Category Archives: blogging

My Current Favorite Blogs

Posted on April 3, 2025 | 15 comments

I don’t just write a blog, sometimes I read other peoples blogs too! Here are the best I’ve enjoyed in my 20 years.

1. JohnHowell.com, also known as Fiction Favorites. Author and blogger John Howell is always entertaining. Views of The Neighborhood, Top Ten lists and the humorous conversations between his dogs.

2. The Spectacled Bean: One of the GOATs in blogging land. Her blog is always fun and introspective.

The Bloggess: “Like Mother Theresa, only better.” Author and bookshop proprietor Jenny Lawson muses hilariously on the systole and diastole of her life. Reading The Bloggess is like talking to that neighbor at the picnic who had one too many martinis.

River’s World: This is a woman who loves the natural world around her and takes absolutely stunning pictures of the area where she lives.

LouisCatorze.com: How can a cat so small be so evil? Although he is the star of the blog, so is day to day life in London.

Last Minute Stuff: Penned by The Eccentric Blogger. I love blogs like this. It’s like an open window where you get to peek in at how her mind ticks. The Eccentric Blogger. It was the top of a post she wrote about.

Suzie81Speaks: Like me, she may not write her award winning blog as often as she used to, but she’s always a good read. She’s one of those long-time bloggers who was there when blogging was the thing before so many other methods of social media arrived.

If you don’t know these bloggers, get out there and make some new friends! Thanks for reading me and them.  ~Phil

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Happy Blog Birthday To Me!

Posted on April 2, 2024 | 9 comments

I love the angry baby and I wonder if he’s 19 now?

Am I the only one on the internet who celebrates their blog’s birthday? I hope not. I may not post as often as I did in the past, but I’m still proud that The Phil Factor is one of the longest continuous running blogs in the history of the world. Go visit Ally at The Spectacled Bean if you don’t believe me. She’s got a blogroll with all the old blogs listed. You should also visit because she has a great blog and is always fun and interesting.

My blog is legally old enough to join the military, commit felonies, drink legally in Canada and buy weed in the States, so who knows what I might blog about in the next year.

As I do on my blogs birthday every year, I’m going to re-post the first blog post I ever wrote in April of 2005. Here it is:

What Up Dawg?

Is it just me or is everyone sick of Randy Jackson’s act on American Idol? How many times can we hear, “What up dawg?” Or his other favorite, “It was a little pitchy in spots,” or “It was just ahh ight for me.” The dude is like one of those action figures where you squeeze him and he has three pre-programmed phrases he rotates through.

Nearly as bad is Paula Abdul. Has anyone else noticed that this season she seems drunk every week? She loves everyone this season and seems to find an excuse to physically grab Simon Cowell every week. Considering her recent charge of leaving the scene of an accident after she clipped another car on the freeway, how ironic is it that her big 1988 hit song, Straight Up, included the line “caught in a hit and run”?

That was it. And I’m still proud of it. Especially that last line.

That’s how I introduced myself to the blogging world and I was rewarded with ZERO comments or likes. Also, I’d like to give a shout out to my longtime blogging friend Jennifer of Not Quite Perfect  , and several other blogs, who has been blogging longer than me and is still at it. Visit her site and give her a like or comment.

I do have a couple blog posts planned, so like Spring, maybe my writing drive is being reborn.  Lastly, I want to say a sincere thank you to each and every one of you that has visited, liked and commented on my blog for the last 19 years (and maybe even bought my books). You have made my life immeasurably better. Have a great week!

~Phil

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Blogging: The Dinosaur of Digital Expression

Posted on January 9, 2024 | 3 comments

This is me trying to hold off podcasts and TikToks from stealing all my readers.

Sure, the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park look pretty cool, but in the end, there was a reason they shot them. They weren’t meant to exist in the modern world. Is that the fate of blogging? (As an aside, I think the Jurassic Park franchise of movies needs to be put down. We get it. It’s a bad idea to grow dinosaurs in your backyard. We don’t need six movies to make that point)

In 2005 when I started this blog I thought I was so cool. I thought I was the avant garde of modern expression.  Now, in the lightning quick world of social media where TikTok dances go viral in seconds and podcast hosts become celebrities overnight, bloggers like us seem to be stuck in a time warp, typing away on keyboards like we’re sending telegrams. Are we the next form of social media to fall by the wayside?

