Thoughts on Blogging

This is my elephant. It has nothing to do with anything today (or yesterday’s post either).

When I began blogging 12 years ago, I had no idea what it was about but boy oh boy, it was fun.

Maybe blogging was new then, or maybe I was behind the times (a common occurrence in my life). I began looking for other blogs to read, and hoped that one day mine would have as many followers and commenters as The Yarn Harlot, The Pioneer Woman, lively discussions like Stuff Christians Like or maybe a community of regular commenters like the Entreleadership blog when Chris LoCurto was the writer plus the host of the Entreleadership podcast.

Instead, I have a small (microscopic in the blogging world) readership. Whenever it seemed to be growing, something broke and then I lost my subscribers. 

My subscribers don’t seem to understand that they can go to my website and click on the Blog button to find the blog if the subscription stops working.

Many of my real life friends don’t read my blog; many of my customers don’t know I have one, if they even know what a blog is.

When I read blogs and articles about blogging, marketing, and promotion, I feel like a loser.

When I learn that people I know are reading my blog and realize that I know or have met most of my readers, I feel quite happy. This isn’t some impersonal marketing gig; this is the real me, connecting with the real yous. (Don’t you think we need a plural for “you”? “Y’all” feels phoney, because I am not Southern, and “all y’all” sounds particularly phoney, but it does work.)

Here are a few more thoughts about comments:

  1. Sometimes my readers comment which I REALLY appreciate; otherwise I wonder if I am just making noise and no one cares.
  2. Sometimes my readers email me and then we have a private conversation.
  3. Many of my readers have no idea how to comment.
  4. The comments have to be approved by me before they appear, so sometimes people write a comment twice because they think it didn’t work.

And here are some thoughts about blogging:

  1. My blog has built real life friendships (Hi, Dan!), strengthened other friendships (Hi, Sharon!), made long-distance friendships (Hi, Jennifer and Cheryl!), and provided a way for family to stay current (Hi, Laurie!).
  2. Blogging has helped strengthen my writing skills.
  3. Blogging allows me to publicize things, which is useful as a Facebook avoider.
  4. It keeps me accountable, working steadily, staying focused; all are a little harder when working alone.
My guess is the front orange kitten is Pippin; the gray is probably Georgia (R.I.P.), because Jackson’s face is narrower.