Who Is Reading My Blog?
Apr. 4th, 2007 10:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dedalus_1947Every now and then, an embarrassing question bubbles up from my unconscious, and it occurs to me: Is there anyone out there reading my blog?
This query rises up at unguarded moments of my day, like, when I’m jogging, driving, or cycling. These are activities that allow my mind to wander, or jump from thought to thought, without any filtering devices at work. The question always catches me by surprise, and shames me, because I know I shouldn’t care. I should be writing for myself; to practice this skill that I have ignored so long. I need to write for the sake of writing, and not worry about being read. But I, obviously, do care. My unconscious harbors this lurking curiosity about my readership, and their opinion of my work.
This is not an issue with my private journal. The three pages I fill each morning are my private thoughts, and they get me started and ready for the day. In those uncensored pages, I never think about who might be reading my journal. On the other hand, my blog is available to a huge audience, the World Wide Web. When I decided to begin an online journal, I gave up control of who might be viewing my blog. Anyone in the world can log on, or no one. It all depends on who is interested in what I have to say.
My blog seems to be evolving into anecdotal compositions about people, events, thoughts, and activities that make up my life. These essays do not seem to, readily, elicit commentary or response. I’ve had a total of four comments to four separate articles: Greg, my brother-in-law, Greg, my high school friend, Beth, my sister-in-law, and another blogger who linked to my piece on cataract surgery. These comments have been short, concise, and appreciated.
I know that people are aware of my blog, because I invited a specific number of family and friends to view and read it. Some replied to the email invitation, but most did not. Occasionally, when speaking with people whom I invited, the topic of my blog will come up in conversation. So far, most people respond by saying, “Oh yeah, I saw it, but I haven’t had a chance to read it”. I’m not really bothered by the indifferent response, since I remember doing the same thing when I received invitations to a blog, or website. The only blog I regularly read is my son’s.
To assuage my guilt over this issue, I’m hoping that my curiosity represents a natural progression in blogging. Since beginning my blog on December 20, 2005, I have gone through four, of what I believe are five, identifiable stages in the course of a blog experience: 1) Decision, 2) Fascination, 3) Consistency, 4) Curiosity, and 5) Satisfaction.
Deciding to register and begin a blog was a crucial moment for me. It took years of journaling and reading my son’s blog to make me comfortable with the idea. My son’s modeling was critical because his blog gave me a visualization of what this new medium was, and how it functioned. The decision to act came from the imperative to write SOMETHING. I had dabbled in fiction, but found the genre difficult and time consuming. It took incredible discipline to outline, develop, and compose a short story. Fictional tales did not come flowing out of me, like the true stories I described in my journal. It was on a particularly boring day at work, while the rest of the traditional school world was on Christmas vacation in 2005, that I was seized by a compulsion to write. I did not have a journal or notebook available, and I did not want to THINK about how to find one. I just took action, by going online and registering with LiveJournal. The blog eventually became my vehicle for compulsive, or impulsive, writing.
My next stage was a period of fascination with my blog. I played around with it, for weeks and weeks. I experimented with the design, format, and content. I would spend hours and hours searching, altering, and uploading “userpics”, photographs, and pictures to decorate my blog. I also tried out various types of writing styles and forms, hoping to find the ones that felt suitable to my needs and wants.
The point at which I stopped being a dilettante diarist and pursued writing that was more serious and consistent came when I became a paid subscriber to LiveJournal. At that time, I was “posting” on a weekly basis, and I liked what I was writing. The articles dealt with topics I found interesting or important to me. I also noticed that the quality of the stories, and my ease at producing them, was improving steadily with practice. It was during this confident phase that I sent out the formal email invitations to my blog.
I think that I am currently in my fourth stage of blogging, and I’m hoping that this curiosity about who is reading my blog will pass as the others have. In fact, my main motive in devoting an entire essay on this subject is a type of exorcism. I want to drive out this inquisitiveness and move on to the next level.
I am predicting that the final stage of blogging will be satisfaction with the progress of my work. I see this level as an awareness of the writing process that I’m practicing, and a determination to push forward. I also see this as the transitional axis where the previous 4 stages renew themselves and spiral forward, with more energy. I’ll know more about this phase when I get there.
So, I return to my original question: Is there anyone out there reading my blog? Of course, the answer is, Yes! I’m not sure who, or how often, but there are people who log in to check on the progress of my stories and writing. In fact, this weekend my mother told me that Gracie, my youngest sister, had introduced her to my blog. Therefore, I know that I now have my most dedicated reader (other than Kathy, who proofreads most of my “posts”). I also know from experience that she will be my most ardent and enthusiastic booster and proponent. My mother may not comment on what I write, but she will read every word, many times. Mom’s are great that way.
