com). Along the way, he included a moving tribute to his father and announced his engagement.

That's how the blog world works: The personal keeps creeping in, even when you're writing about the cheapo beer you had to drink last night because you were too lazy to drive to Portland to find something esoteric.

And people have the strangest, most wonderful interests.

Stephanie O'Dea is the author of "A Year of Crockpotting: A New Year's resolution to use the crockpot every day in 2008" (http://crockpot365.blogspot.com).

After Stephanie wrote a book about household organization, her agent also suggested she start a blog. "And the only thing I knew anything about was crockpotting," she says.

Her blog is casual, friendly and honest. If a recipe tastes bad, she admits it. "I've had a few disasters. I cooked a brown rice porridge overnight and it was disgusting. But I get comments like, 'It's OK, keep it up.' "

Ian Doescher is looking for listeners. Ian was a subject of this column last year. He and his wife wanted to move back to Portland from New York but needed money to do so.

So Ian wrote a few songs about Portland and recorded a CD. Sales helped the family make the move in January.

Ian, looking for "a way to say thank you to the people who helped me out," and a way to keep him in the studio, started a blog. On it, he has committed to write one song about Portland every week for a year (www.portlandsongs.com).

"This Sunday will be the fifth song." The first was about the return to Portland, the second about the famous Lovejoy/Pettygrove coin toss. The third was a quiet love song ("My Family Was Napping,") and the fourth was a rap "from the perspective of Portlandia."

He sent a copy to Raymond Kaskey, the artist who created Portland's favorite statue. "He wrote back that it sounded like a cross between barbershop and rap. 'Very eclectic, very Portland.'"

Ian sees the blog as "a fun way to force me to be creative every week . . . and I love a good challenge."

Don't they all.

 

© 2008 The Oregonian.