blog, blog, blog...

(imagine, for no particular reason, that I'm saying that in the voice of a chicken)

I have read about 100 blogs this week. I'm just about blogged out. There are so many incredibly talented people out there! Talented with crafts, humor, insight into the human condition. Cynics. Poets. Novelists. Prayer blogs. So many appealing recipes! All thinking they have something to say and hoping that someone will listen and enjoy, challenge and share.

Some go above and beyond to be funny or irreverant about something. Some are outlets for bitching about a former spouse or the economy or politics, or life in general. Many are married with four children and looking for a place to talk adult speak. Home schooling is very popular, and for some reason there are lots and lots of teachers (especially kindergarten). There are extreme environmentalists, and just homeowners wanting to live a greener life. And sports - oh my gosh, entry after entry about a favorite soccer or basketball team! Entertainers. Politicians. You name a topic, and there are hundreds of blogs about it. Who knew there were so many things to read and write about, and how many different takes there are on any given topic?

Here are a few things I noticed on my blog adventure this week:

(1) No matter how long a blog posting is, no matter how much time the blogger spent on research or soul searching, the comments received are only one word or two sentences long. "Funny!", "Enjoyed the read!". There might be 61 comments to a post, but most don't give the feedback that one would expect for the effort the poster put into sharing their thoughts/feelings/intellect/recipe/advice/book review/etc. I would find that to be incredibly frustrating and unsatisfying, but I do understand that with so many blogs to visit one doesn't have time to write a comment equivalent to a dissertation; plus, most people reading a post do have a life off the internet, and probably are just passing time until the washer is done or the kids get home from school or until they're sleepy/bored enough to be able to sleep. And just someone leaving a message that they did read your post is a plus!

(2) Many of the posts gave me a headache. Literally. Some of that was because I came in the middle of the game - they'd been posting for two years and I was just reading the most recent five, so I was often confused about what was going on. Some had so many "gadgets" or "widgets" or whatever they're called (I'm still working on figuring out the lingo) that I literally got a headache trying to track the usually three column wide page. Advertisements, special interest logos, contests, archives. So much to read! And let's not forget the list of followers and favorite blogs, with the most imaginative or puzzling titles, all of which you want to check out for yourself (which is how I ended up on my marathon blog journey).

(3) Many bloggers seemed to be trying to out-blog someone else (to see who gets the most hits? the most money? be the most outrageous? get the most ego strokes?). I found these to be almost irritating, like they were being written by a type A personality or a manic depressant in the manic stage. But that's just me - I get confused easily and don't handle too much outside stimulus well.

(4) Some bloggers really disturbed me. I honestly worried for their mental health. Writing is a good outlet for stress and, as a mental health counselor once told me, serves as a"regurgitation of the garbage that makes us mentally and physically sick". But some posts or blogs that I read were very much to the dark side of a person's nature.

Anyway, the point of all this is that I've been wondering why I decided to start a blog in the first place, and what do I expect from it, now nine posts into this, beyond hearing myself talk? I don't have any expertise to share on any particular subject, so mostly it will be only talk. Whether that talking will prove relevant to anyone besides myself would be open to debate, so I'm guessing that it will mostly be geared as an update to family and friends about my activities and the state of my mental health. Like an email to ten people at once, rather than ten separate emails. Since I'm probably two years behind on most of my emails, and the more behind I get the more likely it is that I will continue to procrastinate, this would make sense!

That's why, if you are receiving this as an email, I have set my post settings to send it to you as an email for a couple weeks as a mind jogger that I'm doing this. Then I will eliminate it and just let you decide for yourself if I'm worthy of your visit on occasion.

I'd love to hear from you ... what are your favorite kind of blogs, what is a particular favorite blog, what do you dislike about blogs, when do you usually find the time to read blogs (or do you?).

Hope you're having a good weekend! We're rainy and cold here, hence the time for a too long posting!