This query rises up at unguarded moments of my day, like, when I’m jogging, driving, or cycling. These are activities that allow my mind to wander, or jump from thought to thought, without any filtering devices at work. The question always catches me by surprise, and shames me, because I know I shouldn’t care. I should be writing for myself; to practice this skill that I have ignored so long. I need to write for the sake of writing, and not worry about being read. But I, obviously, do care. My unconscious harbors this lurking curiosity about my readership, and their opinion of my work.
This is not an issue with my private journal. The three pages I fill each morning are my private thoughts, and they get me started and ready for the day. In those uncensored pages, I never think about who might be reading my journal. On the other hand, my blog is available to a huge audience, the World Wide Web. When I decided to begin an online journal, I gave up control of who might be viewing my blog. Anyone in the world can log on, or no one. It all depends on who is interested in what I have to say.
My blog seems to be evolving into anecdotal compositions about people, events, thoughts, and activities that make up my life. These essays do not seem to, readily, elicit commentary or response. I’ve had a total of four comments to four separate articles: Greg, my brother-in-law, Greg, my high school friend, Beth, my sister-in-law, and another blogger who linked to my piece on cataract surgery. These comments have been short, concise, and appreciated.
I know that people are aware of my blog, because I invited a specific number of family and friends to view and read it. Some replied to the email invitation, but most did not. Occasionally, when speaking with people whom I invited, the topic of my blog will come up in conversation. So far, most people respond by saying, “Oh yeah, I saw it, but I haven’t had a chance to read it”. I’m not really bothered by the indifferent response, since I remember doing the same thing when I received invitations to a blog, or website. The only blog I regularly read is my son’s.
To assuage my guilt over this issue, I’m hoping that my curiosity represents a natural progression in blogging. Since beginning my blog on December 20, 2005, I have gone through four, of what I believe are five, identifiable stages in the course of a blog experience: 1) Decision, 2) Fascination, 3) Consistency, 4) Curiosity, and 5) Satisfaction.
Deciding to register and begin a blog was a crucial moment for me. It took years of journaling and reading my son’s blog to make me comfortable with the idea. My son’s modeling was critical because his blog gave me a visualization of what this new medium was, and how it functioned. The decision to act came from the imperative to write SOMETHING. I had dabbled in fiction, but found the genre difficult and time consuming. It took incredible discipline to outline, develop, and compose a short story. Fictional tales did not come flowing out of me, like the true stories I described in my journal. It was on a particularly boring day at work, while the rest of the traditional school world was on Christmas vacation in 2005, that I was seized by a compulsion to write. I did not have a journal or notebook available, and I did not want to THINK about how to find one. I just took action, by going online and registering with LiveJournal. The blog eventually became my vehicle for compulsive, or impulsive, writing.
My next stage was a period of fascination with my blog. I played around with it, for weeks and weeks. I experimented with the design, format, and content. I would spend hours and hours searching, altering, and uploading “userpics”, photographs, and pictures to decorate my blog. I also tried out various types of writing styles and forms, hoping to find the ones that felt suitable to my needs and wants.
The point at which I stopped being a dilettante diarist and pursued writing that was more serious and consistent came when I became a paid subscriber to LiveJournal. At that time, I was “posting” on a weekly basis, and I liked what I was writing. The articles dealt with topics I found interesting or important to me. I also noticed that the quality of the stories, and my ease at producing them, was improving steadily with practice. It was during this confident phase that I sent out the formal email invitations to my blog.
I think that I am currently in my fourth stage of blogging, and I’m hoping that this curiosity about who is reading my blog will pass as the others have. In fact, my main motive in devoting an entire essay on this subject is a type of exorcism. I want to drive out this inquisitiveness and move on to the next level.
I am predicting that the final stage of blogging will be satisfaction with the progress of my work. I see this level as an awareness of the writing process that I’m practicing, and a determination to push forward. I also see this as the transitional axis where the previous 4 stages renew themselves and spiral forward, with more energy. I’ll know more about this phase when I get there.
So, I return to my original question: Is there anyone out there reading my blog? Of course, the answer is, Yes! I’m not sure who, or how often, but there are people who log in to check on the progress of my stories and writing. In fact, this weekend my mother told me that Gracie, my youngest sister, had introduced her to my blog. Therefore, I know that I now have my most dedicated reader (other than Kathy, who proofreads most of my “posts”). I also know from experience that she will be my most ardent and enthusiastic booster and proponent. My mother may not comment on what I write, but she will read every word, many times. Mom’s are great that way.
