Blog Envy
I must be a far less secure person than I like to think I am. I’ve noticed a frightening mental trend as I troll through the knitting blog world . . . the first thing I seem to look for is whether my blog is listed on their list of “Blogs I Read.” I notice with envy the number of people subscribed to other blogs on Bloglines. And then, I try to think of ways to boost my readership when I think it’s “flagging.” (“What flashy, impressive thing can I post a picture of? Where can I post a link to my blog that will get people to stop by?”)
Is that just the silliest thing, or what?? When did I become so needy for praise or feedback? I’ve managed to knit for years with only the small, appreciative audience of my family and friends. They aren’t knitters themselves and so might not always understand the “craft,” but they are also therefore that much more impressed by the magic that is knitting. (“I can’t believe you made that!” followed by my modest scoff, “Oh, it was nothing. A few skeins of yarn, some twiddling with some sticks, and voila, a masterpiece. Really, it was no trouble.”)
I suppose part of it is that I want that Wow-Factor, now, from actual knitters. The old, simple fix isn’t enough; I’m moving into the harder stuff. Who knew that I had this hidden (?) need to be adored? And, wouldn’t you think I would get enough of that from my dog? (Really, Chappy’s quite good at the whole adoration thing, but then, he’s been studying my adoration technique since he was 7 weeks old.) It’s a nice little high, though, to be told that you do beautiful work by someone who really knows how much work and skill and effort went into a FO. But it’s a slippery slope, where you start wanting more and more Oohs and Aahs when you used to be content with just a few from the people physically closest to you!
Anyway, sad to say, I don’t have anything worthy of “Wows” to post today. Nor am I looking for “Oh, but we love you, Deb” kinds of comments. (Really, I’m not.) I just think it’s an interesting state of affairs, this blog-world we’ve got going. It’s a community, like Annie says, with “cool kids” and the obviously not-so-cool-kids. I never aspired to be the cool cheerleader with an entourage of friends in high school; nor did I want to be part of the brown-nosing crowd. I was quite content to have just a handful of good, close friends, and I feel like I’ve gotten that here, too . . . Do I really need 800+ people reading my blog each day to feel secure? The answer, believe it or not, is absolutely no. I’m really frankly thrilled that I’m averaging 80 a day, and have even had days where I hit 350. That’s pretty impressive, I think!
But . . . I suppose I wouldn’t object if 800 people wanted to! Like I said, it’s a slippery slope, people! And all the pressure to perform comes from yourself–feeling like you need to do something “blog-worthy,” you need photos, you need to be funny, charming, smart, appealing, accessible.
Humph. Next thing you know, I’ll be trying to impress my yarn so it can admire me, too! (Not to compare those of you who read this to yarn, but, well you’re knitters . . . it’s not like you would be offended by that anyway, right?)
Now, to get away from this self-indulgent nonsense:
My Amazon order yesterday also included Teva Durham’s “Loop-d-Loop” book, which has some very nifty designs in it. The one I like best, though, is the “Bias Fair Isle,” which has such an interesting take on Fair Isle and which looks eminently wearable. As in, it’s entirely possible I’m going to make that one! (Actually, it’s the first pattern I’ve seen lately in a magazine or a book that I’m this tempted by. That’s good, right??) (And, thanks Andrea for taking the picture so I didn’t have to!)
And, lastly, let me ask your opinion–considering my recent history with, er, secret pal gifts, am I crazy to be thinking of joining SP5?? I just found out about it yesterday and the deadline for signing up is Monday . . .
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No Chappy pic??!
Ack! I’ve been meaning to link to you on my blog! I promise I will by tomorrow!
What secret pal problems? I just signed up for SP5, my first SP experience…
I don’t think you’re alone. I’m a ring checker for the Knitting ring and I have to admit, while doing my weekly duties, I um look for my blog in their list of reads.
Funny you should mention SP5. I was debating it myself today. While I can’t seem to make it to the post office that is in my office building to mail a book I promised someone, I’m seriously considering doing this. I even created a new email addy to use. I’m still not sure.
Well, you prodded me to hit the Bloglines button. I tend to forget that a blog isn’t one of my Bloglines subscriptions until after I’m several sites away. Bloglines is such a nice way to keep up with blogs, but I’d definitely say that it has made me lazier about putting links on my own blog, though my Bloglines sub list is public so people can always go there and see which blogs I have remembered to add.
I was quite over with the secret pal thing, but now I’m thinking that I want to do it again, so I hear you on that one. I’m still on the fence!
Jeez Louise you are right. I read you daily, so I might as well update the unupdated. My bloglines subscriptions bear no resemblance to what is listed on my blog. You are now a Typelist item, regardless.
With the advent of bloglines, I am guilty as charged for not keeping my blog links updated. In fact, I *SHOULD* just take them off. But what would I put in it’s place?
In fact, bloglines perhaps makes it TOO easy to read blogs. Sometimes when I’ve gone through a couple of “speed reading” kind of days, and I finally click on a link to visit the actual blog, I am surprised to see the blog and what it looks like. It is too easy to read them in the preview pane.
So. I blogline you.
I just linked to you with my blogroll buttom
. I also have you on bloglines. I’m kind of in a dry spell as far as knitting goes, so haven’t blogged as regularly lately so expect to lose some readers. Hmmm, time for a funny dog pic.
Take care, Tori
no problem! — glad you did link because i got to read a really good post, and this is the first time for me to your blog too
i totally hear you on the whole comment/popularity thing. i’ve been blogging for almost a year now and just in the past few months i’ve been getting comments, before that there was nothing. as a result, i definitely feel now and then some pressure to keep doing what i’m doing and not venture into new stuff, for fear i’ll lose readers – and then i have to remind myself why i’m doing this in the first place, how i refuse to revert to high school popularity contests, etc etc.
Don’t worry, you can get out of the habit as easily as you fell in
I caught myself doing that too and decided it was silly and now the most I do is troll through the stats to see where people are surfing in from. It’s the ones who stop and chat who make the difference but it’s still fun to see where they all come from.
Heh, I am stat clueless.
My hubby says I have a lot of readers, and really it makes me pleased that he would say that, butI really value the few folks I have come to know and love through their blogs.
I’m also considering joining secret pal 5. If it putters out we could always decided to do one for each other Deb!
Yes, join Secret Pal 5 and quick! My first was 4 and I felt like you to begin with, but once I had my victim it was great thinking up things to send. The bonus is, you get pressies too! By the way, I do both Bloglines and Blogroll, but forget to update the blogroll! I do however, make sure my Bloglines are public and not private so that the person concerned can see I read them.
Don’t you think we all crave attention of some sort. We wouldn’t blog if we didn’t want readers. It takes time to build an audience and lots of comments on other blogs. How else will people find you. You have a nice readership from the comments above.
I’m so on the fence about SP5. I toy with the idea but then…maybe I should give it another go.
I sort of toy with the popularity thing, too, but then I realize that I have more fun with the few, dedicated people who read my blog (mostly my RL friend Mary, Lolly Lauren, and Danielle of Poetic Purl) and my own mellow rumblings (that’s what it sounds like inside my head!) than I would have ever had with an audience.
We’re here because we like you, not because we have any “duty” to be here. To me, that’s the most delightful gift anyone can give a fellow blogger.
I had such fun with SP4 that I’m jumping into SP5! Hopefully, I’ll be gifting someone really inspiring!