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There are three people that have been key to this blog being what it is today. Do you have moments in your blog or people who have been involved with it that just CHANGE everything?
I do.
First, I have to say that I love blogging.
In fact, blogging has to be one of my favorite hobbies of all time. I have obsessions where I focus intensely on something, but also tend to get over it fairly quickly and move on to the next “Thing”. Blogging seems to be an exception; Two years later and I am still going strong.
I don’t think that I have ever done ANYTHING with total consistency for two years.
I think I am a much better singer than blogger, but you couldn’t get me to go to a vocal conference without payment or threat of pain. I cannot WAIT to go to BlogHer this summer and learn everything I can about making this blog a better place.
I heart it.
Looking back on my blogging life, I realize just how far I have come.
It seems like everyone has a “When I first started blogging” story. There are lots of people who say, “When I started blogging I had only read one or two blogs and had no clue!”.
I can wipe the floor with these people.
The very first blog that I ever read belonged to my college roommate, Amy and her husband, John.
(She’s adorable, isn’t she?)
It followed the process of adopting their little girl from China.
I had never even heard of a blog before Amy and John wrote theirs.
I thought that the whole “Blog thing” was pretty sweet! I loved the fact that there there was somewhere you could write about important life events online.
My life was horrible at the time.
Matthew had been dead about 18 months, Jonathan and I were separated and almost every single thing in my life had fallen apart to shreds. I thought that everyone was looking at me and screaming, “WRONGDOER!” in their heads.
I was literally unable to get out of my bed.
I desperately needed SOMETHING GOOD to do and occupy myself with.
Plus, one of my closest friends was deploying to the middle east for a year-and-a-half and I thought it would be a good way to keep in touch.
A blog was born.
I know, I know. You’re probably thinking, “THAT is the horrifying blogging story? It doesn’t sound all that bad! I mean her life sucked and I wouldn’t want to build a summer home there, but the trees are actually quite lovely!”
(Or whatever.)
Point is, you may be thinking the blogging part wasn’t awful, just the life-suck.
Right?
I’m not finished.
Ehem.
Because the one and only blog that I read covered a three-week span during an adoption and then ended, I thought that you had to have A SEPARATE BLOG FOR EACH BIG EVENT IN YOUR LIFE.
So?
I had a blog covering a really great Memorial Day Weekend. I had another blog that documented my trip to Montana with my friend Michelle. I had a Halloween blog.
Not POSTS.
BLOGS.
(I know.)
Finally, my sister-in-law, Nooncy, said, “I keep checking your blogs to see if you update them, but you never do.”
WHAT?
YOU CAN DO THAT??????
Well, don’t that beat ALL!
(I know!)
This was fabulous! Wonderful!! Marvelous!!! I had a way that I could update my life on ONE BLOG!
YAY!
I hurried over to Blogger and created yet another blog.
I titled it “The Ultimate Drama of Loralee’s Life!”
(I KNOW!)
I used Blogger Minima Black because I somehow managed to hit that button when I registered and couldn’t figure out how to change it. I slaved and toiled and cursed as I learned how to use Blogger. Three weeks went by and then came the day where I decided that I was advanced enough to choose one of the other templates offered by Blogger.
Not.
I deleted my entire blog.
Gone.
Poof.
Just like that.
I was devastated. There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth. I thought about just throwing my whole blogging project in the toilet, but I really liked it and my friend was still over in a war zone, so I decided to try again.
I decided that my first blog title was a little stupid (YOU THINK???) and so I thought long and hard over what to name it. As my life pretty much sucked buckets of hideousness and I had been incorrectly diagnosed as being bipolar, I decided to call my blog “Loralee’s Looney Tunes” because I didn’t take the label very well. It seemed perfect. If I called MYSELF crazy FIRST, then I’d beat everyone to the punch! I also sing, which made the “Tunes” fit nicely.
I still think that it weirdly fits me.
I still sucked at blogging.
I was using Picasa to upload photos to my blog and I couldn’t figure out how to use multiple photos per post. I THOUGHT EACH PHOTO HAD TO BE IN ITS OWN DAMN POST.
(Again…I know.)
The beginnings of this blog are a cross of hilarity and mortification. I shudder in absolute revulsion when I see people reading the start of this blog on my stat counter. I even put a warning label on my archives to try and prevent the bleeding of the retinas that must surely be the result of viewing such drivel.
