Oh my heck, these guys are good.

When I started my blog I struggled with what I wanted to do with this thing. In fact, my first post is a declaration of "I don't care what you think...I'm writing for all our relatives who want to keep up with us." Then I proceeded to write about politics and religion and whatever else I felt like writing. I probably waited a month before I even told our relatives about the blog. My blog turned into my own little editorial column.

In my initial efforts to generate traffic, I would spend waaaaay too much time jumping from Mommy Blog to Mommy Blog, leaving as many comments as I could muster. Don't get me wrong, I was sincere and only left comments on the sites I enjoyed...nevertheless, I was really hoping to get traffic to my own site. After a few weeks of this I was exhausted. It occurred to me that there's something slightly hypocritical about a mama blog in which the mama is spending her day glued to the computer desk.

At that point I put myself on a blog diet. I limited my mama blog viewing to less than 10 blogs per day...usually the sames one everyday. I only leave comments on posts that I connected with....so if I'm commenting on your page it's really, really because I enjoyed what you're writing. Even if you leave a comment for me, I'll only comment on your blog when I think it's appropriate. This is so I don't get sucked into a viscious campaign to get more people on my own page. And so I keep the whole blogging thing in perspective; fun, therapeutic, socializing (sorta), but not another full time job.

So here we are in July...my blog has been up for almost three whole months. I can safely say there are less than a dozen people visiting my site per day...and I am very ok with this. But then, THEN, I spend a few minutes scrolling through random Crazy Hip web pages.

"53 comments? Someone got 53 comments on her post???"
"126 comments??!!"
"People are getting paid to blog?? They get that much traffic???"
"What are all these ads? What's BlogHer? Are all these people actually meeting in person??"

What the heck? There are women out their with their own fan clubs...superstars in the blogging arena. And the writing...the writing....I don't even know what to say. Let's just say I felt like a 13 year old journaling out my pubescent emotions compared to some of these awesome writers.

"Dear Diary,
My face is broken out again. The pretty high school girl on the bus smiled at me. Maybe we can be friends and hang out at the mall. I am totally going to save up my babysitting money for a jean jacket like hers."

I think I'm better off just doing my little thing and not trying to be a blogging homecoming queen. Especially when, in the blogging world, the homecoming queens are gorgeous and smart and articulate. I'm the dorky debate club girl reading Newsweek during my lunch break. So if you read my blog, thank you. Let's be friends. Who wants to be popular anyway? I hear the popular girls are easy...just kidding.

http://here-in-idaho.blogspot.com/