RE: On following many blogs 💬
Earlier today, Meadow wrote about following blogs. He shared his blogroll (which I'm honored to be a part of), and he discussed the balance of having too many blogs to read and how that would affect his relationship with the author.
I found his insight to be wonderful and I recommend you read the post for yourself but one part that stood out to me was:
I'm sure these people enjoy following many blogs and publishing answers to other's posts, but I don't think I would like to make my blog mainly about conversing with others. Connecting is wonderful, but I want to leave space for personal exploration. Though maybe I'm just saying this because I tend to lean towards the introverted side of things.
I related quite a bit to that. I have had dozens of wonderful people email me about my blog and I enjoyed conversing with every single one of them. In fact, on my birthday this year, I received almost two dozen emailed Happy Birthday wishes and that is by far the most Happy Birthday's I've ever received. It truly was special.
But I too, am a little slow about emailing others. I do think, being a bit more introverted plays into it, and it's also a bit vulnerable. You are reaching out to someone whose writing you admire, and what if they don't get back to you? What if they are short? What if they are a jerk? Those things play in my head and that definitely puts a barrier for me making first contact. That's not to say I haven't, but I definitely receive more emails than I make. I really need to fix that.
But to respond to Meadow, over the years I've come to realize that most blogs don't last more than ninety-days. Those first few posts come easy because you are excited and have something to say, but unless writing comes to you naturally or you "must" write to maintain your sanity, it can be a challenge. So, if I find a blog I like, I immediately add it to my RSS. About once a year, I go through them and usually there are well over one-hundred blogs, but probably only twenty that are active and it's usually the same twenty that were active the year before, and the year before that. I even noticed when I was putting together my links page that so many of the BearBlogs I initially had added were no longer updated. I think there are a few on there now that are pretty much abandoned. That's just the nature of blogging.
Anyway, add Meadow to your RSS/blog roll while you are over there. He writes good stuff!