Post #100

This is what I had intended to post on #100 but only had it on my computer at school. (Of course, after I went back to school I did find it on my home computer.) I wrote this about a year ago for a writing class I took. I thought it was fitting for my 100th post.

When I first heard the word blog, I actually heard it referred to as a web log. In the same set of instructions I found out it was a record kept online, a public journal. I thought for a while and tried to figure out the purpose. Why on earth would someone want to document their life, day to day, online, for everyone to see? I have problems sifting through my own journals, why on earth would anyone else want to?

About a year later my best friend got engaged and set up her own personal engagement blog. In an effort to be supportive, I began to refer to it infrequently, mostly to hear about what was going on in her life when I was too busy to make that phone call. Outside of the online world, I would hear her refer to it with friends. “Oh, did you take the quiz on my blog?” “I love the picture you posted of your trip to Flagstaff!” “Where did you find your photographer? Their site was fantastic!” Then I started to feel a bit left out. What was everyone talking about? What was going on on her blog that I didn’t understand? What were they finding so addictive that I didn’t give a second glance to? So I increased my intake a little bit, but still couldn’t feel that pull, that desire to peak into every aspect of her life.

On her blog, she has links to some other blogs. In a moment of pure boredom, I checked a few of them out. I found one that fascinated me with what a woman had to say about nothing in particular. She talked about her nieces and nephews and how much fun she always had with them. She had a posting about an online geography game that she’d found- now I’m hooked to it too! She talked about her nicknames. I felt like I could relate to her as a person and could see myself in some of her posts. That was the moment I decided to start my own blog.

Unlike what I had expected, I still couldn’t find the initiative to put in my blog what this friend had put in hers. I posted sporadically, but it was hardly a hang-on-every-word type read. I wasn’t even motivated enough to tell my friends and family I had set one up. Why would anyone want to read about my life? I work too much, I’m too busy to have fun and my favorite pastime is catching up on sleep. Where’s the entertainment there? So I became what the world wide web calls a blog follower. When I had a few free minutes, I’d journey from blog to blog of people I knew and some I didn’t and take a few steps in and out of their lives.

Then one day I found a link to my aunt’s blog from my cousin’s blog. I felt like I had found El Dorado. It was funny. It was cute. It was enjoyable. I felt like I had just shared a few precious minutes with her face to face. About the same time, a friend referred me to some of her favorite craft blogs. These two events were the keys to my tightly closed cupboard of blogging ideas. I always thought you had to treat a blog like a day to day journal.. “We did this, she did that, he’s so cute, blah, blah, blah.” I have no children. I have no time. How am I supposed to journal anything from my day that anyone would want to read? But now I knew that the secret was to find your niche, your inspiration, your focus that you could talk about and read about around the clock. It wasn’t about your audience, it was about you! Who cares what people think? Who cares if they enjoy it? You write for yourself!

I felt like the Dutch girl who had removed her finger from the dam and waters came rushing out. I started blogging regularly (mind you, eight months after I first set up my blog) and couldn’t stop. I didn’t even think about my audience, now it was for me. This was my outlet, my opportunity to share. I talked about trips, but I focused on the simple pleasures or setbacks that make them memorable. I shared about craft projects I had created, my ideas, my inspiration. I reflected on my opinions on big topics, on little topics and on mundane chores. Then, when someone did post a comment it made me feel even better that they had enjoyed that piece of me too.

Then I finally got a chance to talk with my aunt about my trepidations with blogging and why I had been reluctant to get started and share with everyone my little web log. She reassured me that she found journal-y blogs boring too! She thought mine would be much more exciting because I didn’t have kids and I would have a lot more to say about things outside of the home and family life. That made me feel better- she understood me. She could relate.

Now that I have a magnetic pull to my blog, I have a constant list running in my mind. What do I want to share? What can I expand on? What should I relate to my life? I’m proud to say that last week I sent out an email to all my friends proudly noting the location of my blog. Yes, my name is Katie and I’m proud to be a blog-aholic.