On the rain-soaked Mid North Coast I am contemplating decisions.
Last night I decided to enter a blogging competition. It involved picking my three best posts. It was a bit like asking me to pick my favourite child. How the hell do you choose?
In the end I went with:
The One Where I Try To Exercise
Homework An Exercise in Futility
In my late night stupor I thought that gave an example of funny, sad, opinion. Then I went to bed and laid awake having a one-sided argument with myself. Of course they weren’t my best posts. In fact, I don’t even have best posts. I just blog. There’s no style to it. I need a consistent theme not a mish mash of whatever I happen to be thinking about at any given moment.Why would I even enter a blogging competition?
I then wrote a blog post in my head asking you dear, loyal, remaining readers to tell me, off the top of your head, what’s the Shambolic Living post that first springs into your mind when you think of this blog? I’m guessing that will probably be your favourite.
It’s very subjective, what we love to read isn’t it? When I review books it’s so hard to find nice things to say when I don’t relate to the story, the characters or the plot. We seem to enjoy that with which we identify. It’s the same with blogs. We seem to pay repeat visits to bloggers with whom we feel a kinship. A shared sense of humour, a similar place in life, facing identical challenges.
Unlike books, blogs add in extra elements, blog design, photography, engagement of commenters. It creates a visual, cerebral mix that is either appealing or unattractive depending on your particular sensibilities. What I love, you may well hate.
Alana was considering this conundrum over at House Goes Home as she checked out her google analytics with an even greater fervour than she used to check her circulation figures as a magazine editor (analytics update every few minutes, circulation figures only came out once a week). In her new life as editor at ivillage she wondered what do woman want to read and what DON’T they want to read on the internet?
It’s the question every blogger asks themselves at some point. Do my readers like to laugh, do they want to be inspired, do they want information, do they need to know my opinion on anything at all?
So what appeals to you as a reader? Be it blogs that make you cry, or crime novels that scare the hell out of you, what rocks your boat? Oh and if you just let me know the answer to the question above on which post you remember most on Shambolic Living that would be helpful too.
🙂
hello janine – over a year ago – october 2011, i posted about my 20th wedding anniversary. you left a comment that made me know you understand how important a long and wonderful marriage is. your blog makes me laugh, and see our family’s funny side (a reflection of your rushed mornings or whatever). so i can’t pick a favorite. i think it’s you i really enjoy, and visit with you through what you write.
make sense?
That’s so lovely Noreen. thank you for being such a constant visitor for the entire existence of this blog.
I guess the type of blogs I like are written by people who love words and use them well, people who make me laugh, and people who make me think. And you do all three!
One blog that stands out in my mind, quite possibly because I was involved but most definitely because it made me laugh a lot, was the one where you attempted to talk to your teenager about pornography 🙂 x
Oh god that was a doozie wasn’t it, so excruiciating. Thank you for your support of this ole blog.
I just like hearing what you’re up to. No one sends letters anymore. I miss them! Blogs are like letters from friends and the longer you follow them the closer you feel to the person writing. I get bored by the ones that are themed, I like that you meander!
Blogs like letters from friends, I like that idea. A lot of my real life friends are now reading the blog, it’s a bit disconcerting when we get together, I’ve got nothing to tell them ’cause they’ve already read it on the blog! Thanks for your support of Shambolic.
I like the anecdotal ones that I get to hear a story or two – hear about life – and then contemplate a question. I get to think about the question in relation to your life, and then I get to think about it in relation to mine. A question that’s really good I’ll actually keep in an open browser to answer later because I want more time to think about it. While I can’t think of an example off the top of my head, I know it’s happened a few times on this blog. I hope you decided to enter – I’m really behind on my blog reading, so there’s a good chance you’ve already done that.
Thank you Chrystina, I love that the blog makes you think about things sometimes, that’s a really big compliment.