A Retrospective on Beginning and Beginning Again
July 30, 2007 – 4:27 pm |A little over a year ago, when I first accidentally stumbled into the blogosphere, I was as ignorant and blissfully unaware of this bustling conversational underworld as Lewis’s Lucy before she wanders through the wardrobe into Narnia.
Before that first chance encounter (thanks to author Jennifer Weiner plugging her own blog in one of her novels) I had never thought of the Internet as a place for connecting or making friends. Indeed, having prematurely begun the process of turning into a cranky old lady, I thought of cyber-conversation in terms of chat rooms visited by pedophiles and MySpace pages where ‘kids-these-days’ inadvisably broadcast and permanently record their angst. No, this was certainly not a place I needed to spend any time.
As I poked along reading people’s political manifestos and personal journals, I innocently thought: ”Wow, how cool that a few people self-publish their creativity and, on occasion, their personal trauma into these nifty things called weblogs.” [Yes, I probably even thought the word ‘nifty.’ My naivety and geekiness sometimes shock and amaze even me.] Of course, as I quickly learned, that was an understatement of immeasurable proportions. According to a Pew Trust Study, published last summer, approximately12 million Americans were actually blogging, with more than 40 million more reading blogs.
As my comfort level with the concept increased, though, so did my addiction. At that particular moment (three.kids.under.4, people!) I wasn’t getting a lot of adult interaction. And, well, once you’re in Blogia – every mouse click carries you to another person’s world and another candid conversation with a fabulous mother, or father, law student, critic, politico, lactivist, activist, pacifist, actual writer, gossipmonger, or collection of lippy lawyers overanalyzing pop culture. Of course, that’s without mentioning mainstream-media-sponsored ‘blogs’ or internet magazines or the blogs of the famous. I was fascinated. I clicked. I read. I lurked. The bills and dishes piled.
Never one to enjoy the sidelines (in anything except actual sports, of course), it didn’t take long before I had a blog of my own, two virtual friends, and my very first bloggy crush (on Weiner’s husband, Adam Bonin, of course).
At first, I kept it (the blog, but, sadly, not the crush) to myself, content to have an outlet for my long-quieted longing to write and unconcerned with whether people actually read any of my musings. But as I have become more comfortable I have recently realized that, indeed, I actually want people to read this blog.
Unfortunately, getting established in Blogia can be a bit overwhelming. In fact, to the newbie mommyblogger hoping to carve out even the most miniscule sliver of readership – it’s downright intimidating.
One click takes me to Mommy Needs Coffee where I learn that Jenn Satterwhite has actually interviewed Gloria Steinem. Another click and I am Nashville bound in Suburban Turmoil with Lindsey Ferrier who skillfully veils mommy war controversy into her own brand of humor to the tune of hundreds of comments per post.
The day I stumbled into Blogher was particularly humbling as I realized that there may be more blog titles with the word “Mommy” in them than cracker crumbs under the seats of a whole fleet of Honda Odysseys.
Lately, as I have pointed and clicked my way through this universe, I have asked myself … what can I do to get people to read this blog? How can I convince the lurkers to join the conversation? I’m a rabid researcher, so, of course, I did some studying. I looked into it, and I think I’ve got some ideas. I’ll tell you what I discovered.
But not until later this week. Maybe Thursday.
In the meantime, feel free to tell me in the comments – if you’re already reading this blog – what would you like to read about?