The truth about blogging...
I was recently reading the blog of a certain NYC girl who is famous for her no-holds barred approach to blogging. Nothing is too personal…sex, love, food, vaginal dryness…whatever, it’s all there. She made a post about feeling like a failure because of a recent weight gain. I’m not talking about 20 lbs, but like 8 lbs or so. Anyway, she turned commenting off on that post, I assume because she didn’t want people to make comments about her weight or the post in general. But she has a ton of readers, most of them nosy like myself and full of their own wisdom and unwanted advice. So they waited until she posted again and bombarded her with comments about her weight being just healthy, or was she trying to make people feel bad who were much heavier than her etc. She commented that she considered her entry to just be a “journal entry”. People spat on that too, but it does bring up a valid point.
Is the blog a journal for yourself or do you write for your intended audience?
When I first started blogging…back in 2003 or so, the only people that read my blog were me, a few scattered online friends from GoodTimesCheck.com and the occasional person who I’m sure had accidentally happened upon my blog while searching for pictures of “hot military women”. But over time, I’ve gotten a much bigger group. And oddly enough, the people I spend time with in my “real life” come here now too. Now granted, I send them here most of the time… like hey, check out this article or photo from last night at so and so’s party blah blah…but I never really think they will be that interested. I mostly write so that my scattered friends that are all over the world can keep up with my shenanigans and tomfoolery.
But nowadays, especially since I have my stat counter set up, I see all the hits that come to the site. I see IP addresses for people from my family, people for whom I usually censor my shenanigans and tomfoolery. I mean, I’ve never been one to talk about vaginas but I’m not above the occasional poop joke and I feel a little worried that I might not be presenting an accurate picture of myself. A blog is really about the ultimate “meme” experiment. I mean how much can I talk about me, my life, my interests and ideas and feelings… and how many people are going to want to read that? How many people are going to find that interesting?
A surprisingly large amount… But they aren’t here for me. They are searching for a connection with someone who has opinions that might be relative to their own lives. They are searching for something that they can comment on. They are searching for their own way to be heard. It’s the same reason why I comment on other blogs. Sometimes I feel so disconnected from the people around me. I go out with friends or I go to a party and I talk a lot, hoping something I say will seem smart or funny to someone.
My blog is the social equivalent of that person who just keeps on trying to tell you about their childhood or their job or their life in an effort to find common ground. So that is why I am here. I hope to find common ground with you. With my friends, my family, and people I don’t even know. If I give you a window into my life, maybe you’ll give me a window into yours and we will become closer to understanding each other. And maybe we can share a few poop/vagina jokes along the way.
Except for with you Dad… our jokes will be about criminals and taxes and they will be very tasteful.
p.s. Stuff going on with me right now:
1) I am into the Harry Potter Audio Books right now. I know, what you are thinking... JOHNNY COME LATELY! At any rate, they are so awesome. The only bad thing is that the man that is reading them has a really weird voice when he talks for Hermione. He sounds like Tiny Tim.
2) I'm very busy turning over a new leaf. It involves REALLY quitting smoking. Not like the last three years where I bought one pack a year and spent the rest of the time bumming them off people. I'm really really not smoking anymore. So if you see me, don't offer me one. And I'm really really trying to be healthier... so if you see me, please don't offer me anything with butter on it.
3) I have to choose between seeing Jamie Cullum or Flogging Molly next month...ARGH! I love them both. *sigh*
Is the blog a journal for yourself or do you write for your intended audience?
When I first started blogging…back in 2003 or so, the only people that read my blog were me, a few scattered online friends from GoodTimesCheck.com and the occasional person who I’m sure had accidentally happened upon my blog while searching for pictures of “hot military women”. But over time, I’ve gotten a much bigger group. And oddly enough, the people I spend time with in my “real life” come here now too. Now granted, I send them here most of the time… like hey, check out this article or photo from last night at so and so’s party blah blah…but I never really think they will be that interested. I mostly write so that my scattered friends that are all over the world can keep up with my shenanigans and tomfoolery.
But nowadays, especially since I have my stat counter set up, I see all the hits that come to the site. I see IP addresses for people from my family, people for whom I usually censor my shenanigans and tomfoolery. I mean, I’ve never been one to talk about vaginas but I’m not above the occasional poop joke and I feel a little worried that I might not be presenting an accurate picture of myself. A blog is really about the ultimate “meme” experiment. I mean how much can I talk about me, my life, my interests and ideas and feelings… and how many people are going to want to read that? How many people are going to find that interesting?
A surprisingly large amount… But they aren’t here for me. They are searching for a connection with someone who has opinions that might be relative to their own lives. They are searching for something that they can comment on. They are searching for their own way to be heard. It’s the same reason why I comment on other blogs. Sometimes I feel so disconnected from the people around me. I go out with friends or I go to a party and I talk a lot, hoping something I say will seem smart or funny to someone.
My blog is the social equivalent of that person who just keeps on trying to tell you about their childhood or their job or their life in an effort to find common ground. So that is why I am here. I hope to find common ground with you. With my friends, my family, and people I don’t even know. If I give you a window into my life, maybe you’ll give me a window into yours and we will become closer to understanding each other. And maybe we can share a few poop/vagina jokes along the way.
Except for with you Dad… our jokes will be about criminals and taxes and they will be very tasteful.
p.s. Stuff going on with me right now:
1) I am into the Harry Potter Audio Books right now. I know, what you are thinking... JOHNNY COME LATELY! At any rate, they are so awesome. The only bad thing is that the man that is reading them has a really weird voice when he talks for Hermione. He sounds like Tiny Tim.
2) I'm very busy turning over a new leaf. It involves REALLY quitting smoking. Not like the last three years where I bought one pack a year and spent the rest of the time bumming them off people. I'm really really not smoking anymore. So if you see me, don't offer me one. And I'm really really trying to be healthier... so if you see me, please don't offer me anything with butter on it.
3) I have to choose between seeing Jamie Cullum or Flogging Molly next month...ARGH! I love them both. *sigh*
posted by saucybritches at
2/06/2006 10:34:00 PM
2 Comments:
c'mon.....molly over anything anyday...unless it's the eels or the F Lips
I read the vaginal dryness blog and just about fell off my chair laughing when I got to the part about PAM.
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