This morning, I was talking to my coworkers and mentioned I was looking for a blog topic. One of my colleagues said I could always write about the fact that my blog was listed as one of the five best bioenergy blogs to subscribe to in the New Year. Well, that was news to me. I hadn’t seen that yet. So she sent me a link.

Sure enough. Evan V, a social media specialist for Novozymes, listed my blog as well as one written by the managing editor of Biomass Magazine, also published by BBI International. You can see the full list of recommended blogs here. 

This got me thinking about the blogging I’ve done on behalf of Ethanol Producer Magazine. Although I’d written a few blogs, here and there, prior it that, I officially started writing a blog about distillers grains once a month, back in May 2011. By April 2013 I was writing a weekly blog, about any ethanol-related topic, not just distillers grains.

In that time, I’ve learned that the nice thing about blogs, compared to writing stories for the magazine or for our website, is twofold. First, you can insert a little bit of yourself in there. I’ve made jokes, talked about how I’m a bit of a nerd and even told a silly story about myself or my daughter. Another part of that is that, with blogs, I get to select which topics I want to write about, which likely means it’s something I am interested in. Which is why I’ve blogged about writing press releases, trips I’ve taken for BBI International and small towns. (See the same above linked blog.)

Blogging also lets me explore topics in a way writing a news or feature story doesn’t. For one thing, once a news or feature story is published online and/or in our magazine, I’m done with it. At least until I write a follow up story, which may or may not be quite a while. Blogging allows me to tackle topics that aren’t strictly news and that we don’t immediately have the time or space to include in the magazine.

In that same vein, blogging is much more interactive. I’ve said it before and it’s still true. Most of the time, we writers slog along and get very little feedback from our readers. Unless we’ve made a mistake. And that’s fine. We don’t need constant praise to do what we do. But, even though everything I write has the same online comment form and my contact information is readily available online and in the magazine, about 90 percent of the reader comments I get comes from blogs I’ve written. Maybe it’s because of the personal tone. (see point one, above) Maybe it’s because, in a blog, I can directly ask for reader feedback.

For example, one reader email sent me down a rabbit hole, chasing down why E85 prices in a certain area of Minnesota are lower priced. When it was all said and done, I’d written multiple blogs about E85 prices, ethanol producers making direct sales to retailers and producers, what it takes to get E15 and other ethanol blends at a retail station and the E85 price website. Not to mention all the new things I learned about E85 and higher ethanol blends.

In other words, it’s like company-sanctioned play time. I get to choose what I write about, I enjoy interacting with readers and I can pick up or topics when the fancy strikes me. I can even write a blog based on the information I have at that time and ask for reader input to get me to the next level.

But it’s not all about play time. One blog I wrote about shrimp eventually turned into a feature story in the magazine about DDGS as aquaculture feed. Another time, a blog I wrote about E85 ended up as a feature article about ethanol producers selling direct to consumers. A few times I've even written feature stories, like one about corn oil, that I end up also writing blogs about. 

Plus, as I've mentioned before, I'm a bit of a geek. I get excited about things like aquaculture, direct sales and corn oil. So my idea of play time might be a bit warped. 

I don’t know if my blog is really one of the five best bioenergy blogs out there. But I do know I enjoy writing it. I hope you enjoy reading it!