Inquiring Minds Want to Know: Your Blogging Story Carnival

But why they want to know is beyond me. I mean seriously, if you ever meet me you'll know how misplaced your curiosity is. Until then, I shall try to feed the myth and keep the dream alive.

(Thanks to everyone who helped spread the word about this little carnival! Scroll down to add your blogging story to my Mr. Linky list!)

How did you start blogging?
Well, I am a Kim Komando fan. Many moons ago, in 2003 or 2004 she started talking about how blogs were the big "thing". Having been a web designer in a former life, I was interested in how blogs worked and whether I could manipulate the code and make it my own. And I'd always fancied myself as a true, deeply feeling writer that just needed an outlet. Don't we all?

So I got myself online, found Blogger, and started writing. There was something liberating about writing my thoughts down and knowing no one in my family or friend circles knew those thoughts were out there. It honestly never occurred to me that anyone else would ever read it either, because I never had any comments. Besides, if you don't tell people it's there (which I didn't), then how can anyone read it? Obviously I did not sign up for BlogTopSites or any other blogrings. I was just layin' low, posting sparsely, and enjoying the anonymity.

I mean really, can you blame me? With posts like this? Oye. I DARE you to tell me that's not a Calvin Klein perfume/cologne commercial in the making. I DEFY you to tell me it's not.

Did you intend to be a blog w/a big following? If so, how did you go about it?
As I said above, I never really had any intention of writing for an audience. Then, Shannon showed up at my door to drop off some PTA stuff and casually said, "Hey, do you by chance blog?" I was totally taken aback and scared to death she had found me out. No worries, though, she just thought I was the type of savvy gal to have a blog. Oh, and she blogged. Maybe she could read my blog? Um, that would be no. Well, OK. But don't tell anyone.

Shannon was patient. She read my blog. She laughed at some posts. She turned me on to all sorts of bloggy things: site meters, blogrings, and, oh-sweet-crack-of-life, COMMENTS. Just one hit is all it took. Literally. One person comes to my site and I'm all, "Holy Cow! I'm live! And people are reading! And Commenting!" I was never the same. The seedy underbelly of blogging had claimed my soul and I was determined to blog for comments.

I signed up for many a blogring and even had BlogTopSites on here for a while. I started getting serious about my design and whether I would post pictures of me and my family or not. I started visiting other blogs and made a blogroll. I left comments on other blogs.

To this day comments are one of my favorite things about blogging. So, knowing my problem, y'all should really throw me a bone and comment. A LOT. Not just today, either. Like, all. the. freakin'. time. K?

What do you hope to achieve or accomplish with your blog? Have you been successful? If not, do you have a plan to achieve those goals?
This is an interesting question because my goals for this blog have changed throughout the year and a half I've been out of the closet.

When I first started blogging I really just needed a place to write when I felt the urge. I had tried journaling in the traditional sense and it wasn't doing it for me. My blog allowed me to type my thoughts faster than I could write them. Because of that I was able to follow my stream of consciousness a little better.

Now that my blog has grown a bit, my focus has changed I think. I write less for myself and more for my audience. I'm true to myself, but I don't think I would write daily if it were just for me.

In addition, I have ads on my site now and I feel that the blog and it's sister blogs (Blogging Basics 101 and Chili Tried) are becoming a business. I find that I need to start treating the blogs as daily "must-dos" because they have the potential to bring in traffic and cash. If I play them right, I could parlay the blogs into hands-on workshops (for BB101) or speaking engagements (at conferences).

Has the focus of your blog changed since you started blogging? How?
See question above.

What do you know now that you wish you'd known when you started?
Comments rock. I would have started blogging for comments immediately!

Do you make money with your blog?
This is another thing Shannon turned me on to. Of course, she's like the QOB (Queen O' Bloggin') so her traffic is a little higher than mine (OK, it's miles above mine, but I won't let it affect our friendship). She started putting ads on her site and suggested I do the same because she was making some pocket change every month.

Hello? Money for blogging? Something I do every day on my quest to get my swamp back to feel the rush of comment crack? Sure. I'll take that. I was OK'd for BlogHer Ads and I was off.

In answer to the question: Yes, I make a little money from blogging. No, I can't pay off my house. Or buy this. I can go out to eat for lunch if I want to.

BTW, I will gladly thank and link to anyone who would like to extend an invite to me to do BlogAds. Everyone I know who does it doesn't have any invites. I would love to try BlogAds. Besides, don't you get a cut of my profits? Win-Win!

Does your immediate or extended family know about your blog? If so, do they read it? If not, why?
Although my immediate family did not originally know about my blog, they do now and several of them read it regularly.

• Husband: Knows about the blog, but does not read it. I'm not sure he could find it on his own. He is completely disinterested, but highly supportive of my blogging problem addiction business.
• My dad: He reads it almost every day, I think. He'll even comment sometimes. It's a good way for him to keep up with what's going on with us.
• My mom: She knows I have a blog. She does not understand computers, nor does she want to. Because she only turns on her computer when Mars isn't in retrograde, she never reads my blog.
• My MIL: She knows about it vaguely, I think. I'm pretty sure she never reads it, though.
• My brother and SIL: SIL reads it every day, I think, or pretty close. She doesn't always comment, but I've had a few direct e-mails asking for specific posts. (grin) She tells Brother when he should read.
• Extended family: I have aunts and a cousin who read my blog (my cousin also has her own blog). I love that my aunts care enough about what's going on in my family's life that they log on to see what we're up to.

