Amy at
Mom Advice recently posted her
five commandments for blogging which I found really interesting. At first, I thought I didn't have any of my own but as I thought about it, I realized I do. I've just never written them out. So I did.
- Write only what anyone can read at anytime without regrets. Whether it's my family reading it today, Madeline reading it in 15 years or a boss reading it in 20 years, I won't type it if I might regret it. (You might think admitting my love for "Crossroads" falls into this category, but I disagree.) I'm always amazed to hear, "Oh, my mother-in-law's cousin's plumber's wife reads your blog" and even though I still sometimes think Jen is my only visitor, I write as if your mother-in-law's cousin's plumber's wife is reading it too.
- When in doubt, cut it out. If I wonder if a story or sentence might cross from "keeping it real" to "too much information," I delete it. For the record, my life isn't filled with bunnies, daffodils and rainbows. I'm not trying to paint a flawless image of myself by sharing only funny or positive stories. It's just I don't share my dirty laundry with a stranger in the grocery store so I won't do it here either.
- Never bad-mouth someone whether I actually know them or not. This really isn't hard because a negative comment in black type appears 20 times harsher than spoken so it's easy to hit the backspace key. Although, Vicky really tempted me...
- Never whine about lack of comments. Don't get me wrong, I love receiving them and have really enjoyed the community that comes with blogging. But I mainly blog to record my thoughts and because I just plain enjoy it. Plus it always turns me off to read someone begging for comments.
- Ask permission to talk about someone or share their photo. Some people really aren't comfortable with putting their information or image on the Web and I totally understand. So I try to ask someone if I can share a funny story that involves them or put their picture on the blog.
Do you have any blogging commandments?
7 comments:
Those are good reminders for me! I frequently forget I am on the World Wide Web and that people read.
I sometime wish my blog was private as there are some things I would REALLY love to say. But they aren't positive and need to keep those to myself. :) But of course not about you at all...
This comes on the heals of me posting something about: someone I know and a negative experience that seems to have deeply affected me. Even though I know that my someone doesn't read blogs, I deleted the post just minutes ago.
I was actually comfortable posting the content, but your commandments made me think that perhaps others wouldn't be comfortable reading it (because of whatever conclusions they might draw).
Thanks for these.
1. Always read Katie's blog for inspiration.
2. Never post my last name or the city in which I live/work.
3. My blog is not an outlet for complaining - unless done in a creative, humorous way. See: Why do I have to work so hard?
4. Install a "stats counter" to see how many people are reading it - since I don't get a lot of comments. Because let's be real. (a) I don't need comments. but (b) if I'm really just writing for myself, why don't I do it Doogie Howser-style and just open a word doc.
5. Read my posts out loud to my dog and husband. They'll be honest with me about whether something needs to go down in writing...
Jen's not your only reader, and while I'm not a plumber's WIFE, I do work for a plumbing company! :) Keep up the good work.
Great point, especially #1. I ran into an issue just yesterday! W/o going into the TMI commandment, someone read my BD post and asked if Hubz and I were getting a divorce. Really!!!
And, I love reading your blogs. You are such a sweet and inspiring reminder of how great it is to be a mommy.
This reminds me of Dave Chappelle's "When Keeping It Real Goes Wrong" series.
Also, this is why I write about food (when I find time to write, which is a whole other story...), because I don't worry about keeping it real. Oh, maybe I do - perhaps that's why I haven't blogged about how happy Lent makes me - I can eat fish sandwiches purchased from chain drive-thrus.
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