I've returned from Thanksgiving break! Technically, I should be working on an essay or two and unpacking a small hoard of books, but pffft! Who cares about responsibility? Not this dragon.
Instead, I'll confess some dastardly blogger sins I've committed. Prepare to be shocked.
1. What is blog lovin'?
So blog lovin' is just another one of those social media things. I don't need more social media in my life. I recently deleted my Facebook because who needs that. And Goodreads probably feels neglected.
I'm not sure what blog lovin' is except maybe it helps other users follow you? Or it consolidates all your blogger profiles? What do I know? I don't actually care. . .
Should I?
2. I check stats every tenth full moon
I think the last time I checked stats was. . . eight months ago? And the stretch before that was the span of two dragon naps. Approximately 358 years.
That probably sounds weird, because I've come to the realization that "normal" bloggers check their stats often? [It didn't sound weird because I measured it in dragon naps. No.]
It's just that, stats in general bore me.
Sometimes
they're confusing. How can you have 3 pageviews but 10 comments? What
kind of math is this? Clearly, I've missed something so I'll just be
over here in my lair clueing for looks.
Or watching Sherlock. Because that's vastly more entertaining than figuring out stats. Anything is more entertaining than stats. They smell like organization. I think I'm already getting hives. *sneezes*
Ahem. Apparently, the most popular post of all the time has 556 pageviews and is a. . . blog tag. A sisterhood blog tag from last year to be exact. There you have it. The moment of truth: I'm good for tags.
[
3. Using too many gifs and pictures
Shamelessly.
4. Typos
I'm sure you've noticed the abominable little aberrations in my posts and they probably make your eyeballs burn as they do mine.
Even if I typed a post 105 years ago, edited it every third Friday, and posted it today, there would be typos. It's infuriating.
5. No world-conquering ambitions
Yes, yes. Most dragons want to burn ALL the cities. Rule the whole world. Or at least a sizeable kingdom or two. But I keep to my lonely mountain, and I'm perfectly okay with that.
My blog wanders a lot. I know it isn't for everyone and I'm good with that.
I'd rather be me and have a smaller readership than the "super" dragon bloggers out there. I like all you dragons [and humans, I guess]. I'm thankful and baffled at why you stick around but I appreciate that you do.
Besides if I was a "super" dragon blogger, I don't think I could handle all the comments and pressure. [Seriously, if you have a large blog, all of my respect goes out to you. You rock!] I would get social media burnout fast. And probably fly away to some unknown realm without a word.
Speaking of--
6. Blogging with voracious hunger for 2.3 weeks and then disappearing for half an eternity
You're probably aware of this bad habit of mine. I'll fire out some posts and then take a little nap for a week or two. Socializing really tires me out, and it seems online socializing has the same effect even if I can endure it longer than in person socializing.
7. The award for the worst comment backer commenter that ever commented back is mine
Apologies to you all! I don't know if you take the time to return and see how I replied to your comment. I wouldn't blame you if you don't. But if you do, I'm sure you get tired of waiting and give up. I promise I do comment back. Just not immediately. Sometimes I'm busy. Stroking my shiny books. Er, I mean, uh, defending the hoard from hobbits and dwarves. Oh, wait, that doesn't sound. . . never mind.
8. Participating in links then forgetting to actually participate
There's a sizeable amount of posts on back file that are half-written and were intended for link-ups that were over a long time ago.
Other times, I actually post the post. But then I forget to sign the link on the host's blog? Like that time I forgot to sign into Emily's and my Starting Sparks.
9. Reading my own blogposts
Because I'm a genius. And let's face it; I'm hilarious.
*cough*
Or not.
I do cringe at all the typos and, meh, I don't even touch the posts that were posted during this blog's first year of life. I would feel a sudden urge to incinerate them.
10. What in Midgard is going on with the blog's background color?!
Man, I don't know. When I find out, I'll tell you.
What are some of your blogging confessions? What are some of the highlights? Do you have WORLD-CONQUERING ambitions?
Oh Ashley, the ammount I love your Sherlock gifs cannot be measured in words. They make my insides all happy and squishy (which, I suppose my insides are squishy anyways, but you get the point).
ReplyDeleteI agree that I'd rather have a small dedicated blog then a dragon blog. How do people keep up? And you don't really get to know your readers as well if you have a thousand of them. Then again, I am possibly just saying that to make myself feel better that I don't have 1000 followers, so be careful what you do with my dubious advice.
