How did you start writing your blog?
And when you got your first comment how did you feel?
I found a new blog friend this week and commented on her post, then another and then another. I like reading back posts when I find a new person. It makes them more of a full personality to me. But it got me thinking; how did I start writing my blog? And when did I get my first comment (and who off?)
My first post was called Angel Jem; From Mess to Less. Ho hum, that aim has never quite happened, has it? And my first commenter was the lovely Cherry Menlove. I'd been a blog-hopper for ages, had been leaving comments on others blogs and then decided I should probably dip my toe in and go for it. Cherry Menlove was one of my favourite reads, and I was delighted that she stopped by and commented!
Back then (2007) there didn't seem to be that many blogs out there. Everybody knew Posy and Yarncraft and Cherry Menlove and Dottie Angel, and people popped up for a few years and then disappeared. Some blogged to promote a business, some blogged from boredom or loneliness, some needed to write and were seeking a voice. I blogged because it was something to do on the days when supply was non-existent and the children were absent and I wanted to record what my life was like and to see if anybody out there could relate.
I didn't expect anything much, I didn't want to make it big as a blogger or to monetise or to have a name or a voice or an empire online. I still don't, I blog to create a virtual coffee break where I meet with my mates and talk life. And I read a whole load of blogs just to do the same, to have coffee (or tea) at their house and chat. I'm not regular enough to have a massive following, not niche enough to be able to say "this is what my blog is about!", not driven enough to have to be a designer/creator/inventor. I am me. And I hope that whomever visits and comments and comes back is here because they like me (or what I say) enough to want to hang out for the 5 minutes it takes to read and respond to a post.
So, how did you start writing your blog? And how did your first comment make you feel? And why blog rather than instagram?
My first post was called Angel Jem; From Mess to Less. Ho hum, that aim has never quite happened, has it? And my first commenter was the lovely Cherry Menlove. I'd been a blog-hopper for ages, had been leaving comments on others blogs and then decided I should probably dip my toe in and go for it. Cherry Menlove was one of my favourite reads, and I was delighted that she stopped by and commented!
Back then (2007) there didn't seem to be that many blogs out there. Everybody knew Posy and Yarncraft and Cherry Menlove and Dottie Angel, and people popped up for a few years and then disappeared. Some blogged to promote a business, some blogged from boredom or loneliness, some needed to write and were seeking a voice. I blogged because it was something to do on the days when supply was non-existent and the children were absent and I wanted to record what my life was like and to see if anybody out there could relate.
I didn't expect anything much, I didn't want to make it big as a blogger or to monetise or to have a name or a voice or an empire online. I still don't, I blog to create a virtual coffee break where I meet with my mates and talk life. And I read a whole load of blogs just to do the same, to have coffee (or tea) at their house and chat. I'm not regular enough to have a massive following, not niche enough to be able to say "this is what my blog is about!", not driven enough to have to be a designer/creator/inventor. I am me. And I hope that whomever visits and comments and comes back is here because they like me (or what I say) enough to want to hang out for the 5 minutes it takes to read and respond to a post.
So, how did you start writing your blog? And how did your first comment make you feel? And why blog rather than instagram?
My reasons for starting were similar to yours. I don't blog often enough to have many followers or comments but I do love it when someone does as it's good to know someone is reading. As for Instagram, as far as I know it's more about pictures than words and I prefer words, being no great photographer.
ReplyDeleteThanks for commenting! I love knowing someone is reading my post enough to think about it and reply. Life sometimes gets so busy there's no time.... but relating to somebody (even if only in comment form) is such a gift.
DeleteFirst off, I am Loving the polka dots! I've not yet been blogging for a year but I started doing it to create a nice place to record snippets of my life and to chat to similar-minded folk I would otherwise not have met. I was and still am delighted to receive comments. Crikey, creating an empire was the last thing on my mind - staring down the laundry pile is more an achievable goal at this point in my life! Glad to have found you Jo, I like your straight talking style and humour xx
ReplyDeleteThank you. And I'm glad to have you as a blog friend. The polka dots are so easy to add, and I love them in any way shape or form.
DeleteI think you have a very nice blog. I always enjoy seeing what you've made and I appreciate your honest discussions. Thanks for sharing your history of blogging, it was interesting to read since I wasn't into blogs yet when you'd started.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the compliments. I wasn't fishing for them, honest ;p
DeleteI feel like an old lady of blogging sometimes. 2007 is a long way away now. I was looking at film of my children in 2007 and they were such little children. Cripes! They're young adults now. It's scary, because I still like a lot of the old stuff we used to do, but have no chance to do it anymore :,(
I like the fact that you are you and I like coming here for a quick coffee break (I like the way you describe it). Have a great weekend. x
ReplyDeleteYou too! And thank you for calling by. I've got a new flavour of tea coming next week, if you fancy a cuppa?