Despite all the suckage, I kept going.
I think that maybe three people read my blog at this time. Most of the time I would have no comments at all and if I did it was usually from my friend, Karen and my sister, Linny.
Till January rolled around.
I couldn’t remember my blog url (Actually, I didn’t even realize that URL was its proper name.) so anytime that I wanted to find my blog I just googled my name.
One day I discovered my blog name in a search that I didn’t recognize.
What?
What was going on????
I clicked on it and was taken to another blog.
It belonged to the lovely JES.
As I perused her blog, I found out that Jes was a brilliant junior in English who read Jack Kerouac and went on bike rides around “The Lake” with friends and sipped on wine while writing poetry.
She was also in a “Blogs & Wiki’s” class at Bemidji State University in Northern Minnesota and wrote a post comparing my blog to the world-famous Dooce (Who I had ZERO knowledge of at this point. I know.).
HOLY FREAKING DOUBLE MOO COW!!!
Somebody I didn’t know actually read my blog and wrote about it!
I know it sounds stupid, but for the first time it really “Clicked” that, um, people could find and read me.
It opened me up to the fact that I probably should start writing for a larger audience than my family and friends. Once I got over the total heart failure that the ENGLISH DEPARTMENT was reading the blog of one who sucketh a duck at grammar and uses CAPS!!! EXCLAMATION POINTS!!! EMOTICONS!!!I started reading Jes’s links and their links and so on, and so on, and so on.
It’s how I met “Photoshop Dave”!
I loved reading about their lives. I loved laughing my ass off at their writing. And cat tossing. I loved that they commented on my blog. It THRILLED me. I think that is one reason why I comment as much as I am able on blogs. Comments meant so much to me and still do.
I met some GREAT people and ended up having my very first “Bloggity Meetup” when I helped move my brother to Minnesota last year.
It was an amazing night with wonderful people.
Jes will always be my first fan that didn’t know me in real life.
She rocks.
So do all the people I met through her.
I HEART Bemidji State and always will.
It totally changed my blog.
(If I left anyone off the linky list PLEASE forgive me. I am totally on Nyquil today. Yup. Sick again.)
As my traffic kept creeping along, I started exploring other blogs.
One day my friend Amy called and told me that I should read the blog of this really funny woman from Idaho who wrote about her mom making her a satin, teal prom dress complete with butt-bow and puffed sleeves.
Enter the lovely Jessica of “Kerflop”.
I clicked over to her site (Which was “VeryMom” at the time) and read the prom dress post. Then I read her post about how she has hideous eyebrows and so in an attempt to cover them she cut herself some bangs and inadvertently made herself look like Jennifer Love Hewitt from “The Ghost Whisperer”.
I was hooked.
I decided to comment and say “Hello”.
THEN I decided to write about blogging and commenting on my blog. I said that people who didn’t talk to their commenter’s bugged me. Then I pouted that while she was better than most bloggers her size about talking to their “Peeps”, Jessica didn’t say hello to me and I had commented TWICE!
See, I was UNAWARE THAT IF YOU LINK TO PEOPLE THEY CAN FIND OUT ABOUT IT.
(No…I had zero clue about tracking or technorati at this point. Sigh.)
She came by to apologize and said in the most gracious way possible that she was sorry she didn’t say hello to me and that she, um, gets ELEVENTY MILLION EMAILS AND COMMENTS and that I really should take that into consideration.
(I KNOW, KNOW, KNOW, KNOW, KNOW!)
I still want to stick a fork in my eye about it.
I have around a third of the traffic she does and feel like I’m drowning a lot of the time trying to keep up.
While I deserved to be blacklisted and (Possibly) stoned to death, she was lovely and gracious about it and decided that I didn’t suck the Casbah. She reads and posts from time to time and gave me the next turning point in my blogging life because she had her own URL and her page was so pretty!
I hated Blogger Minima Black.
SO? I tried to create my own webpage. By trying my hand at HTML and tweaking an existing template!
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I think that it had about 800 errors in it. It also randomly changed fonts and colors on me. Jessica said that it “Hurts me sometimes”.
I don’t blame her.
She kindly suggested moving the freak away from Blogger because it is of the devil.
(Ok, most of that is my wording, although I do think that she said, “FRIC! and FRACK! at least a couple of times.).
SO, last March I took the plunge and I moved to my own URL and over to WordPress.
