Holiday Music Blog Chain Sign Up

A bunch of us were chatting on the book of faces about holiday music that means something to us.  I’m interested in knowing not just the songs that are special to you, but also the stories that go with them.  To that end, I’d like to establish a blog chain on holiday music, to begin publishing on December 10.  Here’s what you need to know:

1. I mean “holiday music” inclusively.  I’ll be writing about Christmas music, but if you don’t celebrate Christmas or if music for some other holiday is more meaningful to you, by all means write about it.  But whatever you write about, it should be a song/songs/other types of sound objects that are personally meaningful to you and associated — at least in your own mind — to a particular day.

2. You can write about it however you want, but I’d like to make a special request that you think about what it is that defines a song as personally meaningful — tradition?  timing?  associations with a particular person or event?  something else? It’s not strictly required, but I’d be really interested in hearing what you have to say about these things. Also, if you can find a link to a recording of the song(s) in question, that would be really nice for us readers.

3. This is an open blog chain.  Anyone who wants to participate is welcome to.  If you have a friend who might like to write on this topic, but who doesn’t read this blog, feel free to pass the invitation along.  

4.  Some general blog chain guidelines for those who haven’t participated in one before:

* A blog chain is an ordered set of blog posts on the same topic.  

* Sign up with the organizer (that’s me!).  The organizer will post the list of chain members a day or two before the chain begins, along with the blog addresses of each member.  The first person on the list posts first on the day set to begin.  After s/he posts, s/he contacts the next person (via blog comment or email, depending on what information the chain-member makes available) to let him/her know it’s his/her turn. The last person on the list notifies the moderator. 

* Each chain member needs to post the list, including links to each blog, either in the chain post or a separate post or both. This is because part of the point of the blog post is to give your readers the chance to explore other blogs they might not know about.   

* Each chain member needs to post at the appropriate time, preferably within a day or so — sooner if possible. If something comes up and you can’t manage your allotted slot, please email the moderator at harri3tspy AT gmail DOT com who will either reassign you to a later spot in the chain or drop you from the list.

* While it’s not strictly required, good blog chain citizenship includes commenting on all the blog posts.

* It’s okay to pre-write your post if that’s easier for you, but I encourage you to also consider responding to previous posts in the chain. As a past blog-chain participant, I’ve found that to be one of the most interesting parts, as you sometimes come up with things to say that you might not have thought of on your own.

That’s it.  If you want to sign up, please leave a note in the comments or send me an email at harri3tspy AT gmail DOT com.  Make sure I have both your blog name, an email contact, and the address of your blog.  If you don’t want me to share your email address with others, let me know that too and I’ll keep it to myself.  I’ll just use it if I need to remind you about your post.

If you have any questions about the process, leave them in the comments below.  Chances are others will have the same questions.