Yes! Me too. Sherlock all the time! (Quite true though)
DeleteI know! I can't imagine. Seriously, I think people with big blogs deserve a hand (they probably feel like they could use an extra one XD). How they do it, I have no idea! I'm with you. :)
This was a joy from start to finish, my friend, and should anyone say your blog is not to them I would say, "you, good sir, need your head examined", and bow in a haughty and rude way, and they'd splutter and look offended but they'd have no witty retort--
ReplyDeleteEmily. Why can't you just be normal?
But anyway. The dragon theme I enjoyed greatly. Specifically "Sometimes I'm busy. Stroking my shiny books. Er, I mean, uh, defending the hoard from hobbits and dwarves. Oh, wait, that doesn't sound. . . never mind." And all of it, really. I've said it before, I'll say it again, you make me die laughing. (Which is why -- one of the reasons why -- I can't wait to read your books. I want the banter!)
That Calvin and Hobbes is so amazing on so many levels. I love it. Also that first Ben gif?? I'd never seen it before. It's BEAUTIFUL. Look at his face???? I just watched it for ages. His mouth! It kills me! Oh Ben. ~moons over him for millennia~
(Here's a fun fact for you. When I was like 14 my best friend was obsessed with Sherlock. I mean OBSESSED. And she'd always be going on and on about Benedict Cumberbatch. And I thought -- and this is a dastardly sin, I mean really -- I thought he /wasn't good-looking???/ Like that is ACTUALLY WHAT I PROFESSED TO THINK? This is before I watched Sherlock.
Obviously.)
But you really do not use too many gifs and pictures. How boring would blogs be without gifs and pictures?? Gifs and pictures make the world go round, along with chocolate, that is.
I relate strongly to #6. But, seriously, WHO HAS TIME for a blog schedule?? What? The one thing I do not understand / kinda hate is bloggers continuously apologising for not sticking to their schedule. As if anyone cares about it except them?? I most certainly do not have a schedule, but I get that if that's how your brain works, then fine. If it helps you, then good. But no one else minds!??! Like, do you actually think I'm sitting here desperately waiting, because it's the second Tuesday of the month and you promised to post then?? Hello, I probably don't even live in the same time zone as you! I'm probably asleep when you post! Or at work! And you (this is a non-specific plural you, by the way. But you (specific singular you, Ashley Goodnow you) knew that already) are all, "oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't post on the dot of 5.47pm like I said I would!" NOBODY CARES, OK?? IF YOU SPENT LESS TIME APOLOGISING MAYBE YOU'D HAVE MORE TIME TO STICK TO YOUR FRIGGING SCHEDULE!
Wow, sorry, that became more of a violent cap locks rant than I intended!
But it is something I feel quite strongly about.
Like, let's stop apologising all the time, OK?!!
*ahem*
In conclusion -- to bring us back round to a nice thing -- I love this post, you, your gifs, and your dragon-ish habits. Now I'm off to polish my treasure.
XD Thank you so much! That paragraph made me smile and laugh. Like I could see this actually happening.
DeleteNo, no. Normal? What the heck is normal?!
I'm glad you liked it! And that it made you laugh. :) Sometimes I think the main reason I blog and write is to make people laugh.
You have no idea how long I've been waiting for the PERFECT moment to use both that Calvin and Hobbes and the Ben gif. Most particularly the Ben gif.
(Wow, Emily. What?! But that's okay, you knew nothing of Sherlock, so all is mildly excusable. XD But honestly, I don't have a clear remembrance of a "before Sherlock" for myself. *awkwardly shuffles feet*)
Oh, my gosh, YES! I could never have a schedule. I *could* make one, but then I'd never stick to it, so what's the point? And I never notice if a blogger has a schedule? You know, until they apologize for not sticking to it and then I'm like, "Oh, you have a schedule? Well, that's news, I guess. Moving on to the meat of the post." If they didn't apologize, I'm sure no one would ever know that they slipped up. Just don't do it friends!
Much agreed. I used to apologize for things. But then I was like, "Man, this is MY blog. I can do what I want here!" It's like when I walk into someone's house and they apologize for the mess. I'm just thinking, "You're the one who lives in the house. Why are you apologizing to me for living like this? I don't get it."