I also used a template designed by Jessica, which she customized for me because I FRIGGIN SUCK at all things “Technical”. She even let me come to her house and held my hand while I talked to a guy in India named “Emile” that I could barley understand.
She gave me a “Diet Coke” icon without me even asking her to do so and I heart it.
I’ve had the pleasure of meeting her a couple of times (Anyone remember the U-DAHO blogging conference?)and she is responsible for a LOT of my traffic. She’s how I got hooked up and interested in BlogHer and I have found a lot of amazing blogs through her links.
Because of her I realized that I wanted to “Take my blog up another level” and got some amazing advice and ideas about what I would like my blog to be.
I adore her with the power of a thousand burning suns.
So, there you go-The key moments of this little place from very humble beginnings, to something that I love and am proud to say is mine.
Everyone here has their own little influence on the happenings of this place, but without these three people, this blog would not be what it is today. The triggered events and meetings that changed EVERYTHING and I am so grateful to them.
There are much bigger and better blogs out there, but I love Looney Tunes and hope that it keeps growing and getting better and better.
SO?
What about YOU? Why did YOU start blogging? Did you have any key moments in your blog that changed things? Do you have any “Beginning Blogging” stories???
Spill it!
Camille says:
I would love to make my blog one third of the blog yours is. I am trying to figure out how… Thanks for the success story and many motivations!
January 15th, 2008 at 1:17 am
Melanie at BeanPaste says:
Okay, I would write my own story, but I’m too busy laughing over yours.
A different blog. For every topic. Never to be updated again. Oh. My. Lord.
See? This is the kind of lovable insanity that makes this place so appalling. Sorry, APPEALING. I meant APPEALING.
Lastly: heeeeeeee!
January 15th, 2008 at 3:09 am
Sharon says:
Great post! I was in that ‘Blogs and Wikis’ class at BSU when you were ‘discovered’!!!!
Me, the Grey-Haired Coed… now 65 years old and still acting like a kid much of the time.
I still use Blogger, but have a new second blog on Wordpress, http://customsewing.wordpress.com/
I changed the name to “The Happy Stitcher” but can’t figure out how to change the URL…
You have inspired me, challenged me, entertained me, made me cry and laugh sometimes in the same post.
Keep on posting, dear, you are the first blog I check each day for updates!
January 15th, 2008 at 5:21 am
Vanessa says:
you may not have had a clue when you started, but you certainly learnt an awful lot in (what seems to me) like a short period of time!
you have mentioned techno-things here that i *still* haven’t grasped at all!
btw, the (not so rivetting) story of how i started blogging is here: http://risingtothechallenge.blogspot.com/2007/01/self-portrait-challenge-new-years_23.html
…only read it if you’re really bored!
Vx
January 15th, 2008 at 6:59 am
Ligeia says:
My Gawd, Woman! I have a hobby or two but, sheesh!
Seriously, I’m so glad we found each other’s blogs. I don’t think I’d have kept blogging if it weren’t for you.
I’ll never be as popular as you - which is a bummer b/c I’ve never been stalked
Anyway, you deserve some sort of recognition for being an inspiration to bloggers and “real” people.
January 15th, 2008 at 8:47 am
Gretchen says:
I really don’t know why, except all my friends were doing it. Yes, I’d jump off the bridge.
My first major challenge was to try and get my picture in the sidebar. I ended up making it a post (my first) and going from there. Not really funny, but with a 1, 3, and 5 year old - rather time consuming!
January 15th, 2008 at 8:58 am
Angela says:
I LOVE reading these blog stories. I also love Jessica. She has helped me with my blog more times than I can count.
I have been blogging for a wee bit over 4 years now. I don’t think my blog has wide appeal, but I don’t know where I would be without it.
I had a blog before I knew what blogs were. Mine was my “online journal”. It was on shitty Xanga too. Eventually I found Mimi Smartypants and then one day she linked to Alice from Finslippy who linked to Kerflop and basically everyone I read stemmed from that.
It is amazing how much my life has changed since I started my blog, but I do know it keeps me sane and helped me meet fab people such as yourself so it has been one of the greatest blessings.
January 15th, 2008 at 9:00 am
Shannon says:
I, too, love blogging but I’ve had my share of horrible blogging experiences this past year. The short list would be:
* I found out that a girl was stealing photos of my twins while they were in the NICU from my blog and telling folks they were her babies and they had died…AND she was collecting money for their funerals!
