Well, I’ve been blogging for almost twenty-four hours and I still don’t know what I’m doing. The picture of my infant son above pretty well captures how I view myself as a blogger; I’m basically just pushing buttons and seeing what happens, alternately crying out of sheer frustration and squealing with delight when something works.
That said, I have learned a few things. I shall now bestow my wisdom upon you:
1. It’s probably best not to publish one’s post at 3am. I was feeling pretty smug about figuring out how to connect my blog to my Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+ accounts (look how fancy I am with ALL of those social media accounts), and went to bed excitedly debating the best time to unleash my first post on an unsuspecting world. Turns out, it was shared automatically and without fanfare when I published it in the middle of the night. That’ll teach me to temper my conceit.
2. You gotta give some love to get some love in this business. I stumbled upon a page with tips for expanding one’s readership and one tip was to read, comment on, and link to other blogs. This together with the fact that one has to log in to comment led me to wonder: Are any real people commenting on blogs or is it only other bloggers and Internet trolls? I know, bloggers and trolls are people, too. But is the world of blogging just one big, virtual circle jerk? I don’t have all the answers yet. Side note: Yes, I did a little bit of research into best practices. I can’t help myself. Also, I couldn’t sleep.
3. If you write it, they will read. In spite of doing it all wrong (see previous post), eleven people and counting visited my blog, ostensibly to read my post. A handful of friends even gave me a virtual nod of approval (Thanks, Uncle Tim, Marc, Lisa, Kim, and Mr. Gulde!), so at least a few of those page visits were intentional. I’m starting to feel the weight of the responsibility that comes with celebrity… and it feels good.
I think I’ll post another and see what happens. Pretty soon, I might even start blogging about something other than blogging.
MeMe's Musing 
Bloggers and trolls are people, too.
Well, I’ve been blogging for almost twenty-four hours and I still don’t know what I’m doing. The picture of my infant son above pretty well captures how I view myself as a blogger; I’m basically just pushing buttons and seeing what happens, alternately crying out of sheer frustration and squealing with delight when something works.
That said, I have learned a few things. I shall now bestow my wisdom upon you:
1. It’s probably best not to publish one’s post at 3am. I was feeling pretty smug about figuring out how to connect my blog to my Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+ accounts (look how fancy I am with ALL of those social media accounts), and went to bed excitedly debating the best time to unleash my first post on an unsuspecting world. Turns out, it was shared automatically and without fanfare when I published it in the middle of the night. That’ll teach me to temper my conceit.
2. You gotta give some love to get some love in this business. I stumbled upon a page with tips for expanding one’s readership and one tip was to read, comment on, and link to other blogs. This together with the fact that one has to log in to comment led me to wonder: Are any real people commenting on blogs or is it only other bloggers and Internet trolls? I know, bloggers and trolls are people, too. But is the world of blogging just one big, virtual circle jerk? I don’t have all the answers yet. Side note: Yes, I did a little bit of research into best practices. I can’t help myself. Also, I couldn’t sleep.
3. If you write it, they will read. In spite of doing it all wrong (see previous post), eleven people and counting visited my blog, ostensibly to read my post. A handful of friends even gave me a virtual nod of approval (Thanks, Uncle Tim, Marc, Lisa, Kim, and Mr. Gulde!), so at least a few of those page visits were intentional. I’m starting to feel the weight of the responsibility that comes with celebrity… and it feels good.
I think I’ll post another and see what happens. Pretty soon, I might even start blogging about something other than blogging.