Day 5 of 31DBB: A Blog Confessional of Sorts

This blog challenge is great- it’s really helping me, step-by-step, understand this new world of blogging.  In my family blog I post about things mainly to help my distant family, both extended and immediate, keep up with what’s going on.  I also have a wonderful group of mommy friends who blog (check out my blog roll on my family blog).  We all read each other’s blogs, and I think (and hope) it will keep us in touch when all of our kids are in school and our lives get even crazier.

But this blog is different, and I want to make something of it.  And blogging to achieve and audience and perhaps, someday make some money off of it is a completely different ballgame.

Today’s task in the 31 Days to a Better Blog Challenge is simple:  email someone who comments on your blog.  It also talks about the importance of communicating with readers and writers of blogs you like.  Here’s where my confession comes in….

I’m a lurker.  (Is that a word?)  I lurk.

I LOVE to read blogs.  I LOVE to get ideas from them.  I LOVE to laugh at witty remarks and stories, to ache for bloggers who are going through hard times, to wonder at other people’s lives.  But I rarely comment.  I think this parallels my social life, too.  I’m really shy in situations where I don’t know people in gatherings.  I’ve had to work hard to extend a greeting or introduce myself to someone I don’t know.  My friend of 10+ years, Jane, is the exact opposite.  She doesn’t know a stranger.  I’ve benefitted from that for quite some time- 10 years in fact (thanks, Jane!).

When I read someone’s blog I am often in awe- there are so many wonderful writers.  And even some who don’t write well, necessarily, but their lives captivate me in a beautiful way.  I have a hard time thinking that my comment would add anything to their world.  I think I’m wrong, though.

So my confession is also going to turn into a conversion, I guess.  I need to start commenting more.  I started when I got into SITS a while back, and try to remember, but my new credo is going to be that if I visit a blog, I shall comment upon it.  It might be short and sweet (I really love the word “rad”!), but at least I’ll leave a comment.  When I think about it, it’s rather silly to want people to comment on my blog and not expect to comment on others in return.  What goes around comes around, right?  So here I go- off to comment.

I’m off to dig through my comments and email some peeps, because it truly is nice to receive comments on your blog.  You spend time putting it together, and when someone takes the time to read it’s amazing.