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.