...in my tum!
If I new how to do it I would definately send a special award to Dottycookie who sent me this lovely parcel to say thank you for the Back to School Swap. How nice is that? Sometimes when the world seems to be going mad, it is so nice to learn that there people are really good at heart. Thank you Val. Oh and if you look closely, you may notice that the chocolate parcel is empty... chocolate doesn't even get time to reach the cupboard in this house.
That parcel got me thinking about Domesticali's post recently called "Now tell me about your blog" and I have been reading other people's responses with interest so I decided to set some answers to these questions myself. You see, I can't quite put my finger on why I do this, and recently I tried to explain to my good friend, who stumbled across my blog via another friend, and who couldn't get her head around why I do this. The best I could explain was that I enjoy putting my thoughts down. Good Friend said "you need to get out more and talk to real people!". But I do. Alot. However, I don't talk like this so its different - does that make sense..? probably not.
Anyway, here goes.
1. Do you promote your blog?
Not anymore. When I first started I told a few people which was fine, but didn't give them the address. Now I don't want to tell anyone as I feel its a bit "Look at me!" and that's not why I do it. Of course its a great deal of "look at me", but as the people who read it don't know me, I feel its not showing off. I think.
2. How often do you check your hits?
I think this means how often do I look at who's written to me. Well that's everyday, but only because I go onto my site to access other blogs. When I first started I checked my hits on the technical data, but then realised that all the hits were probably me going on to check if I had had any hits. So I stopped. Now I get a really good feeling if one of my favourites message me and I love it when new people write a comment and I can find new blogs to add to my favourites.
3. Do you stick to one topic?
At the start I thought I would have lots of different categories and then I very quickly joined the encyclopaedia of me and I covered quite a lot in a short space of time. I've gone down a gear now and I get the feeling that my blog will be mainly sewing with a bit of life thrown in for good measure. I also use this space as a bit of cod-psycology. Its amazing how once you've written it down its all feels better.
4. Who knows you have a blog?
Friends know I have one but don't know the address. I have a couple of friends who have seen it and my sister accidently found it at work. She wanted to show her colleagues the bags I make and googled Reddymade thinking she'd find my shop (still under construction) and found my site. She was quite embarrassed and said she felt like she was reading my diary. This has cemented my feelings that I won't be telling people about my blog as I think it may make my friends uncomfortable. However, I really don't mind them reading it.
5. How many blogs do you read?
All of my blogs listed at the side of my page I read religiously. When I first started reading blogs from Monica's page I would get myself all tangled up moving onto different pages. I used to have to write them down as I'd forget where I'd gone. I still can't find some of the early ones I enjoyed reading, but I know they will turn up sooner or later. I also love finding new blogs through comments left and my two new favourites that I will be adding are Marmite Breath and Pinkgreen.
6. Are you a fast reader?
Yes. I can skim through entries really quickly. All of the blogs listed on my page I have taken the time to go back through the archives. The new ones I get really excited over, and I tend to skim really quickly back through the archives drinking in all the lovely creations. I am like a magpie when it comes to new blogs.
7. Do you customize your blog or do anything technical?
Not really as I don't have the patience to learn. I have to get my husband to do it and then show me the shortcuts. However, I do love adding bits from youtube particularly comedy sketches and music. I don't do enough as I never have the time. My life isn't all cabbages and roses. There is a wicked streak that runs through my life and I like to show it now and then.
8. Do you blog anonymously?
I suppose yes and no. I don't purposefully display or hide. I am really paranoid that someone will fit the pieces together like a (not very hard) jigsaw. But then if someone wanted to stalk me they could do that anywhere surely? I read a very disturbing article in the guardian recently about bad things happening to children from the web which totally freaked me out and I immediately wanted to shut down my blog. But I calmed a bit now. I'm easily freaked. So I won't be posting any pictures of the children.
9. To what extent do you censor yourself?
Massively. But then don't we always. Noone says what they really mean all the time. I wouldn't use swear words and I would't display my political thoughts as I'm too paranoid of the web. And I certainly wouldn't use this as a forum to critisize friends or famous people. Look what happened on Mumsnet.com. But then I don't feel censored, as I will only write what I'm comfortable saying out loud.
10. The best thing about blogging?
It gives me an opportunity to see the world from a different perspective. I read 2 things every day. The newspaper and my favourite blogs. One makes me sad the other makes me smile. It doesn't take a genius to work out.
It also gives me a platform to clear down my thoughts before bedtime, so I don't take them to bed with me.
Oh and I get lovely presents through the post!
Well I'm goint to try and tag a few people with this so apologies if you've played already. I would just like to know how you fell too.
So Monica, Julie, bigbucketgirl, kathryn, marmitebreath and frenchknots please if you have the time, have a go. But don't feel weighed down with pressure if you don't want to!
