About blogging

I was tagged by Driftwood

1. Why did you start your blog?

I blame it on peer – pressure: it felt like all my friends started one and I could no longer resist the temptation. Also it was the easiest (and least time consuming) way for keeping family and friends updated on our everyday life.

2. How did you come up with your blog name?

I don’t really remember. I suspect that while writing this post about motherhood I remembered Ordinary Miracles poem by one of my favourite poets Erica Jong and decided to change the name of the blog.

3. Do your friends and family know about your blog? What do they think of it?

Yes, they do, but I’m not sure how many of them still read it. I suspect that my mum and some of my female friends check it mostly for the baby pictures. I still haven’t figured out why my husband, who sees me everyday, reads it. But recently he started threatening to start his own blog.

4. How do you write posts?

I usually have wonderful perfect posts composed in my mind, but by the time I get to sit in front of the laptop late in the evening all the words disappear (I am considerably more verbal in the mornings). So I start typing in Word whatever snippets are still floating around my brain; then edit, search for ideal words in Thesaurus, occasionally check the exact meanings of words in http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/ and edit again. I wish I had someone to proofread my ramblings before I post them.

5. Have you ever had a troll or had to delete unkind comments?

Not yet (I bet I’m going to jinx myself now that I wrote it)

6. Do you check your stats? Do you care how many people read your blog? If you care how do you increase traffic?

I have two counters :-), so I guess I do care. I used to check them everyday, but now I only check ShinyStat one occasionally mainly to see if there were any funny search keywords that lead someone here. I’m still indecisive about increased traffic: on one hand it would be pleasant to get more “Wow, that is lovely thing you made”, on the other I’m shy and get uncomfortable by too much attention.

7. What kind of blogs/posts interest you?

My blogglines are always changing and growing. I usually add and keep blogs that inspire me; make me laugh and cry; help me to keep things in perspective.

I like to read my friend’s blogs; blogs of other mothers with children the same age or slightly older than Cat; blogs that are adoption stories, specially of older kids; blogs with beautiful photos and of course craft blogs.

8. What do you like and dislike about blogging?

I like knowing what happens in my friends’ lives. I love seeing how much goodness and beauty there is in the world, how many people find time and energy to be creative and kind. I like the feeling of belonging I get from it, the discovering of similarities in people, who initially appear totally different from me, and differences in people, who appear the same as me.

I’m not very good with words and often feel that I’m unable to express my feelings and experiences well enough for others to really understand them. But then I stumble on posts, which make me nod my head in agreement, and I know that some people would get what I’m trying to articulate without long explanations because they feel the same or had alike experiences.

I don’t like that I/my friends are less likely to email/call each other because blogging is supposedly keeping us up-to-date. I get frustrated by how long it takes me to write some posts. :-). And my irrational worry of breaking blog etiquette.

I tag Starfish and Rachael. I’m tempted to tag TurningLight just so you’ll click on the link and see the beautiful beads she makes, but she doesn’t read my blog (what’s the etiquette for this situation?). I will be interested to read the answers of others, so please play along if you want to.