Due to my failure to launch into cyberspace, I’m back home, ready to start Blogging 101. I’m skipping the required reading and going right to the agenda–which is to get myself (and most of you reading this) up to blog speed, or at least to the starting gate.
WHAT IS A BLOG ANYWAY?
“Blog”–short for WEB LOG–is an online journal that reads in reverse order with the most recent posts at the top. Maybe you’ve caught on that a blog is kind of like a soap opera, or being a fly on the wall of someone else’s brain.
Reading my blog makes you part of a very exclusive club— since this blog is only available to people who have access to the internet. Millions of people are now addicted to blogging and millions of other people are addicted to reading them. I am definitely hooked on blogging, and you are obviously reading, so that makes us part of a co-dependent relationship.
Someone suggested that I think of a blog as as a “conversation with the culture.” Many blogs pick up on the “culture”–discussing fashion, celebrities, books, movies, trends. For my purposes, the key word is “conversation.” Since a conversation involves at least two people, that means my blog so far is mostly a monologue.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that. My husband V would attest that I am always capable, and willing, to carry on a conversation without any input from anyone else.
Blogging has no rules. And I have NO expectations. I am thrilled that you read my blog–and I hope you will continue to read and share it. You are absolutely under NO PRESSURE to ever do anything more than that. I just feel an obligation to encourage a little audience participation.
FREE PRIZE TO PEOPLE WHO COMMENT
I did consider that. But I decided it’s like paying your kids to get good grades. Which I never did. Besides, I will continue blogging—very happily– whether anyone comments or not.
On a blog the comments lead to the conversation. Here’s how it works. Since this is MY blog, I get to fill as much space as I want with anything I feel like talking about. At the end of every post is a line with the word:” comments”. This is is your part. You click on the word “comments”, and you get to add your opinion, question, story, whatever you want–under any name you choose to call yourself.
You know the old example of someone who is very self absorbed, and talks on and on about themselves, and finally at the end they turn to you and say: “But enough about me. What do YOU think about me?” Well, a blog is kind of like that.
Although I’m hoping for something more. Communication. Community. Connections. Controversy. Better stories than mine.
I think people like me–and you—who like to be informed and aware–should know what the big deal is all about. After all everybody seems to be blogging. All those women in San Francisco. Michelle Obama. Tom Hanks. Oprah. And although I haven’t checked, I suspect that Oprah is getting more comments than I am.
MOST POPULAR EXCUSES FOR NOT COMMENTING
1. You are busy
2. You are a bad speller
3. You are not good at public speaking
4. You cannot figure out how to follow the directions
5. All of the above—plus you are George W. Bush
Ok. Bush is off the hook. What’s your excuse?
barbara canter says
Darryle – I am trying to get connected — let me know if you get this. love, barb