Tuesday, May 23, 2006

My Journey in the Blogosphere

The Long and Winding Road into the Blogosphere.
Do you see it? Just around the bend?


It wasn't too long into my blogging journey that I realized a few things. Here are some of my realizations:

On frequency:
I want to blog when I have something to say. HOWEVER, I expect the blogs I read to be updated DAILY with humorous, heartfelt, thought provoking posts. Helloooooo, I'’m waiting! Our PC is located in the living area and I will check on my blogs frequently throughout the day, hoping against hope there is a new post up. Now, though, I have Bloglines. All my blogs are listed and I can go to one site and see which ones have new posts. I still have to check on some by myself if I am watching the comments.

On insecurities:
I am a strong, secure woman. I am comfortable in my own skin (mostly) BUT because comments are the blog equivalent of a conversation, I find myself facing a few insecurities: "Why isn'’t anybody '‘talking'’ to me?"” "“Do you love me? Do you really love me?" I thought I left that kind of thing behind in high school, er, I mean college, um, well for sure by my 30's.

On the rules:
There is such a thing as blog etiquette but I don't really know what it is. I think, on the kinds of blogs I peruse, if you can't say something nice, don'’t say anything at all seems suitable. If you are mean, you will be reprimanded. Severely. I did find a "Blog Disclaimer" which you can find here: Wow. That is a lot to be thinking about as you participate in the blogging community. For the most part, my hope is that kindergarten sand box rules will suffice.

On my posting personality:
As I look back over my posts, I realize. . .
  • I love to use ellipses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  • I tend to put a "warning" in the title of or beginning of a post. I want people to be prepared if they are expecting, say, something funny and I've written about the situation in Uganda. So, if you see a warning, it is not because I feel apologetic for what I'm writing but I don't want anyone to waste their time on a post dedicated to poop, for example, if they aren't interested in poop.
  • I like to use the word "really" with a question mark and italicized to make a point. (Ex: So and so said the sky wasn't blue but green. Really?) I think I see it as a way to let people know, with one word, that I think something is stupid or wrong or whatever. If it is used sparingly, it probably works. If it is used too much, I probably just seem like a big donkey.
  • I prefer to post with a picture. I think it is because I'm a visual learner. It is fun to look for a picture to go with a post.
On blog identity:
I don't want to be a mommy blogger. Don't get me wrong. I love the mommy bloggers. I have quite a few bookmarked and bloglined. It is all part of a bigger "Mary" issue. I just don't like to be labeled. Feminist. Stay at home mom. Mommy blogger. Instead of rebel without a cause, I guess you can just call me rebel without a label. Unless, of course, it is a label I take on for myself: Christian, ENFP, bookworm. If I feel that I am being labeled, it makes me want to scream out, "But that's not all I am!" This falls squarely into the realm of my problem, so I hope I haven't offended anyone, because I am a feminist, a stay at home mom, a mommy blogger. Whew. I said it and the sky didn't fall in.

On blog accuracy:
I can't proofread my own work. My brain works in strange and mysterious ways and if I think I typed something a certain way, that is the way my brain interprets it visually--until I hit the publish post button. At that point, I will see an error, go back in to edit post and correct it. I'll hit publish post again. Shoot. There's another error. I will do this countless times before I am satisfied. So, forgive me if you have Bloglines or some other web update service that lets you know each time I post.

Well, that's all ffffffolks. For now. I'm sure I'll be making more corrections to this post a few times before all is said and done!

9:20 pm 05/23/06: first corrections made. One change of phrase, two typos.

9:42 am 05/24/06: second correction made. Italicized short phrase to clarify emphasis.

9:59 am 05/24/06: fiddled with the post again. Added long, winding road picture and added bullet point to posting personality section -- about liking photos in my posts!

5:18 pm 09/27/06: deleted changes to font color because of my new blog design.

2 comments:

Chickenone said...

Great post! You made me smile.
I checked out the disclaimer - wow.

Melodee said...

I do the same thing . . . I have to publish and then fix typos about three times before I get them all!