Writers will write. I see thousands of us every week on Twitter, Facebook, and WordPress promoting our blogs and books. If you are one of them, is it working? If you’re a blogger, I sincerely would love to hear your perspectives on this.

I’m starting to wonder if I should do v-logs. Video blogs, like I did this one time when I had been downsized out of a job and had way too much time on my hands. Here’s an example of one of my vlogs:

So, do you think that guy would work as a podcast or video blog that was advertised by snippets in TikToks?

Unfortunately I can’t find/might have deleted a video of me doing a cartwheel. If you want to see some other cartwheel videos you can find me on TikTok as https://www.tiktok.com/@thephilfactor.

What do you think? Should I resort to this kind of chicanery to get social media attention? I’d really like to increase my blog readership and hopefully a couple nice folks might buy a book or two that I’ve written. If you’re a writer how do you shill your books? What works best for you?

Thanks for reading, watching and listening today! ~Phil

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Posted in blogging, Humor, Social Media

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Happy Blogiversary to Me!

Posted on April 5, 2022 | 8 comments

Yes, on this very day, at this exact time, on April 3rd in 2005, I put my writing legs up in the stirrups, leaned back and gave birth to The Phil Factor. Yes, the image was meant to make you cringe a little.  If my blog was a person it would be starting to curse at it’s parents and experimenting with alcohol while failing geometry. There’s not many blogs in the world that have been active as long or longer than mine, and I’m proud of that. Earlier this year I surpassed 2000 posts where I have talked as if someone is listening.

My Blogger sidebar before I moved it over to WordPress. I love that at the bottom it shows 2005.

Yes, I know that over the past two years, I haven’t blogged as often as I used to. I’ve had a lot of real life going on in my life and I’ve discovered that for me writing is something I do a lot of when I’m happy and not as much when I’m stressed. I’m starting to feel a bit more settled as all the changes in my life have become the norm for me. So, as I traditionally do, I will copy and paste my very first blog post so that if you missed it, you can enjoy it as if you’re watching a re-run from an old show.

What Up Dawg? Is it just me or is everyone sick of Randy Jackson’s act on American Idol? How many times can we hear, “What up dawg?” Or his other favorite, “It was a little pitchy in spots,” or “It was just ahh ight for me.” The dude is like one of those action figures where you squeeze him and he has three pre-programmed phrases he rotates through. Nearly as bad is Paula Abdul. Has anyone else noticed that this season she seems drunk every week? She loves everyone this season and seems to find an excuse to physically grab Simon Cowell every week. Considering her recent charge of leaving the scene of an accident after she clipped another car on the freeway, how ironic is it that her big 1988 hit song, Straight Up, included the line “caught in a hit and run”?

That’s how I introduced myself to the blogging world and I was rewarded with ZERO comments or likes. Also, I’d like to give a shout out to my longtime blogging friend Jennifer of Not Quite Perfect  , and a few other blogs, who has been blogging longer than me and is still at it. Visit her site and give her a like or comment.

Lastly and most importantly I’d like to say thank you to all of my blogging friends who have made this the wonderful, welcoming blogging community that it is. I have appreciated every read, like or comment over the past seventeen years. Without you, I probably wouldn’t have lasted a year.

Cheers to all of you and I hope we can share a glass of champagne some day. Have a great Tuesday! ~Phil

8 Comments

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If You Live Somewhere, I’m Looking For You!

Posted on December 5, 2021 | 13 comments

This post isn’t as creepy as the title might suggest. When you’re planning a vacation and choosing cities and areas to visit, all travel ads make everywhere look amazing, right? Have you ever wished you knew someone who lived where you plan to go so you can get an inside scoop about the best places to go, stay, and eat?

As I said in the title, if you live somewhere, I want your help. If you may remember, in May of this year I started a travel blog called Philliver’s Travels. I travel more than most but not as much as some, so my problem in writing a travel blog is that I haven’t been everywhere yet. That’s where you come in, if you want to. And hopefully it results in me writing better posts and you gaining a few more followers for your blog.

About a week ago I started a series I call 50/50. My goal is to write a post about all 50 of the states in the United States in 50 days. (Don’t check out yet if you’re from another country because after I finish the States I’d like to get some expert advice on traveling to so many countries that I haven’t been to yet.) I’m looking for volunteers from any state in the United States to just answer a few questions by email to help give my readers some of that insider advice we all want. OR, if you want to write an entire post about your home state, you’re welcome to take over Philliver’s Travels for a day!