* My best friend and Maid of Honor read one of my blog posts about how I felt so isolated and abandoned by my friends once my twins came home from the hospital. She ended our 15-year friendship over a post that wasn’t even about her.
* When my 3-month old preemie daughter was hurt at day care and we were in the process of having it investigated by the police, I started receiving harrassing and threatening emails and blog comments from one of the girls who hurt her!
My blog — which was intended to be my sounding board as I transitioned into motherhood — is now read by my mom, my husband, my husband’s boss, relatives, etc. So, I have to do a lot of self-censorship…which I hate.
The great thing about blogging though is it introducing you to folks who are in the same boat you are in. I met so many women who were pregnant with twins when I was too. We compared notes, we talked about our fears, etc. No one really knows what it’s like to be on extended hospital bedrest or to have babies in the NICU for over a month unless you’ve been there too. Now that my babies are 11 months old, I get a ton of emails from other women struggling with life in the NICU or on hospital bedrest or dealing with preemies, etc. I love knowing that some of my experiences might be helping other women just starting that journey too.
Anyway, I love your blog. I love getting emails and comments from you. And I hate that you live so damn far away!
January 15th, 2008 at 9:46 am
Shannon says:
Damn, that was a long comment…sorry!
January 15th, 2008 at 9:46 am
Marilyn says:
Love the post! I love Kerflop too.
I met her at BlogHer this last summer and she is completely adorable and sweet in person, isn’t she? (Not that she isn’t on her blog, but you know what I mean)
My blogging story isn’t that exciting, but I do have lots of scary archives.
There are times I’ve wished for rockstar-dom, but I’m pretty darned happy with my little blog as it is. It’s had two names, you know. And several different urls over the years. I love my blog and I wouldn’t know what to do without it.
I hope I get to meet you at BlogHer!
January 15th, 2008 at 10:06 am
ali says:
great post!
i think it’s hilarious that you were bummed after commenting twice. there are blogs i comments 150 times on and NEVER get a “hi” back.
and the very best line of your post?
See, I was UNAWARE THAT IF YOU LINK TO PEOPLE THEY CAN FIND OUT ABOUT IT.
hahahah. you are adorable!
January 15th, 2008 at 10:10 am
Rachel says:
BFBelle was my blog dealer who got me hooked. She’s also the one who got me hooked on your blog. Now I’m so addicted that I need to go to meetings, and do the 12 steps, blah, blah, blah. Thanks a lot.
January 15th, 2008 at 10:40 am
ThatOneGuy says:
well, interesting post - I have a couple of thoughts. The first one, which permeates me at this very moment is this: I’D TOTALLY DO THE GHOST WHISPERER.
So, that said, now I can move on to other more sane thoughts. I’ve been doing some thinking about blogging - mine has been sucking wind lately because I don’t feel like I have much to say that’s very interesting to most…
Another thing - it seems like most blogs not written by a “her” are either sports blogs, or political blogs. When I wrote about politics - specifically my strident opposition to the local Referendum Item Number Three, I got a lot of traffic and comments, much of which was very good and insightful - never changed my mind about the amendment though.
And even another thing - I was thinking about doing an “in retrospect” post about my 2 years of blogging and where I’ve come since then… now I know I’ll actually post it.
This was a great story. Although I still use Blogger (That Software Of The Devil), I do have a couple of other things that are on Wordpress. I wish I had found that earlier. I like the platform better for sure.
Anyway - I COMMENTED!! Thanks for your couple of comments as well - now that I know how tweaked you get about comments, I’ll make sure to be responsive…
Again, I stand in awe of your blog, and your fortitude. As a “he” I know I’m in the minority here, but I do appreciate your down-to-earthness….
January 15th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
Aunt Amy says:
I’m soooo sorry I led you astray. Yes, we probably should have kept up our blog after getting home from China, but it had served it’s purpose–keeping our friends and family in the loop while we had the experience of a lifetime.
That’s what I love about Loralee’s Looney tunes. When I don’t have time to call, or even drop by when I’m actually in the same state as you, I can keep up with you and your own adventures.
