It's just dawning on me how complex and time consuming blogging is.... Moreover, my indolence is getting the better of me today - I'm very tired, I went to bed too late, too much blog surfing. I was up half the night with a stomach upset, the loo was my best friend for a while. So I'm still sitting in my dressing gown and half the day has gone. I succumbed to -
this, with just a little butter! Now I feel better, didn't last... no wonder I've got a stomach upset. Will get a shower and get up just as soon as I finish this RANT, I promise.
I must pre-empt this by telling you that last night I did the 'Big Personality Test', organized by the 'Child of our Time' group online. The aim is to categorize your personality into 5 areas and rate accordingly. Do try it, quite interesting. My results showed my dominance to be neuroticism and conscientiousness in equal measure! So, with that in mind, you can now read this.
It took me forever to set this blinking blog up. Having no experience of web design I was flummoxed from the outset. Typepad or Blogger, pay or no pay. Once in, passwords, usernames... yeuk. Can't remember all my flippin' codes for all the flippin' things I have. Hah! I'm in. Now, 'Themes', setting up every column, sidebar, colour, border size - extra small, small, medium, large.... different for every line. Underline, bold, italic... left align, right align, centre.... where to put a picture, what picture, banner - what's that? You need to SAVE each change or it's gone.
Then I turned my attention to 'Content'. Oh no, two, three or four columns - classic or artistic? More borders, colours, headings... I'm going mad. Oh, just choose one, for God's sake! Move on. Now, how to do sidebar headings, that took me some considerable time to work out, but I've cracked it now. What kind of typelists do I want - link, book, notes? I have no idea. I needed to learn how to insert a link into the main body of my writing, never done that before. I need to fill out some details about myself. What, how much, do I mention my family? How dangerous is it out there, really? By the time I got to 'CSS', I just gave up, still don't know what it is.
Then I decided I wanted one of those nice flickering Flickr mosaics. But that meant I had to open a Flickr account, and what's more, I had to fill it with photos! That took considerable time and understanding too. Why does the mosaic only show some of my photos? No idea. Then I realized my photos were in a woeful state on iPhoto, having just transferred them from my PC a few weeks ago. I didn't know where to find anything. I spent a whole weekend sorting that out. I deleted over 3,000 photos and ordered the rest into regiments worthy of any anal retentive.
Then I had to learn terminology like HTML, hyperlinks, URL's, http://'s, browsers, the list goes on. You must understand I've been a full time mother forever, have never worked with computers, so it's all a challenge to me. The 17 year old gives me lessons which I painstakingly write down, he is alarmed by my stupidity and slow learning capabilites. He tries to be patient, but it's hard. He watches as I consult my notes on how to add a 'link' and can't quite believe it. He knows that all this madness started when I saw him on Facebook and asked him to show me - but he won't be my 'friend' on there. Then I progressed to 'Twitter' which he disapproved of.
Before I owned a blog I just used to glance at random posts and a few favourites. Now I read everything more carefully and am taking much more notice of form and content. How often they post, what they choose, and why? What kind of photos and how many? So many different design styles to give me inspiration. Then each of you has your own list of 'favourite blogs' to peruse. That's not the end, oh no, what about the 'comments' at the end of each posting? Never looked at them before, but now, each one leads to another blogger with posts and yet more comments..... hmm sound familiar? I've now multiplied my reading beyond my capability to work out in my head! I haven't even factored in the parallel universes of Flickr and Etsy with the same compound interest!
I also know I need to 'market' myself, so I check the search engines, are they picking up on me? Who knows. Have I made it easy for them? What kind of blog is this anyway? The rantings of a neurotic or is it arts and crafts? Which categories should I label myself with? I don't know how to do that anyway. I need to join some 'groups' in blogland on Flickr maybe. What about the opening of an Etsy shop....oh, I can't take any more. I have got a list of things to blog about, but it will run out, I need more ideas, better take more photos, and upload... I do use .... ??? and !!!!'s a lot, don't I? It's merely a reflection of my state of mind.
So, here's the thing, how do you all discipline yourselves as bloggers? When do you get the time to actually make anything? OMG how many of you are there out there? I'm overwhelmed - an amazing virtual universe at the click of my finger. I've now got so many ideas I don't know where to begin.
Then the RSI sets in, and the paranoia... Who's going to notice my blog with so much talent out there? How much should I pump into the virtual ether not knowing if anyone is reading it? Just knowing that all this work will be a waste of time if someone doesn't read it in the next few days - who can be bothered to trawl down endless entries on a blog that's new and unfamiliar? Do you recognize this pattern? Is anyone there...?
Right, I've done my blog, and added photo and proof read the thing. I'm cross that typepad seems to have difficulty 'left aligning' this text when I've left two spaces at the end of a sentence. I've uploaded photos from my iPhone to iPhoto and synchronized them all. I've uploaded photos to Flickr and explored and wondered why some things aren't working as they should. I've commented on some of my favourite blogs, I've wondered if any of them look at mine. I've checked to see if any of them have put me on their 'favourites' list. Too soon, I think, of course, or is it? Perhaps they just think this is rubbish, perhaps it is!
Some of my favourite bloggers have responded to my pleas for recognition, but most haven't. Same with the friends. I've put some more on my 'favourites' list. I've wondered who else I can tell, explored contacts in the extreme, I wonder it the newspapers would give me an advance? I'm sure India Knight at the Times (see my favourite blogs list) would like this, but she doesn't 'follow' me on Twitter, so it's hard to get a message to her, even though I 'follow' her. Maybe I'll try again. I'll talk about the idiocy of normal people on Twitter another day.
I've e-mailed/texted/twittered/facebooked some friends to tell them about my new blog, oh yes, I've done it all. Should I link my blog to Twitter and Facebook or not, could just put my blog address on Facebook.
Phew... I'm exhausted and I haven't got up yet. No wonder I need my toasted cinnamon and apple bagel (with the small amount of butter...) and an enormous cafe au lait! I still have this typepad account free until the 28th, so maybe I could just pull out?
The paradox is, of course, that this is, I presume, the best way of puncturing the blogosphere, albeit in vain. 'Networking with knobs on' - the husband thinks I'm a huge embarrassment with all this introversion and timewasting. This could become my full time job and my children may have to find another home - like cats do.
Now, my ablutions, I'm a disgrace - it's lunchtime, well, just a teeny bit past now. Maybe I should just go back to bed, after all the kids have keys...