What two pieces of advice would you give to a new blogger?

1. Jump in and get dirty. You won't learn anything about blogging just waiting to see what everyone else does. If you have questions, visit Blogging Basics 101 or do a search on Google. You'll be amazed at the resources out there.
2. Don't be afraid to learn how to manipulate your own HTML. It's fun and it's not that hard. Just remember, a computer (or Web browser) can only do what it's told. That's what HTML is--you telling the browser how to show your page. For example, if you want something italicized, you have to tell the browser to show that word italicized or it just shows a regular font. To italicize you would type <i> put your words here </i> to make it look like this put your words here. The <i> tells the browser where to start showing the italics, and the </i> tells the browser where to stop showing the italics. See? You just learned a bit of HTML! You can do this!

That's it. That's my bloggin' story. I hope you enjoyed it. I'm glad you stopped by. I really appreciate it. Since I rarely check my site stats, though, you should probably leave me a comment so I know you were here. Thanks.

Hey! Wait! Don't forget to write your own post and put a link to it on the Mr. Linky below! (Don't forget to link directly to the actual post, not your main blog page. We want to make sure everyone reads your story and doesn't get lost looking for it!)

Comments

[Rocks In My Dryer]

Hey look! I'm first! Wheee!

[Rocks In My Dryer]

Hey look! I'm first! Wheee!

[Rocks In My Dryer]

And look! In my excitement, I posted the freakin' comment TWICE.

*SIGH*

[TaunaLen]

Wow. I don't think I've ever been closer to first on one of these things. Figures Shannon would beat me. :-) Happy Summer!

~TaunaLen

[Pam at Kids Kitchen]

I found you through Boomama. Thanks for the invite. I've had fun getting to know you through your blog. I am glad you put up Mr. Linky tonight because if I tried to do this in the morning, the kids would have made sure I was number 78 on the list!

[Shauna]

Great idea for a meme!

[Kelly]

I found my way here from Rocks In My Dryer. Thank you so much for hosting this. I'm looking forward to reading everyone's story.

Blessings~

[Lori (PEZmama)]

I posted. Thanks for setting this up.

[Pastormac's Ann]

Loved reading your bloggy story. I'm usually a lurker. Thanks for thinking up this meme. I'm going to enjoy reading everyone's stories.

[momrn2]

I am so excited to read all the thoughts that will be appearing on people's thoughts related to blogging. Thanks for hosting!!

[Leslie]

Delurking. Thanks, Chili.

[Mommy Dearest]

This is a great idea, and I will try to post one. I just found out about it, and it would be just wrong for me not to comment after your heartfelt pleas (and yes, I love comments, too).

What info can you give about how you've been able to set up the Chili Tried site (how you're being contacted about products to test). I've recently been given two products to review for my blog. I've received them but haven't yet posted the reviews. I love this idea, but so far the contacts have been random. Any tips?

[Brandi]

Yup. Pretty much every day and yes, I tell T. when he should really have a look-see.

Otherwise... I only think he reads motorcycle websites.

Your my crack and crack is wack, yo.

[Free Family Website]

Great idea! can't wait to read the posts

[diatribal]

This is such a great idea! Thanks!

[Big Mama]

I, for one, am grateful that you decided to go public with the blog. You always make me laugh.

Thanks for doing this. It's a great idea.

[Laura]

I'm a regular reader just a slacker commentor! I enjoy these types of memes and look forward to reading the others.

Laura

[Owlhaven]

This was fun to read!

Mary

[mamabright]

I heard about the carnival from Rocks in my Dryer...and have been looking forward to it all week...

I'm an infant blogger...only 28 days old...so I'm looking forward to reading everyone's posts...

thanks for hosting...

blessings, amy :-)

[Corey]

Thanks for the inspiration. :) Loved reading your answers. :)

[ADDIE]

What an interesting story. I enjoyed reading it. I can't wait to read all the other stories too.

I have also posted my blogging story

[ayush]

Hello,
Blogs had always amazed me and made me curious of how it could be useful to spend time on it.
After being a part of it , now can understand how it saves time for me.
I can now share about me and my thoughts and also get comments on them.
In todays busy world, blogs have helped us.
When I started I was confused whether I have visitors or not, and just could not identify how many people are actually coming to my blog.
Then I came across http://gostats.com which offered a free free hit counter, now I know the details of the visitors to my blog.
I am thankful to them.

Cheers to Blogs!

[A Juggling Mum]

Thanks for this carnival, it has been fun reading about your blogging experience and I can't wait to read everyone elses :)

Take care and have a great week!

Rachel xxx

[Katrina (Callapidder Days)]

Thanks for doing this, Chili! I had fun writing mine and I look forward to reading all the other blogging stories, too!

[Jennifer, Snapshot]

This was fun. You should put a link to this somewhere in blogging basics as an archive, because as I said in mine, when I first started blogging, I loved reading this kind of thing to learn and obsess some more about it!