Thursday, February 19, 2009

Thursday Thirteen - Blogging

I'll be the first to admit that blogging (reading and writing) takes up more than its allocated time each day. Its just sucks me in. But I love it.

13 Facts About My Blogging

1) I usually work on my blog around 5pm. Thats when I let Aaron have 30 mins or so of The Wiggles.

2) Aaron pulls his chair right up next to me and watches from there.

2) My plan each day is to write the post for that day and the next day, just in case something comes up the next day and I don't have enough time. I only succeed in doing this about once a week.

3) Most days, I'm chatting with my friend in Shanghai as I blog.

4) I read other people's blogs either early in the morning or after Aaron is asleep.

5) When I first started blogging, I was desperate to increase my readership and would skim as many blogs as I could, leaving half hearted comments on each one. Now, I only occasionally search out new blogs. I want to be able to read the blogs that I already follow slowly and leave decent comments (most of the time).

6) I also joined all sorts of blog rings in the beginning but I took all those links out last weekend.

7) My SIL introduced me to the world of blogging by telling me about the money she was earning from PayPerPost. Unfortunately, to get the 'good ads' you needed to have a decent Google PR, hence the blog skimming and blog ring memberships. I soon felt that it was like betraying myself and my readers to blog about things that I have no interest in.

8) I purposely make sure there is diversity in the blogs I visit. I like mom blogs because I identify with so many of the topics. And, its easy to just go from one to another because they are very often funny (and cute), but, I don't want that to be the only topics I read about.

9) In real life, I'd be too embarrassed to share, in person, anything that I've written. I do it almost every day here and then get embarrassed later on when I meet a reader in person and they bring up a past post.

10) Richard has a blog too. I asked him to start it as a way of practicing putting his thoughts down in a logical way.

11) I also told Richard that we should keep our blogs separate and not leave any trails to each others blogs.

12) I'm starting to grow a blogging conscience. There is an incredibly funny sex related topic I have but I just can't bring myself to spell it out. Its too gossipy since its about somebody here.

13) I am incredibly grateful for all the regular readers that I have and the virtual friendships that have come out of blogging.

8 comments:

John A Hill said...

Amanda, I follow quite a number of blogs. There are only about 6-8 that I really look forward to reading. Yours is one of them. I'm glad that we made the blog connection and would love to travel the world and meet the people that read my blog and write the blogs I read.

Cynthia said...

I agree with John, your blog is exciting and you are coming from such a different perspective. I really look forward to your pictures:)

Mike said...

Your blog is peek into the other side of the world. Maybe one day I'll drag my camera around St. Louis and post some pictures. Right after I send Bilbo a letter.

Bilbo said...

I usually write my blog early in the morning before I leave for work; it must sync up very well with your schedule, because sometimes your comments appear within the half-hour between the time I post and the time I leave for work. I also have greatly winnowed down the number of blogs I read every day - yours, Mike's, and John's are there, with a very few others...most I only check once a week or so. I'm not so desperate to get more readers, but I've found that I've got quite a few just because of people who link through the original readers I attracted. I do appreciate all the virtual friends I've made around the US and the world. And finally, I never get too personal, because Agnes reads my blog, too, and lets me know in no uncertain terms when she thinks I've gone too far!

Jean-Luc Picard said...

It's true. Many friendships have been formed from blogs.

MamaGeek @ Works For Us said...

I agree with you on all of these! I have blogged less and less the more I blog. Quality over quantity, once again, wins out. I love that Aaron pulls up a chair with you!

Anonymous said...

really nice article, keep up the good work !

Amanda said...

John - Thank you. One of the things I often wonder about is what all your voices sound like. When you read a person, you make up your own voice for them based on what they write and maybe their style...but their real voices are probably completely different.

Nap Warden - I'm glad that I have an outlet to share all that I see here.

Mike - After Tuesday's post, I really need pictures to get the right perspective. A strange feeling that I have over here is that some of the places I visit seem in a completely different world to the one I live in. Many worlds in blogging huh?

Bilbo - Interesting...Do you read blogs from work? Sometimes, as I shut down for the night, I notice that you've left a comment. So there must be some blog ping pong going on: You publish your post, go to work (while I read and comment on your post). You get to work, notice my comment, read my blog and leave a comment. Funny stuff.

JLP - I love telling people that Captain Jean Luc Picard is one of my friends :)

Mamageek - You always have a way with words. I liked this line : I have blogged less and less the more I blog.

Prospero - Ah...a new reader. Thanks for visiting.