What I've Learned About Blogging. So Far.

I really didn’t get it at first. I didn’t see the point. I also thought: Who would want to read a stream of consciousness from anyone, including me?

The thing is, I got a book deal and everyone immediately told me I had to have a blog. Why? To get a book deal. OK. No, wait--. Alright so I just learned I had done things in reverse. So I started a blog.

I didn’t like blogging at first and wasn’t even sure if I was doing it right. My posts were long; I would take days to write them and then go over and edit them before I posted them. OK, it may not seem like it, but I did. Then I realized it didn’t matter. You can do what you want. It’s your blog. I can talk about chicken wings if I want to and for as long as I want to. I’m not saying I won’t but ... OK we’ll see.

My only readers at first were my family and a few friends, and even then I think they were lying. I redesigned the blog and got some tips from the designer. “If you want people to read your blog, comment on other blogs.” Huh? I thought there were bloggers and readers, right? Wrong. Bloggers ARE readers. It’s a community and almost like a self-feeding ecosystem. Like those shrimp filled ecospheres you can get at Brookstone in the mall. Let me digress a moment here: I have one, and a while back I stupidly broke it while reaching for a light switch in the dark. I didn’t have the heart to throw it away so I called the company and they said to put the whole thing in Tupperware with water so I did.

There is one shrimp still alive and it is now older than my daughter. I’m guessing around 6 years old. When I lost my office to the new baby I had to move the shrimp into my daughter’s room. It’s still alive although she could care less about it. That’s the great thing though: Broken Ecosphere in water in Tupperware—no maintenance.

So I reluctantly blogged away and even guest blogged because I thought I was supposed to. But then something funny happened on the way to the forum. After a while I found I actually enjoyed blogging although I don’t update more than once or twice a week and interestingly, I feel like I’ve made some new friends. Bloggers meeting other bloggers, you feel like you’re virtually hanging out with them. That I didn’t expect and it’s pretty cool. I’m starting to get it now. Twitter, not so much, but blogging, yes.

I also got some help from some other bloggers and I have slowly adding them all to the links list on the right. You can visit them. They’re cool.

So thanks for stopping by and I’ll try and swing by your place periodically. After all, we have to keep the shrimp alive.