January 15th, 2008 at 1:56 pm
Cate says:
Well, I started reading Dooce, then mihow, then clicked on your blog through that. I read about your kids and read that your youngest one died of SIDS. I have a 4-month old right now and read your “birthday” blogs and just started to cry. Right here at my desk in my office, totally in tears. I started researching SIDS from there, kept crying, and got terribly worried that my baby would die from SIDS. He’s fine right now, I still worry, but decided to start a blog for him. Nobody reads it, it’s only a week old. I’m not sure if i’ll tell anyone I know about it. I think it’s just a funny outlet right now to brag to no one about my adorable baby. I use Blogger because I didn’t know where else to go. No biggie - although I don’t use the black!
January 15th, 2008 at 2:00 pm
Berne says:
I started blogging about 3.5 years ago…in Mike Morgan’s class at Bemidji State. Not sure if I was in the class before or after the one that discovered you, but I am still blogging today.
January 15th, 2008 at 2:20 pm
She Likes Purple says:
This is SUCH a great post–and what a cool journey you’ve taken through the blogosphere!
January 15th, 2008 at 2:36 pm
loralee says:
Camille:
It’s a good thing to have blogging goals. I have very definite goals for my blog. I have never wanted to be a rockstar, because I like getting to know my readers. It’s much tougher to do that when you have thousands reading you, ya know?
I think you are getting a great start by blogging more regularly…That is important. You may feel annoying, but it’s not. You don’t have to post every day, but 3-4 times a week is usually needed to start a readership.
AND? How you got me to read you goes down as one of the most creative on my list (Linking to me as “Person you wanted most to read your blog”) It totally worked! So…You have the creativity…Just keep going!
Melanie:
It can be painful to relate my stupidity to the world.
Sigh.
Mainly,I hope that it is an inspiration to people who feel like they have stories to tell but techno-suck prohibits them from being able to blog.
If I can blog? Anyone who can tell a story can blog!
Sharon:
OH, yes you are one of the BSU crowd for certain! I absolutely love you all to death.
Vanessa:
I will definitely check it out your story. I love hearing how people got started blogging.
I have learned so much. I go about it the most difficult way possible, though. AND I still have SOOOOOOOO far to go it is a bit ridiculous.
Ligia:
Gretchen:
Oh, do I understand the “Bridge” mentality. I am such a freaking lemming.
Photo uploading and sidebars about sent me to bed for two days. It was not pretty. Not pretty at all. :S
Angela:
I remember that you found me from Kerflop. I loved that. I like your blog. I think that it has a definite place. I love some of your more personal posts. (You have had QUITE the year.)
Besides, it isn’t every day that I get made a godmother of AN ADORABLE, FLUFFY BUNNY NAMED PENELOPE, now is it!
Shannon:
You have had enough ugliness on your blog to make anyone stop blogging and throw their laptop into the garbage. I am still sooooooo upset about a lot of it and that some of it is still occurring.
GRRR…
I think one of my favorite things about your place is that you have Google searches for “Carpet Licking Twins” and it pulls up your baby blog.
HEE!
Marilyn:
I don’t think that I could handle being a rockstar. That would be a ton of pressure. Plus, that is when the ugly starts coming out in droves.
NOT nice. Not nice at all.
I already inadvertently offend people all over the place and stress over it. I don’t know what I’d do if I were them.
GAH!
I hope I get to meet you at BlogHer, too! (And yes, Jessica is so much fun in person!)
Ali:
I KNOW. I was sooooooooo lame. I wasn’t mean, just rather oblivious to blogging etiquette and how much work a bigger blog is.
Sigh.
And as for the linkage…I can be the most “Duh” person on the freaking planet. Sigh. It’s true, though…I was completely oblivious!
Rachel:
BFB is the best, isn’t she? I can’t wait until she comes out here and I get to meet her!!!
ThatOneGuy:
It’s true that most guys blog about politics and sports. Danny of http://dadgonemad.com makes me pee my pants on a regular basis. He is a definite “Must Read”. Neil of http://citizenofthemonth.com cracks me UP on a regular basis and is also an amazing writer.
I used to have more male peeps when I was a bit more open about “THINGS” (Ehem.) but there are still a few of you around, which I love.
Guy comments crack me the freak up.
AND? I love WordPress. Granted, Blogger was much more problemed when I switched because it was changing over to their “Beta” program.
Aunt Amy:
Hey, if it wasn’t for you I wouldn’t even be here! It isn’t your fault that I was a dork and in the dark ages in regards to blogging!
Keeping in touch with people far away is such a plus to it all.
Cate:
Awe. I am sure that your son will be just FINE. You do what you can do and just put hope in the statistics, which are definitely in your favor. Thank you for the sweet words, though. I deeply appreciate them.
