Questions About Blogging

I just saw that I have written 1,076 posts on this blog.

I guess you could say I love words.

In elementary school, when we would have free time inside instead of outdoor recess due to rain or snow (a good possibility from October to April, btw) I would head to the back of the classroom where my teacher kept stacks of brownish recycled paper with the solid and broken lines on a fly-infested cement windowsill. I would grab a couple of pages and begin writing a novella at my desk while the spiritless peons around me "played," oblivious to the creative genius in two pony tails just rows away.

Apparently, I still love to write because it's difficult for me to skip a day here. I would probably just keep on writing and writing right now, even if you clicked away and didn't come back for five years. If you came back in 2014, I'd probably be blogging about 30 x 5, Phase 72 and how I keep watching American Idol despite it being the worst season ever.

So here's a stolen meme about blogging. Trying to find its source of origin would have led me down a path of links that I'd still be on in 2014, so I'm just plain ol' stealing it.

1. What is your blog about?

Good question! Every bit of advice I read about successful blogging includes the admonition to make your blog about something. "Find a unifying theme." "Be an expert or at least an aficionado." This is also the main problem when I talk to editors about publishing a book. They like what I write, but I don't have a snazzy theme, like, "Teenagers. Aren't They a Hoot."

But my blogging style reminds me of a dog on walk; I'm distracted by every different smell, sight and sound along the path. And off the path. So much is amusing!

I see something on TV or in World Magazine and think, "I've got to blog about that," or my kids say something funky or I have a day when my finger gets caught in the wheel of the paper cutter at work and I break the toilet there as well, and I think, "Yep, that's a post." It's all good. No, literally--it's all good!

2. What will you never write about?

• Something that someone asks me not to write about
• Details about my job, which often kills me because that is one rich topic; believe me.
  
• Details about my marriage
  

3. Have you ever considered quitting blogging?

Yes, when I feel overwhelmed with the pressure to post daily or comment as much as I'd like elsewhere. I just don't have enough time. And time seems to be speeding up exponentially. It's a little freaky.

4. What would you do instead?

I used to write long hand, especially when I went through depression, page after page. Then I started keeping an online journal, just a Word doc. It's possible that if I didn't spend so much time blogging I might submit for publication more. It's also possible that I would be the queen of crosswords because I LOVE solving them almost as much as I do writing.

If you took all writing possibilities out of the equation ... I would ... breed Yorkies? At that point, I would become divorced because Jorge would not even consider that option. So maybe he should buy me a laptop.

5. What do you think blogging will be like in 5 years?

In five years, I'll be 51, which seems unbelievable. I doubt I'll have a grandchild by then, but we'll still have American Idol, so I'm set. I sure hope LOST is resolved by then. Or do I?

6. What is the most extraordinary thing that happened to you because of blogging?

Extraordinary? As in "extra-ordinary?" Hmmm. I've joked about Clinton Kelly emailing me, but that's about the only odd thing that has happened as a direct result of blogging. It has been a little strange and fun to meet people for the first time who tell me they read my blog because someone else introduced them to it.

One time a friend with whom I'd been acquainted years ago but hadn't spoken with in recent years told me that she read my blog regularly and then saw me in the grocery store but was too star-struck to say hello. Totally cracked me up.

It has also been wonderful and "extraordinary" to meet you! Isn't it amazing the friendships that can emerge from just the written word? BTW, happy birthday, Diane.

7. Did you write a blog post or comment you later regretted?

Yes, and I did delete the post. I think it was inflammatory, and I'm not about that. You all know I'm not afraid to have an opinion, but when I first started blogging, I went off on an issue in an un-loving way, and that I regret. But now I'm more growed-up 'n stuff.

8. Pet peeves?

• Music that automatically loads with a blog and scares me to death because my speaker is up.

• Really, really long posts (like this one, Lid?) without paragraph breaks.

• Constantly mixing font styles and sizes within a post. Have mercy.

• Centering posts.

• Preachiness, sermonizing

• "Reaching" too far to make a spiritual point. Sometimes a cookie is just a cookie, a coincidence a coincidence. In my opinion.

• Too much sappy praise for the husband. A little goes a long way because we probably don't think he is the sexiest man in the world, but we're glad you do. Plus, when you're struggling in your marriage and people go on like that, it's painful. It's like bragging about how rich you are to the impoverished or something.

#1 Pet Peeve: Anonymous negative comments. Do that here, and you're toast. Wow-was that un-loving?

End on a happy note:

I love:

• Posts written by missionaries and teachers.

• Posts about teenagers.

• Humorous posts. My favorite post ever is probably Big Mama's Like the Sopranos, But Without the Violence. It is one of the funniest things I've ever read in my life. When I linked to it here, I started reading it again and laughed out loud. It's so funny, but at the same time, it's poignant and loving. It's a blogging masterpiece, if-t you askt met.

I agree with William Davis (no clue who he is, actually) who said, “The kind of humor I like is the thing that makes me laugh for five seconds and then think for ten minutes.”

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30 x 5 Update: Elliptical for 30; said no to Sugar Cream Pie, our state pie. But caved in for a piece of pineapple upside-down. Sigh.