What’s in it for you? In the post that you contribute to, or completely write, I or you can plug your blog with a link and summary about it, so hopefully we all get more followers and online friends, and better information for when we travel. Also, if you could follow Philliver’s Travels that would be great because the 8 views a day are really bumming me out.

Have a great Sunday, and safe travels! ~Phil

13 Comments

Posted in blog, blogging, travel, travel advice, Uncategorized

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Happy Sweet 16 Blogiversary To Me!

Posted on April 3, 2021 | 9 comments

Yes, on this very day, at this exact time, on April 3rd in 2005, I put my writing legs up in the stirrups, leaned back and gave birth to The Phil Factor. Yes, the image was meant to make you cringe a little.  If my blog was a person it would be starting to curse at it’s parents and experimenting with alcohol while failing geometry.

My Blogger sidebar before I moved it over to WordPress. I love that at the bottom it shows 2005.

Yes, I know that over the past year I haven’t blogged as often as I used to. I’ve had a lot of real life going on in my life and I’ve discovered that for me writing is something I do a lot of when I’m happy and not as much when I’m stressed. I’m starting to feel a bit more settled as all the changes in my life have become the norm for me. So, as I traditionally do, I will copy and paste my very first blog post so that if you missed it, you can enjoy it as if you’re watching a re-run from an old show.

What Up Dawg? Is it just me or is everyone sick of Randy Jackson’s act on American Idol? How many times can we hear, “What up dawg?” Or his other favorite, “It was a little pitchy in spots,” or “It was just ahh ight for me.” The dude is like one of those action figures where you squeeze him and he has three pre-programmed phrases he rotates through. Nearly as bad is Paula Abdul. Has anyone else noticed that this season she seems drunk every week? She loves everyone this season and seems to find an excuse to physically grab Simon Cowell every week. Considering her recent charge of leaving the scene of an accident after she clipped another car on the freeway, how ironic is it that her big 1988 hit song, Straight Up, included the line “caught in a hit and run”?

That’s how I introduced myself to the blogging world and I was rewarded with ZERO comments or likes. Also, I’d like to give a shout out to my longtime blogging friend Jennifer of Not Quite Perfect  ,and other blogs, who has been blogging longer than me and is still at it. Visit her site and give her a like or comment.

Lastly and most importantly I’d like to say thank you to all of my blogging friends who have made this the wonderful, welcoming blogging community that it is. I have appreciated every read, like or comment over the past sixteen years. Without you, I probably wouldn’t have lasted a year.

Cheers to all of you and I hope we can share a glass of champagne some day. Have a great weekend! ~Phil

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Posted in blogging, Humor, Uncategorized

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Wordless Wednesday? Not This Week, I Need Your Votes!

Posted on April 11, 2018 | 1 comment

The Annual Blogger’s Bash Awards voting is going on now! You can vote for #ThePhilFactor for Funniest Blog by clicking HERE! You don’t even have to be a blogger. Anyone can vote! Have a great Wednesday! ~Phil

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How An April Fool’s Joke Led To a Stalker and Being Published

Posted on April 1, 2018 | 6 comments

The year was 2006. #ThePhilFactor was about a year old. I had a small but loyal following. I thought up the prank about two weeks before April Fool’s Day and set it in motion. I first wrote a small post about my response to a fictional overly amorous woman who had gone outside of blog comments and emailed me directly. The prank was that my readers didn’t know the woman was a fictional character.

Over the next two weeks I wrote three or more posts where I asked the woman to stop messaging me through Twitter and email. My readers implored me to ignore her rather than to feed her ego with my public response. Some even suggested that law enforcement might be needed. I openly blogged about stopping The Phil Factor to end the harassment.

Finally, on April Fool’s Day, I revealed that it was all a ruse. Only one of my readers figured it out and had messaged me the day before.

In 2013 my then editor, Cynthia Shepp  and Renee Folsom, who created the covers for The Sneaker Tree and 50 Shades of Phil for me, had posted on Facebook that they were looking for writers to submit short stories, up to 10,000 words, related to the theme of stalkers. I remembered my old prank and wrote it as a story as if the reader was reading my blog posts (with some of the real comments), e-mails and Twitter messages with the stalker. For the story I added a bit of a wicked twist at the finish.

