Sorry about that goof-up with my last post (and this one). It should be all set now.
I know many people feel it is mean or ill-mannered to “just blog” and not comment, and I certainly will not blame anyone who chooses to no longer read my blog because I don’t reciprocate the favor. But I, personally, don’t want to blog because people read. I want to blog because I like to. I’m not looking to merge my blog into a commercial endeavor of getting the most page views or followers (although I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that such things do boost my ego). I do fight the temptation of wanting to be a “blog star” but chances are, that’s not my purpose. Nothing could make me happier than if something I wrote helped someone else, but that is not really why I blog. For me, it’s more of a emotional and a creative outlet.
Okay, so maybe I am still being rude by not commenting on a hundred blogs per day, but I think it is something I need to cut back on in order to restore balance and sanity in my life. And like I said, it is really freeing to not see the “unread” count climb to 23, 47, 91…etc. Right now, less is best. :)
I’ve decided to cut my blog reading way down. I love reading all these blogs, but I just can’t keep up with all of them AND life. It’s not necessarily something I wanted to do, but I find it extremely liberating now to be more freed from my Google Reader. Hopefully, in the coming months I will trim it down even more. I’ll still try to comment occasionally on all yours blogs if I can; I just think it might help me to place my focus elsewhere.
Okay, so maybe I am still being rude by not commenting on a hundred blogs per day, but I think it is something I need to cut back on in order to restore balance and sanity in my life. And like I said, it is really freeing to not see the “unread” count climb to 23, 47, 91…etc. Right now, less is best. :)
- How do you balance blog-reading and life?
- Have you ever had to cut back because blog-reading was becoming too consuming?
- How do you manage your time on the Web?
- How do you feel about people from your day-to-day life reading your blog?
- Are there certain people that you don’t mind reading it, and others that you really wish wouldn’t?
- Do you find that this “cramps your style” at all…or does it just not matter?
9 comments:
My mom reads my blog! She's like the first viewer on every new post! It is a little strange sometimes, but then I wonder - well, why should it be strange? Are the blog posts not by the same person as the daughter she sees and talks to every day? Is my Internet persona at all wrong for my mom/family to see? No. It shouldn't be. It can be a different facet of my personality, but not a different person!
Anyway, I fall into ruts where I comment a lot, but don't blog, and then I blog a lot, but don't comment. I'm not very regular.
My only habit is reading everything!! I read all the blogs, but I don't comment on all of them and I don't follow that many.
My mom reads my blog! She's like the first viewer on every new post! It is a little strange sometimes, but then I wonder - well, why should it be strange? Are the blog posts not by the same person as the daughter she sees and talks to every day? Is my Internet persona at all wrong for my mom/family to see? No. It shouldn't be. It can be a different facet of my personality, but not a different person!
Anyway, I fall into ruts where I comment a lot, but don't blog, and then I blog a lot, but don't comment. I'm not very regular.
My only habit is reading everything!! I read all the blogs, but I don't comment on all of them and I don't follow that many.
I have struggled with this question. I do enjoy reading blogs and so if anything I keep my blogging down in order to read more. Plus I don't want to blog just to blog, I want it to be worthy of posting. There's been times where I've gotten a little too glued online and then I try to switch up my routine to get me out of the habit. But I honestly really like it because I am alone at home a lot and it's nice to feel connected.
As for real life people reading my blog, well I've had mixed feeling about it. I sent the address to real people in my life then forgot I did and kind of got more personal on my blog. Then all the sudden I hear from family members all about it. Whoops! So I pulled back a bit. But I realized now if they are reading it they must actually care about me. I have been very liberated by not hiding things about myself. Although I do have some hesitation with posting my full name because it is unique and "googleable". I want to have a bit of anonymity! But if someone really wanted they could read and know it was me and I'm ok with that. It's one of the reasons I try to never be negative about any person or company on my blog. I dont want my name attached with that.
My parents read my blog but I also am pretty open with them about a lot and they are very supportive. My dad is even getting into sprouting!
I agree. At this point in my life I enjoy the connection I get from blogging, yet I don't like it to consume my regular life.
I try not to share personal info like name, either. Just because you never know what people are out there.
That's awesome that you parents are so supportive of your lifestyle. Mine tolerate it but I'm still considered the weird one out. They're a long way from sprouting. Haha. :)
SO. What an amazing post. I actually deleted my entire google reader about 2 months ago. And then re-inserted only the ones that I really, really truly wanted to keep up with. It was time to start fresh. :)
As for blogging, at first, I wanted to keep my blog personal. And then the more I wrote and the more I read, the more I kind of started to enjoy sharing my life experiences with others. Sometimes, some things are meant to be kept secret: sometimes it's because they're too sacred to be shared, but other times, it's just that sharing it with the world wouldn't do it justice. Do you know what I mean?
I'm slowly trying to blog in a way that I feel the people in my day-to-day life wouldn't freak out about. If that means keeping certain things to myself, then that's that. It's in part a sacrifice, but in a greater part, very rewarding to be able to share your life on a more intricate level with those whom you might not have been able to share things with face-to-face. Sigh - I WISH my Mom wanted to read my blog. Hahaha. (Except I'm not kidding.)
:-)
SO. What an amazing post. I actually deleted my entire google reader about 2 months ago. And then re-inserted only the ones that I really, really truly wanted to keep up with. It was time to start fresh. :)
As for blogging, at first, I wanted to keep my blog personal. And then the more I wrote and the more I read, the more I kind of started to enjoy sharing my life experiences with others. Sometimes, some things are meant to be kept secret: sometimes it's because they're too sacred to be shared, but other times, it's just that sharing it with the world wouldn't do it justice. Do you know what I mean?
I'm slowly trying to blog in a way that I feel the people in my day-to-day life wouldn't freak out about. If that means keeping certain things to myself, then that's that. It's in part a sacrifice, but in a greater part, very rewarding to be able to share your life on a more intricate level with those whom you might not have been able to share things with face-to-face. Sigh - I WISH my Mom wanted to read my blog. Hahaha. (Except I'm not kidding.)
:-)
I know exactly what you mean! I sometimes worry that I am too personal on here. Or worse, that my posts are mainly comprised of senseless, meaningless random brain wave activity. It's hard to find a balance and a 'groove' with it al. I think you're right about not sharing everything, too. Somethings are better left unsaid, or at least postponed until the heat of the moment cools off.
This is so odd because this came to my email today! ... "perfectly harmful things" ;-)
So, I'll comment again. I don't use Google Reader anymore except to find recipes based on keywords (you know, limes or lavender or something like that) from bloggers I trust to make healthy stuff.
People tell me ALL THE TIME "Hey, I read your blog" and if it's someone I don't know all that well, I just kind of smile. My blog is linked to twitter, Facebook, etc. so all my friends pretty much know about it. It's even on my resume because of the product reviews.
Hm, I wonder why it came to your email? That is odd! Yeah, I don't think "perfectly harmful things" is grammatically correct. It does sound funny now that I think about it!
I am quite addicted to my Reader again. Since I wrote this over a year ago, I have since subscribed to a lot of new blogs (so many blogs, so little time!) but I think I need to pare it back again. It's kind of a good thing to do every so often, at least for me, so it doesn't get to be too much of a time consuming activity.
I actually don't mind people reading my blog so much anymore. It would still be a little weird to me if someone from church came up and mentioned it, but as far as family goes, I'm pretty much okay with it. I still don't link to it on my Facebook, though.
Thanks for the comment!
Post a Comment