Why are you here??
Somebody asked me the other day why I started blogging...I started reading blogs way before I even contemplated having one myself. Seemed far too complicated and high tech for me. I can basically do e-mail, order lots of things I don't need on line and read the papers in various countries but that is about it as far as computers go. It is always sods law that something goes wrong with one of our computers whilst hubby is away for an extended period of time. Talk about sounding like a helpless 1950s housewife!
So at first, I read these people...
And I still do but I've added a lot more to my daily reads. It is certainly addictive.
I started out over at 20six and was amazed when I put in all the information and a page actually loaded - with facts about me and my written words...and then getting comments...it was like getting a pat on the back or something. I think I first wrote some waffle about Gordon Ramsay.....way back when Rory was a small baby - just a few moths old and I was still breastfeeding and would try and stay awake until his midnight feed before I went to bed for a few hours....and blogging was something I did at that time. It was before I had my laptop....I still remember sitting there trying it all out and umming and ahhing about whether to hit the 'submit' button.
On the whole I think it is true to say I keep the blog quite light hearted. Occasionally I rant and rave. Occasionally I open up. Some posts I remove when I have slept on it...often feel different about my musings after a good nights sleep.
But it is bizarre to connect with people across the world. To worry about whether they are going to survive their cancer scare, whether they will get that job, whether they will get back together woth their husbands....I truly believe it is a form of therapy. Almost like a diary although maybe not quite as personal. Some blogs you can read and really learn things about the writer - others not so much. I don't think I would be too surprising to anyone who had read my blog - I don't think they would be shocked by me in real life - except maybe that I am short (5 ft 2) and have a Northern accent?
But just like you can often read a column in a newspaper and know the tone of the writer - so it is with blogs. There are some I read religiously - others I can take or leave. Some I hit so much wanting their updates that if they have a Statcounter they could seriously worry that I am some kind of stalker (I am not).
I know some people write their blogs to be read later by their kids. I don't think I went into it with that. It was more an expressive outlet just. You know how they say writing things down can sometimes help well I also firmly believe that reading about others' situations can help too. Especially in this day and age where women are always giving the appreance of having it all - managing perfectly - having a great sex life, well mannered kids, nice clean house, home cooked meals and no money worries. I think whilst you may not deny that to your real life friends, there is maybe less shame in admitting things on the blog.....be it sex on the kitchen table (who could that be?) or being addicted to Ebay..or even throwing away your kids toys without actually telling them (I am guilty of all the above)
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I know there are lurkers, those who read and never comment and that is ok too. The downside of Vox seems to be that you have to join Vox to be able to leave comments and I know that always put me off leaving comments when I wanted to (before I signed up with them). I have so many user names and different passwords for various sites etc it is quite hard to remember them all anyway.
And there are days when I hate my blog. I read back over things and think they are a poor portrayal of my life. Or that they are realistic and my life simply comes across as really naff. There are times I consider pressing the delete button for the whole damn thing. But as long as I know I write for myself and nobody else then I think I am pretty ok with the whole shebang.
Comments
I blogged for almost all of 2003 and finally quit at the end of that year. I ran out of steam. Hard to describe.
I started the next blog in May 2007 and that ran for about 11 months and I again ran out of steam on that one in April 2008. That one was quite successful (if one were to define success by number of readers), I was getting 250 or so unique hits a day as I'd done a lot of TV reviews (some of which were linked to by the BBC - not the mainstream, just random pages on BBC4 and BBC2 online). I did a review of a Louis Theroux documentary, for example, and had a huge spike as several thousand people hit. I then got unnerved, because back then I had lots of pictures of me all over the blog (nowt wrong with that) but I was blogging about stuff that was WAY too personal. I was also also on something of an emotional roller-coaster back then and up and down like a yo-yo. I was constantly retracting stuff the next day (i.e. deleting) or privatising posts I'd written. Had opened myself up way too much which these days I don't plan on doing.
I abruptly stopped that blog last month. I'm now a month into the new one and so far so good. I think I'm more level headed as a blogger now and I certainly don't care how many (or few) people read it, which is good. Also, now that I'm self-hosted (on a free host which is very unreliable) I get very little google traffic, unlike with wordpress.com which seemed ridiculously attuned to the search engines resulting in an awful lot of traffic.
Anyway, keep blogging as I enjoy reading yours! (Found you via Hen).
And OMG 5' 2" ???????? I only ever see you sitting down on Skype, for all I know you're like those newsreaders who don't wear anything below the camera.
(I did know really. Shortarse).
Totally agree with you re having to join Vox to leave a comment (and all the different passwords for different sites). I read a lot of blogs, but don't blog myself. I started reading blogs after reading an article in one of the Sunday supplements about 3 years ago. I tend to stick to my favourites, and you can include yourself in that description and found you through suburban mum (another fave) - I love her site, she is so talented - those banners/headings? love them.
I'd love to do my own but am a bit apprehensive, who knows one day I might take the plunge.
Keep up the good work!!
*goes off to read about AFF and her table sex - must have missed that one!*