The book, pictured above, includes 17 stories from a bunch of great writers and I am proud that my store was chosen as the closer. Neither myself or any of the writers get a dime from sale of the books, but it was an opportunity for us to get some exposure. It’s gotten great ratings and reviews on Amazon. If you like suspense stories and are looking for a new favorite author, this might be the collection for you. You can find it in paperback or Kindle version HERE on Amazon.

Happy Easter/Passover/April Fool’s Day! ~Phil

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Blogger Award Nominations Close Tomorrow: Do I Get A Nomination?

Posted on March 19, 2018 | 7 comments

Do I get a nomination for Funniest Blogger? Well, that’s up to you. I can’t nominate myself. The Annual Bloggers Bash Award Nominations are now open! Click HERE to find out how you can nominate me for Funniest Blogger and others for all the other great blogger categories.

Why should you nominate me for Funniest Blogger? In addition to this list of hilarious posts I published last week, I present to you the funniest top ten lists from #ThePhilFactor:

Ten Blogging Pet Peeves

Ten Reasons I won’t Date Taylor Swift

Ten Signs Your Wife is Cheating with an Amish Guy

Top Ten Perks of Being The Pope

Top Ten Reasons I’m Not Spiderman

Ten Situations That Should Be Solved By a Rap Battle

Ten Sexy Quotes From Yelp Restaurant Reviews

If you like my blog and have a minute or two, click HERE to go to the page where you can nominate me for Funniest Blogger. The nominating window closes at midnight tomorrow. If you do, thank you so much. I really appreciate your support. Have a great evening! ~Phil

7 Comments

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Blogger Stereotypes: Are You One?

Posted on July 8, 2017 | 113 comments

Blogging, for those who can’t find enough friends to complain to on Facebook! Let’s face it, we’re bloggers. We blog. We’re part of what larger society regards as a bunch of odd balls. I suppose it’s possible that some of us are odd balls, loners in their mom’s basement, or crazy people. (yes, I’m looking at you) But then, there’s the rest of us. I’ve blogged long enough to see that although we’re all bloggers, there are sub-groups among us. Stereotypes, if you will. Are you one of them?

The “Humor” Blogger: I figured that if I’m going to offend some of my blogging friends, I might as well start with myself: There’s lots of humor bloggers and none of us are ever as funny as we think we are. I know that when I, and my fellow humor bloggers, have penned a sarcastic masterpiece of social commentary and with an exaggerated  flourish and the sound of angels in our heads, triumphantly hit Publish, we sit back with a satisfied smile waiting for our readers to fawn upon our comedic genius in the comments. What really happens is: check stats, sigh, refresh, ugh, still only ten views? “What is wrong with people? This is hilarious! I shared to Facebook, but it’s been an hour. It’s way down peoples feeds. I’d better post it again. I know they don’t want to miss my Saturday post.”

The ‘I’m Writing a Book‘ Blogger: Occasionally I may fall into this category too, but others don’t just fall into this category, they burst right out of it. Repeatedly. What’s that? You’re a blogger and you’re writing a book? I’ve never heard of such a thing! Could you please mention it on your blog, daily, so we never forget? And please, by all means, tweet about it too. What’s that? It’s your first novel and you’re on the twenty-seventh revision so you can get it just right before sending to a publisher. Please tell us more!

The Music Blogger: Yes, we get that you know more music than us and all of your friends. No, we don’t want to hear the ‘B side’ of Vanilla Ice’s little known folk rock album released just last year.

The Blogging Expert Blogger: What? You have ten thousand followers? Yes, please write another post about Search Engine Optimization so I get more views on my blog. And by all means, make it a list of 99 Ways To…

The Fashion Blogger: Pictures of new clothes you’re buying? I can’t get enough! You’re so chic and your lifestyle is so glamorous! What?!!? You have an Instagram with millions more pictures of you in clothes? Be still my beating heart! Why aren’t there guy fashion blogs?

The Mommy Blogger: You have kids and they’re funny and you write stories about their adorable antics? How unique! You should write a book! And please add in how you’re trying to lose the baby weight and tell us about your workout routine!

Well, which stereotype are you? Are there stereotypes I missed? Put your suggestions in the comments and have a great Saturday! ~Phil

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