Thank you! Watch out for the burgling barrel-riders!
Bahaha, I do some of these too!! 😂 Particularly reading my own blog posts???? Like we can't help when we're downright hilarious right? Someone has to appreciate the staggeringly genius wit that goes into our blog posts. *majestic hair flip* 😂 and your GIFS ARE ALWAYS GLORIOUS NEVER CHANGE. hehe. I like being a super dragon though. I mean, sometimes I take naps and just bake nice calm cupcakes, but usually I'm out burning cities and hoarding gold and eating hobbits, all that kind of normal dragon activity. IT'S GOOD FUN. TRY IT SOMETIME.
ReplyDeleteALSO I FEEL LIKE PIE NOW THANKS TO THAT REALLY PRETTY PIE PICTURE.
AAAH! I'm glad I'm not the only one who reads my own blog posts! Of course, we're hilarious. This is why we exist, yes? XD THANK YOU SO MUCH! I'm glad you like the gifs. Burning cities does sound like excellent dragon exercise. Perhaps I stretch my wings a bit sometime. (But naps sounds good too. . .)
DeleteYes! I love that pie picture. Go have some pie!
Bloglovin' is actually how I follow blogs, so I gotta disagree with you on that one lol. It makes it so simple to just scroll down the feed and see all the new posts fot all the blogs I follow all at once. But I totally read my own posts too sometimes, haha. I mean, come on, if we don't love our own posts, how can we expect anyone to love them them? :-P But I do agree that I'd also much rather be myself and have a smaller following than just try to please everyone. It's nice knowing the people who follow you do so because they just like the things you have to say!
ReplyDeleteAh! I see. That does sound like a good tool. The only reason I don't have one is because I don't know what it is and I don't want another account on something. But I always here people talk about it. If I had one, I'd probably like.
DeleteYep! XD That's exactly my reasoning behind reading my own posts.
Back from Thanksgiving! :)
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty much with you on all of these. While I'd be excited about running a big blog, I don't think I would have the time to manage it. More importantly, I don't have that kind of ambition for my blog, like you. I'd feel a lot of pressure to post for my audience instead of posting the kind of content I enjoy writing. That wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing, but I'm not ready for that shift in purpose!
I actually think you're a pretty good comment-backer! Or if you disagree, the quality of your comments makes up for quantity, I guess? I mean, I always get a little joyful when I see that you've commented something on my blog! Sometimes I wish Blogger could also have a "like" system, so that busy bloggers can just "like" a post rather than commenting.
3 views and 10 comments. What even are blog stats? :') I've been checking stats quite a bit recently. I only do this for collabs or special event thingos. I think it's because I don't want to let the other people involved down.
Exactly. It's a lot of work and pressure to run large blog with a huge audience. And it's such a huge change from being a small blog too! But I still kinda admire those people who go after it, you know?
DeleteOh, well thank you! I'm glad my comments are good quality. I don't really like being that commenter who's like "Same! LOL :D" and leaves. I agree with your like system idea to an extent. On the one side, it's kinda like leave that "Same! LOL :D" sort of comment I was talking about. But then there are those times when I have nothing intelligent to add to the conversation but I love the post, or I have so many blogposts to read I sadly don't have time to say something with sustenance on each posts. I definitely see some advantages here.
I know, right?! XD Oh, but that makes so much sense. I definitely understand that! When I have other people relying on me, I try to be more responsible for their sakes. But when it's just me at stake, man, I do what I want!
I guess the like system would work pretty well for photography-only posts, maybe? But you're right, somehow the "Same! LOL" comment feels kind of cheapskate!
DeleteYeah, it'd work well for photography posts, like it does for Instagram. :D
DeleteBloglovin is a really great way to keep up with other bloggers no matter what platform they blog on. Unfortunately this means you actually have to open the app and I'm notoriously bad and checking it. Can't really blame you for not commenting back, I try my best to do so, but it can be really stressful when you're overwhelming with comments. Hope you have a wonderful December!
ReplyDeleteHaha! I see. Yeah, I'd probably be like that too and never check it. Commenting can be very overwhelming at times. You have a good Christmas!
DeleteWe are apparently the same kind of blogger. :D
ReplyDeleteYes, that sounds about right. XD *whispers* We're like a really small gang.
Delete