As for Blogger, it is not nearly as bad as it used to be. The switch to “Beta” was pretty painful and came at the time when I just threw in the towel and switched to WordPress.
January 15th, 2008 at 2:53 pm
loralee says:
Berne & She Likes Purple:
You commented while I was writing the above tome!
Berne, I am not sure if you were in that same “Class” but you are definitely in the same “Group”!
Purple…It has been quite an adventure. I don’t think I would change any of it (Except that I REALLY want to figure out WordPress plugins before I die.).
January 15th, 2008 at 3:24 pm
Angella says:
What a great journey!
I started so that my Mom could see photos of my kids…then friends of friends started commenting…then it just got bigger, ya know?
And you have met sweet Jessica? Lucky duck.
I cannot wait to meet you both at BlogHer
January 15th, 2008 at 3:41 pm
loralee says:
Angella:
Yup! I sure have…a few times. She is fabulouso, that is for certain.
And you know that is a BIG ditto from me about BlogHer!
January 15th, 2008 at 4:50 pm
hairyshoefairy says:
Blogger to Wordpress to hosting my own through Wordpress. You know.
So here’s my funny thing. I was pregnant when I started and spent all day on the computer for work at the time and I checked the blogs I read then about elevnty billion times a day to see if they had posted anything new. No idea there was any such thing as a feed reader and always wondered what that little orange box with RSS next to it meant. Now my Google Reader is my favoritest thing ever cuz I can read so many more blogs easily without clicking to their sites every three seconds like I was cuz I’m obsessive like that. It opened up my time to so many more people and things and it’s much, much better.
January 15th, 2008 at 5:20 pm
loralee says:
OH, it took me QUITE a long time to figure out the whole RSS Feed and “Google Reader” thing.
You should have seen my bookmarked pages. I had the little orange chicklet next to the long list of blog names and it was doing jack but sitting there as ornamentation.
I still had to click and click to see if there were updates.
I blogged about how awesome it was that I had all my blogs in one place (You know, in my bookmarks) and a reader finally clued me into the fact that, um, I WAS WASTING A TON OF TIME EVERY DAY!
It was so ridiculous.
Sigh…
January 15th, 2008 at 5:24 pm
witchypoo says:
Funny stuff! I found myself reading other people’s blogs, and started commenting on the great mofo delurk day, and just kept it up. I told Robin of Pensieve that I was thinking about starting my own, and she said: “If you build it, they will come.”
I already had a domain name I wasn’t doing much with, and had several sites on different hosts, so all I had to do really was install WordPress on one. OMSH got me started with her “WordPress Wednesdays” and I started writing. It’s only been a few months, but I’m getting more traffic than I dreamed I would. Now, I’m only worried about running out of stories, since I blog anonymously.
With the increase in traffic comes an increase in time, addressing comments, and commenting on blogs of new commenters, so I have had to cut out some of the rockstar reads. And, if you need help with plugins, I can walk you through it.
January 15th, 2008 at 5:47 pm
Fluent Brittish says:
That’s an awesome story. I love that you had no idea what you were doing. That proves that there is still hope for me.
January 15th, 2008 at 6:16 pm
Sue says:
FWAPY-BAH! Awesome post (in fact, you might just be able to make up a new BLOG about it all.) Loralee, you’re like the blogger’s glue that holds all of us narcissistic freaks together. We heart you.
January 15th, 2008 at 6:31 pm
hairyshoefairy says:
Totally know! I had them all in a huge folder in my bookmarks and clicked all. day. long. I didn’t realize there was another way til I saw something about GR on one of Kerflop’s posts and was floored that you could do such a thing. Glad I’m not the only one.
January 15th, 2008 at 6:56 pm
candace says:
that was great! so funny about the separate blogs. Yes, my blog was born out of PPD…..
Where there is darkness, there is also blog….
January 15th, 2008 at 7:30 pm
Jenn says:
I’m not kidding–reading this was like reading my blogging history…
Too funny.
And too true.
January 15th, 2008 at 8:14 pm
moosh in indy. says:
Hi, Cody and I are moving to Indiana, since I’m really lazy I’m going to do this one blog and if you don’t read it I won’t feel bad when you don’t know what’s going on.
the end.
HA!
more like THE BEGINNING.
