Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Girl, That Blog is Lookin' Tired


It’s become abundantly clear–to me, anyway--that I need to do some sprucing up here at the blog.

No, no. You’re sweet to say that. I appreciate it, but, you know, I’ve kind of let things go.

And I know I need more than just a sassy gay friend to come over with an armful of Gerber daisies to brighten the place up. De-cluttering and new throw pillows can only get you so far. They can’t work miracles.   

Up until a few months ago, I was pretty happy with my blog as my public face. I liked my rocks up there on the header and my approach to blog content, which probably leaned heavily toward “ranty,” and “no clear focus, verging on anarchic,” and “literary equivalent of your loser cousin’s garage band.”

Now, though…. jeez. Something’s just not working for me. I feel like my blog got a bad perm at some point, and I didn’t realize how bad it looked until I saw a photo of myself from the back.

Things change, I guess, and I need to evolve, so that’s what I’m going to do.

Now here’s a big question: if you had it to do over again, would you include the "Followers" widget on your blog? I’m really torn about this. I can’t help staring at that number, you know? Wanting it to go up, wondering why it doesn’t. When I lose a follower, I wonder about it. It doesn’t, like, haunt my every waking moment by any means, but I do worry about it.

FREEDOM!!!!
I’ve always seen my blog as the only thing I had complete creative control over, and I wanted to use it to skip about, la-di-da-ing my way along. I wanted to post without worrying about how it was necessarily received. In other words, I wanted total freedom.
 
On the other hand, the reality is I do have to worry about what people think. There’s no getting away from criticism, and that "Followers" button is a measuring stick, no doubt about it. Might as well accept it.

What are your thoughts? How do you feel about the "Followers" thingamajig? Do you obsess over it or have you made peace with it?

I’m signing off for the last few weeks of summer, but not because I’ll be goofing off. I’ll be busy working and writing and having new drapes installed here at the blog. I’m planning a grand re-opening on September 7 so I hope you’ll stop by!