Great news! For the next few weeks I'll be participating in the Won't You Be My Neighbor Series hosted by Amy at Never True Tales. That means every Friday I'll be posting somewhere else and my blog will showcase one of the awesome writers whose blogs I love.
To kick off the series, I'm proud to have Stephanie, mama to all the drama, from The Scoop on Poop. Today, as she nears her first blogoversary (and 40th birthday), Stephanie's sharing what she's learned about blogging -- and life -- over the past 12 months. Enjoy!
Lessons from the Blogosphere
I've been hanging around the blogosphere for about a year now, and well ... I question what I am doing. A LOT.
I am this huge attention freak. If I don't think anyone is interested in my blog/my writing etc. I tend to get down. This blogging thing is hard! Write what your readers will like ... don't write the dark stuff, no one wants to read it ... keep it short and simple, stick to the point ...
*Sigh*
What's a blogger to do?
I'll tell you what I've learned: Just write. You honestly can't please every single person every single time. This is just as true in the blogging world as it is in real life. If I tried to write to please everyone ... that would just be a mess. My blog would then become not mine.
And that isn't being real. Not to me or to my readers. The ones that really love you will come around and comment whether your post is pure hogwash or a gripping the edge of your seat thriller of a confession or just your mundane every day life.
You will make mistakes, and your reader count might go down. You will lose a follower here or there. It happens. It's not worth the tears in your coffee when your blog post sits all day without comments on it (or all weekend). You will still shed them, but just remember, that's just you being your typical drama queen self. ;)
So, just write. Write about your day, your life. Tell your stories. Add a box to subscribe by email. Check your feedburner when you need a boost. Just because people aren't tweeting about your posts doesn't mean people aren't reading them. I'd rather have a few regular comments than a bunch of random comments all the time anyway.
Self discovery, a boost of confidence, camaraderie with fellow bloggers, rediscovery of my talents...
This is what I have learned in my year of blogging. I have made good friends, I have made new friends, I have started writing again, and most of all?
I've discovered I am not alone.
Want to be a guest blogger? Shoot me an email and I'll get you in the lineup! And if you're looking for more great around-the-neighborhood posts (including mine), hop over to Amy's.
Nice to meet you Stephanie. Happy Birthday and Happy Blogoversary! I've had an ambivalent relationship with blogging, but ultimately, I've made connections that elevate me to become a better person. And that I believe is a great gift. Thanks for having her in your space Kelly.
Thanks Kelly! The fresh hot coffee and Krispy Kreme you left for me was such a sweet touch. ;)
Happy Blogversary, Stephanie! Nice to meet you! I love your perspective, and I have to say, my life as a blogger has improved greatly once I quit checking my stats. It made me CRA-ZY.
Lovely to meet you, and just as I am also about to celebrate a year. All of this is TRUE TRUE TRUE. But I suspect almost every blogger goes through struggling with it as they try to find their place, their voice, their tribe. It's a fun process, it's a hard process, and when you get to a comfortable place, it's a wonderful process.
I agree wholeheartedly. It can be crazy making and esteem thrashing -- if you focus on the idea of success. I choose to focus instead on community and friendship. That feels so much better!
Great to see you here Stephanie! I'd say you definitely know what you're doing! Thanks for participating in Neighbor Friday today!
Nice to meet you here. I agree it is quite a challenge and you have to be true to yourself. That's the most important thing in the end.
Thank you kelly for sharing this today!
Hi Stephanie and Kelly, sounds like a healthy attitude about the ever-precarious blogging journey. For me, I remind myself that tehre are people wh oread my blog who don't have a blog and aren't writers. I like to think that they appreciate my posts even on days when the comments are slow.
Thanks for having me here today, Kelly! I started out wanting to be Ree, and ended up liking Kelly's philosophy here. It's not the quantity, its the quality...
@Belinda - My mother is the #1 nonblogger who comes here. She's reading all the time -- so there's always an audience, whether you know it or not!
I hear ya, sister! Although I did turn cartwheels when I got my first comment from someone who wasn't related to me, I really had to stop worrying about the audience before I started enjoying it fully.
This is really great advice : ) Blogging can definitely be stressful if you let it get the best of you!
Good advice! I started my blog because it was cheaper than weekly therapy. (I still go monthly, however). I say that it's just for me, but it is a thrill if I look at the stats and see there were a good number of hits. And I've only told one person I know (and I actually met her years ago through a mom's message board) that I have this blog, so I don't have the family and friends connection to lean on. At this point, I think it's better that people that don't know me/us read it, especially since I also blog about my wannabe rock star husband.
Thanks for sharing!
You couldn't have written this at a better time for me! I've just started blogging a month or so ago, and still don't have my flavour down pat. I have a VERY, VERY small number of followers (!!), but am finding just writing, even if only one person is reading, is helpful for my own sanity. It's fun! Although, yes, I struggle with trying to be original, writing a blog good enough to revisit... I mean, we're all strapped for time, right? Do we really want to spend it on a bad or *recycled* old blog!?
This was a great post, so timely for me. Thank you, thank you!
Hi Allison! Seems like folks have the same bloggy fears whether they've been doing it forever or just got going. My advice is to stay true to yourself and find others who seem similar to you. Once you get your tribe, you'll be good to go!