January 15th, 2008 at 9:10 pm
rimarama says:
It seems like you’ve done pretty well for yourself, all things considered! I’ve heard of a lot of people deleting their Blogger blogs when attempting to switch templates. But the separate blog for each event? Not so much
I only recently found out about Technorati searches, and that’s about all I know about that. I need a MENTOR, Loralee!!!
January 15th, 2008 at 9:26 pm
Amy says:
What a great post. My blog is so new and it still feels so strange to hit “publish” and know other may read it. Although, my others, include my mom, dad, sisters, etc…And you:-) You and Candace from notthatidon’tlovemykids were the first to comment and I am thrilled! It is like having a celebrity sighting!!
January 15th, 2008 at 10:02 pm
Bridge says:
I am back and NOT happy about it. LOL. I miss 85 degree weather. /sigh
I’ll call you soon. When I get used to Mountain Standard Time.
TTYS…
January 15th, 2008 at 11:36 pm
180/360 says:
Seeing as I’m still stuck in Minima Black land, you must’ve shuddered when you looked at my site. But nonetheless, I can relate to your blogging history. It has definitely been a journey! One of these days I may progress but for now, it is fine.
January 15th, 2008 at 11:40 pm
raygon says:
what a journey! I am glad your blog has grown…it is one of my favorites. I dont know ANYTHING technical, but if you can check who is reading your blog, you will see I look at it a few times a day sometimes! I love how real you can be. If there is another U-DAHO meet-up, let me know - I would be there in a second! Thanks to you for posting (almost) everyday for NAMOBLOPO - or whatever it was called. It motivated me to post more often. You rock!
January 15th, 2008 at 11:53 pm
Melly says:
My story is more boring…I was learning more about html code and my husband set a wordpress blog up for me so I could get some practice coding…plus it was fun to update family and friends.
I’ve been blogging since Nov. 2004
The majority of my readers are family and friends and a few straglers from youtube videos or our arcade side business.
I’m not a great writer, so my posts are usually short…I post a lot of online deals, reviews, videos, and pics…
Loralee-its fun to read your blog!
January 16th, 2008 at 3:03 am
chris says:
I do remember u-da-ho, and thought it was very clever indeed.
I’ve thought about keeping a blog to have a place to document projects and my boys, but I can’t get over that first step. Part of me would never want my family to find it, you know? Or write something that I really regret.
January 16th, 2008 at 10:09 am
Jennifer says:
Loralee this is such a fun post and I love reading the comments!
I love your blogging history, multiple blogs, linking, all of it!
I may borrow this idea and write a post of my own about my blogging history. (And link to this post OF COURSE!)
January 16th, 2008 at 11:23 am
Jamie says:
I love the photos!
Well…I started blogging after I had my second daughter. I worked from home and loved it but I was bored, bored, bored. Also, although I work for a publishing company as an editor by day, I really do not get to do any creative writing. I mean there are only so many ways you can say, “And in the health care sector, M&A was up for the year.” Blah blah blah. We had a family website which, in a word, just sucked. But I loved it! Loved the idea of it! My husband was reading a lot of news and political blogs and one day showed me Dooce. Oh Lordy B I was hooked! I googled mom blogs and found Busy Mom here in Nashville and just started clicking around. It was like this HUGE universe of moms writing from all over the place was opened up to me. And I loved it.
So there. I’m a dork. I remember when people, besides my husband and mother and best friend, began commenting on my blog. I was as giddy as a school girl.
January 17th, 2008 at 9:26 am
Redneck Mommy says:
Love it. Love the fact you are MORE dorky than me.
***evil cackle***
I’m glad you found me. Cuz you know, now I can stalk you.
January 17th, 2008 at 11:08 am
holli says:
I judge a blog and it’s author by how I would react if I saw the person in the real world. You have done nothing short of making me feel like a true friend and I look forward to giving you a big hug someday. I’m glad you’re here. xo
January 17th, 2008 at 5:32 pm
kerflop says:
Aw, I’m all… verklempt or however you spell that. And also wondering why I ever deleted that prom dress entry. And the bangs entry. Word to the wise: don’t ever go back and read your archives and get all delete happy.
January 18th, 2008 at 1:33 pm
Heather B. says:
My blogging story is so very boring. It was all “Look I have a blog! And look here is my REAL FULL NAME as my URL! Aren’t I genius?!”
Yeah. The end.