DeleteI've just had my sixth blog anniversary on The Good Life blog, the first blog I started writing. I was using it to record my progress when I first took on my allotment but I still enjoy writing it. It was about eighteen months later that I decided to start my Through The Keyhole blog. I wanted to record more of my family life, holidays, crafting etc. but didn't think it would fit in to a gardening blog very well and that's why I started a second blog. It can be quite time consuming keeping up with two blogs sometimes, but I do enjoy writing them both and I've made lots of lovely friends on each of my blogs. I love having new people stop by who leave a comment as it allows me to find new blogs too. I always enjoy visiting here, your posts are always enjoyable to read.
ReplyDeleteThank you! I am in awe of anyone who keeps more than one blog, but I see why you do, with one being allotment and t'other being life in general. I have a badly kept book blog and a barely started recipe blog. In a future life with free days I will get more done blog-wise. Do you get much of a cross-over between audience-wise? My fingers are more dark, withered, dry brown, so anything plant-based is a mystery, but I know others like it?
DeleteI have a few readers who read and comment on both my blogs, and others who are regular readers of one who comment on the other occasionally but I'd say that most of my readers and commenters stick to one or the other depending on their own interests.
DeleteI don't instagram because I don't have the right sort of phone! I like your blog because it is you! Happy Easter! xx
ReplyDeleteThank you! I like yours for pretty much the same reason!
DeleteLovely to meet you too! It's still very early days for me, but I started blogging because I've found so much inspiration in the blogs of other people, and decided I'd stop being a lurker and try and join in a bit. I'm trying to keep it simple at the moment - a brief post most days, a simple picture taken on my phone - and I'm just sticking to 4 areas (as my blog title reveals!). I love the idea of the 'virtual coffee break' - it definitely feels like that to me. Thanks for visiting my blog and leaving lots of comments - it's made it all feel a lot more real! And it's been great to find your blog through them.
ReplyDeleteHopefully having got a comment now and again you'll get more comments. I know I still like to flick around on the commenters' links to find a new person now and again. Attic 24 is a brilliant blog, but you get swallowed up in the rush sometimes and for proper blog friends I find the less 'famous' bloggers are really kind... Like Amy above, who seems to reply to everybody despite getting loads of comments. And Jo from Through the Keyhole who lets no comment pass without a reply. I'm really enjoying your blog, so good luck with finding a niche and friends that suit! (hope I can be one!)
DeleteThank you! Yes, I've already discovered some lovely blogs through comments on your blog and others - I can see it becoming extremely time consuming though ...
DeleteThat's part of the fun; you will never be without something to do when you should be doing something else; a permanent reason to procrastinate!
DeleteMy blog came about because I'd been writing a "monthly musing" for our local church newsletter and decided that I wanted to write more regularly. My first comment was from a lady from the knitting blog that I'm a member of and it felt brilliant! Somebody had actually taken the time to read what I'd written and let me know that she'd visited! I like reading your blog because it makes me smile. I like the way you put your words together and I'm always happy to see your latest post come up on my feed :-) xx
ReplyDeleteThank you! I love how that first comment is just like a validation; "yes, somebody's reading and they liked it enough to write to me!!!"
DeleteDo the people at your church know you have a blog? I find I get very shy when I tell good friends I write a blog!
When I was in my teens and early twenties I used to write an enormous number of letters to my friends across the UK. I love blogging because it feels like being a '21st Century Pen Pal'. Jx
ReplyDeleteI was always a bad penpal. It was either a feast or a famine... oh wait, that's me and blogging as well! Duh! I didn't change much. I like how it feels like a modern penpal circle with the added benefit of everyone getting to read and comment together. I just wish blogger did 'like' buttons as well!
DeleteBlogging can be such fun and you meet lovely people, exchange ideas, pictures, views, recipes anything that interests you.
ReplyDeleteOne blog leads to another blog which leads to another blog ...... and you take time to read, time to reply - it's great.
I'm new to yours but I've enjoyed my visit, thank you.
All the best Jan
Thank you for calling by! And one blog leads to another.... is so right. I love finding somebody new who leads to another new to another....
DeleteI love blogging for the community it creates, for finding people that inspire, and for people that understand the excitement of a newly knitted sock, and for the friendships it creates, both online and in reality. My first comment was from Domesticali.
ReplyDeleteAs for instagram I just joined on my husbands phone (my phone doesn't do clever things like that) so I could create an account as so many of my blogging friends have stopped blogging and just instagram now....... it feels a bit stalkerish though as it's only one sided.....
Can you really not comment on Instagram? I didn't realise! I like the two way communication, and the fact that people have to take time to think out an answer. And I think in words not pictures, so Instagram might not be for me!
