Blogophobia

Have you ever started something and suddenly found you were in over your head? I've never been the journaling/diary-writing type of person, so doing this blog just seemed like a good way to mess around with the blogging software and learn how it all fits together. I have another blog where my performance has been spotty at best. The topic and format I set up take a lot of work because my ideas come from needlework projects I'm working on. Well, you may have figured it out by now, but I'm a bit of a Jane of all Trades. I don't chug away daily on projects like that. I tend to go in fits and starts, and then totally go and do something else for a few months. So, I'd do a few entries and then...poof...disappear for six months when I ran out of steam/interest/desire to knit and crochet things. Or I'd have a few months when all I was doing was mindlessly knitting dishcloths and, well, there isn't a lot you can say about that!

A friend of mine was after me to get blogging (waving at Kristin). When I was getting my other blog up and going again (note that I've since gone into yet another lull over there), I started this blog on the spur of the moment, and, as they say on 'Seinfeld,' it was pretty much about nothing. The first couple of weeks, I was doing really well in posting every day. I'm in some community activities; have neighbors; have kids; have a husband...it's all good fodder for rambling thoughts and colorful commentary.

Then I started playing around with blog gadgets. I installed this thing called "FEEDJIT Live." You can see it on the edge of my blog (well, you can now--if you read this post a month from now, it may be gone, for reasons I'll get into). It lists people who visit my blog, by location of their server. And, suddenly, I had this overwhelming feeling of writing to an audience because people were actually visiting my blog! Then the fretting started. There was pressure. Was it all too sicky sweet? Did you like it that way? Why the heck are you all coming back here to read this, and how do I give you more of it?

OK, so I psyched myself out. I'm still a bit addicted to the FEEDJIT thing. When I should be blogging, I'm watching it to see who pops in. It's kind of like watching the news ticker at the bottom of CNN--once you see it, it's all the same, but you keep watching, anyway, because something new might pop up. But I'll try harder to not worry so much about what I'm writing and, as I originally intended, just write things as they occur to me. I'll trust that you'll let me know if I cross the border into the Land of Syrupy Sweetness. Because, after all, you're reading!

And that's my silver lining for today.