January 18th, 2008 at 2:51 pm
Doug says:
I wish I would have read this two weeks again and commented when people would have still read it. I started blogging for the exact same reason you did, LL: my life was a complete mess. Between April and May or 2006, I became completely disconnected from everyone. I was suddenly unemployed, my roommate was gone, my friends has left London and my relationship was crap. I became incredibly depressed (more than I’ve ever been, which says a lot). Blogging gave me an outlet to reach out to others. And I did get attention after a few months, and I thrived on it. Perhaps it was because my blog was actually interesting then. Reading it, it almost chronicles my decent into insanity (no joke) - working overnight, not eating (literally, I lost 30 pounds in 6 weeks at one point), sleeping 2-4 hours a day, intensely pining over somebody who I could not have. And I chronicled it all on the blog. In the fall of 2006, I slowly but surely fixed myself - I started gaining some weight back, I found somebody new, I got a new job, and life got better. Which was good for me, but not for the blog as it suffered. But the alternative was me dying (which was probably coming soon had I not changed my life - I couldn’t stand up without becoming dizzy), so it worked out.
In short, the blog had outlived its usefulness to me, which is why I’ve neglected it. I’m still struggling with trying to make it something else, but it’s hard, you know? My life is just sort of blah now. Not terribly exciting, not terribly disappointing. Hmmm.
But the person who turned me onto blogging? Erin. And my ex. One good thing, at least.
February 1st, 2008 at 7:56 pm
bethany actually says:
Why am I up at 3am reading your archives and commenting? I don’t know. But I know how much I love comments, and you love comments, so here is another one for you:
Waaaay back in 1997, I created a homepage with free webspace from my ISP. I started with their standard template and then taught myself HTML by reading about it online and looking at the source code of other sites. When my husband (who’s in the Navy) went on a six-month deployment, I posted photos he sent me, emails he wrote to me, and information about ports he was visiting so all our friends and family could find out how he was doing. I kept up that homepage for seven and a half years, even though we moved four times and each time I had to re-do the whole thing. I quit when my daughter was four months old, because I just couldn’t spend as much time on it, and I didn’t want to do a half-assed job. I wanted to do it right. So I made the decision to close the site down, hoping I’d get back to it someday.
When I was pregnant, I started reading The Trixie Update, which is mostly on hiatus now, but used to be the daily happenings of a stay-at-home dad and his daughter. Not long after that someone sent me a link to Dooce, and a few months later I stumbled onto The Reign of Ellen. I commented on The Trixie Update on a fairly regular basis, but Ellen’s blog was the first one where I became part of the community, and developed a relationship with the blogger.
Those were the only blogs I read for a long time. Then Ellen posted a link to her friend Brenda’s blog, saying that she’d had her baby and we should all go over and say congratulations. So I did, and that’s how I found Secret Agent Josephine. I liked her style, and her cool photo slideshows. I sympathized with her new-mother frustrations and confusions. I kept reading her site over the months, and then she launched Gumball the Kitten on the world, and that got me onto Flickr.
Flickr hooked me, and through it I found OMSH and Angella. I commented on their blogs and photos, and over time they and SAJ encouraged me to start my own blog. I had been considering it for ages—years, really—and I guess I finally felt the time was right. Since I was familiar with HTML I went right into having my own domain name (though CSS is still largely a mystery to me). And voila, my blog was born.
Whew. That was a freaking long comment. And now I REALLY have to go to bed.
bethany actuallys last blog post..Dotty circles are still fun to paint
May 26th, 2008 at 1:32 am
Feather Nester says:
Soooo late to this party. But holy monkeys, so many one-post blogs?! That’s hysterical, I love it!
The funny thing? I just discovered technorati TODAY! And I’ve been blogging for two years. But, in my defense, I have an almost-nine-months-old baby.
But seriously. Look at my header. Clearly I am lost. I need to just pay someone.
Anyway, just happy to have found your blog. Before the baby, I spent all my time on the craft blogs, especially among the sewers and quilters. Now that I’m a mommy, I’m gradually shifting to the mommyblogs. You guys have so many rock stars…there are some in the craft blogs, but it’s different somehow. I guess the jealousy there is of the tactile work, not the writing itself.
I’m so screwed. Better dig up those long-dormant writing genes and find the strength to dig in.
So, glad I found you! Looking forward to reading more.
Feather Nesters last blog post..YouTube Love
July 21st, 2008 at 8:38 pm