What’s with all of this blog rage?

Today, while killing time in Chick-filet while all of our kiddies played (What?? Don’t all stay-at-home moms basically kill the day away much of the time…secretly pining for the precious moments when you read that final bedtime story and then plunge into the stillness of the evening that is ALL YOURS….peace and quiet at last…hands down, best time of day!) a friend of mine says to me “By the way, Shelley, I read your blog. And I got goosebumps with your last post”. I always like when people tell me that they are reading my blog…not in a narcissistic kind of way, but out of sheer curiousity. With the blog template that I built my blog in, you have the ability to see your blogs’ stats….you know…if anyone is spending their time reading your personal quips. Don’t worry…if you stalk my blog I can’t tell specifics of who is reading my blog (I always feel shy about that with blogs that I stalk…wondering if the blog author can tell that there is a nutjob in Collegeville, PA who visits their site every day…yes, folks…everyday. You all may have coffee or chocolate as your addiction, well, I have my blogs.) Rather, I can only see one general number as to how many people read my site each day. I looked at my stats one day and saw that over 450 people had read for that day. I turned to Sky and shook my head. “Who are all these people and what do I say that keeps them coming back for more?” We kind of sat there dumbfounded…thinking that the people that read my blog live somewhere out in cyberspace…virtual strangers.

But what I have come to find is that many of the people that I rub shoulders with on a daily basis are my faithful readers. Some friends and some just friendly strangers…who know more about me than I know of them. 

My blog-novice friend innocently asked me “Why do people write blogs if they didn’t think that people would read them?”.  The answer varies for everyone I am sure. For me, my blog began in my mind last fall, when I stumbled in the world of blogdom on a whim…or not so much…I really feel that God’s hand guided me to places where I needed to be. I am always perusing photography sites for inspiration to improve my craft, and found my way to one amazing photographer, Tara Whitney of Orange County, CA. If you want to see some downright spectacular, authentic work, visit www.tarawhitney.com/justbeblogged/ . She led me to the lovely, cjane and her nothing less than incredible sister, NieNie, both of Utah. If you are ready to be moved with their jaw-dropping story of courage, endless love and groundless faith, visit www.cjanerun.com and www.nieniedialogues.blogspot.com. They pointed me to the likes of Carol Decker, nestled in the State of Washington. For her heart-wrenching, yet heart-warming story, visit www.sccsdecker.blogspot.com.

I warn you…if you find your way to these sites, and you are anything of a reader with heart, you will find yourself scrolling back to their day one posts and reading their individual lives as if they are a really addictive book. I have been following these ladies, as has much of the half the world (you will know what I mean if you start to read them) for the better part of a year. And they have unequivacably changed my life. I feel as if they are my good friends and yet, we have never met. And I am not the only one that shares these same sentiments…many parts of the nation have tuned into their cyber world and nestled into their daily lives, picking them up when they were slipping.

After reading their posts, I knew that I too, had something to say about the quirky little haps and mishaps of my life. It has always been a life-long dream of mine to write a novel…someday I am going to see to doing just that. Writing has always been a medium of expression for me…a form of creativity if you will. I originally wanted to start blogging as a marketing tool for my photography clients. But so many of my clients are my friends…so it has become more than that to me. It is a way to express myself…something for me in a world of stay-at-home momhood when so much is about your little ones. I hope that my kids can someday read my little stories and quips and discover a piece of their mom that they didn’t know…a diary of sorts…just a very public one. 

But as with every diary, you have to sign the secret book to let the author know just who you are…who’s lurking around…sharing in my thoughts. So give me a shout out and let me know who you all are…so we can get to know each other.

I promise, I don’t bite. Pinky swear.