DeleteDomesticali is lovely, isn't she? But she posts so infrequently now :,(
yes you can comment on instagram, and once you have an account you can look at/comment on friends pictures on a laptop, but I won't be able to post pictures as you can only do that via the phone... Domesticali is indeed lovely, and in real life too x
DeleteHi there - I think I started blogging because I love taking photographs but I do like to talk too (as anyone who knows me will testify!). If you look at my posts they tend to be photograph dominated. I think I also had an urge to talk to like-minded people who were into knitting and sewing and reading books and I'm afraid that the teacher in me wanted to 'instruct' and give people useful tips about how to make things. Like many bloggers, I couldn't just stick to one thing, and lately my blogging has become very erratic. I think that I got into the trap of presenting a vision of an almost-perfect domestic blog which didn't represent my true personality; I also know that this can sometimes have a very negative effect on readers. I stopped writing my first blog and then just decided to begin a new one which would be a bit more easy-going. I've learned so much from other bloggers - got lots of crafty and foody inspiration - and I've even made one or two friends whom I've met up with. I find that I keep going back to my favourite blogs again and again even though I am always on the lookout for something different.
ReplyDeleteWhen I got my first comment - from the wonderful "Mrs. Thomasina Titllemouse" it was quite exciting! I was almost shocked that people had been reading my blog.
I think that you are right about the idea of just taking 5 minutes out of your day to 'catch up' with friends - even if they are virtual ones!
Keep on blogging! Love Judy.
Hello Judy! I lost you for a bit then, you weren't on my Bloglovin feed for some reason. Nice to know you're still there x
DeleteI like blogs that are truthful. My life is so not sorted, much as I dream it was, that I might as well just show it warts and all. And I'm happy to see that other peoples' lives are almost as bad.
Great, great post! I love blogging for many of the same reasons: it's just wonderful to connect to other 'like-minded' women, isn't it?!
ReplyDeleteYes! And I love how such a simple post has generated such a response.
DeleteGreat post - and very interesting comment thread, too! I have blogged since 2008, never missed more than a week in all that time, I don't think, which is something I'm quite proud of. I also Instagram, which I love (can't really compare it with blogging, it's completely different as far as I'm concerned), and I have a YouTube channel, which is a more recent thing, and is my new favourite thing to do. It's interesting to look back to the comments when I started blogging - very few of those people are still around - and in this, I guess, blogging is a metaphor for life - friends come and friends go as times, and interests, change.
ReplyDeleteAs for blogs I like to read (and You Tube channels I like to watch), I generally like those who 'keep it real' and don't try to portray a perfect life, who write about a good variety of topics, and who are of a similar age and outlook to me.
I have a Youtube channel, too... but finding a quiet half hour to record and edit a video seems to be my issue. I also like how people who have been in the same 'blogging village' for years can sometimes meet up at last through mutual acquaintance, like meeting a new friend through an old one.
DeleteI love the notion of it being like popping over for a coffee with a friend as that's exactly what it feels like coming by your blog. I love that you give context to your life and your photos rather than just snippets which makes it feel like I get to know you just a little bit more each time I visit. You also tell it like it is and I think my favourite blogs are those which have that authenticity. While I love the happy clappy blogs with their 'curated' photos there is nothing to beat real people and real lives.
ReplyDeleteI started my own blogs as a personal challenge to see if I could do this bloggy thing and I found I loved it. I didn't comment or understand how it all worked for the first few years but two lovely bloggers from the cat blogosphere encouraged me to be a blogger rather than a personal diarist. Since reaching out to other bloggers I have to admit I am a blogaholic and I hope not to be cured!
Keeping it real, well, that's one word for my life. The other is that I will never be able to have a beautiful curated life because that's not my nature. It's funny because when I started blogging I did aspire to hit the white background and creatively shot heights only to find that that is not me, and I felt like a fraud.
DeleteI love reading a selection of blogs as friends, and I'm glad yours is on there!
I need to go back and read all the comments! I first started blogging as we had recently become a family of 4 and I stumbled into the world of blogging when a link on moneysavingexpert sent me to a picture of a kitchen on a blog. Once I realised that there were people who liked the same things I did and took photos of them (something I drove my family made doing) I jumped into blogworld too. I have been lucky enough to make some incredibly good friends through blogging, some I've met some yet to meet. I think it's been a wonderful way to record all the good and bad which has happened over the last years.
ReplyDeleteI applaud those who have made blogging a success, if that is what they wanted from it, but I'm happy to plod away in my own world. I have been inspired to try things, buy things, go places, make things from others. It's opened up another world to me.
Lisa x
I like plodding! And I'm hoping that if I make it to Southampton there's a real cup of tea waiting for me?
DeleteTea and cake!
DeleteLisa x