"Linda’s Angel" designed for my longest-friend Linda Gay who lives in California now. Each is hand-pulled from a cast of the original and details added/changed so that each is unique.
Blogs, in their own way, are the latest medium of free press. And it is immediate. Following a blog? make a comment and it goes up (usually; some still filter first) with no wait. Google yourself and see your answers to blogs out there faster than a speeding bullet. Want your name out there? Don’t have a blog? respond to other blogs – but make sure you have something to say and it isn’t just a cute attempt to get your name in lights…or you’ll be tagged a sblogger or something similar to that – it means a spam blogger. One might read all this stuff just for the new words that are getting created daily!
I read about all this today over at Technorati. I was pointed there by The Blog Squad Gals who I subscribe to because 1. they are informative and 2. they are gals. 3. And they are responsible for getting me here with their book "Build a Better Blog"
I’m not sure anyone besides me notices this, but as in the regular business world, there are a lot of guys out there and they’re asking really good MBA type questions.
On the above-named blog today, however, there was a glimmer that others are out there asking some of the questions I want answered (with no way for me to track back to them since they are commenting on Technorati – I have to wait and see if Technorati picks them up and answers, I guess): are there any statistics on how many women are starting up and staying at blogging? is anyone tracking the consumption side of the supply (i.e., who’s reading and how many blogs are gifts to the blogosphere that are never read) (to which I add: does it matter who reads? for whom do YOU blog?).
For whom DO you blog? And what do you hope to gain from it? Do you blog? or do you just read blogs? Why do you read blogs if you don’t blog, and are you planning one day to blog? (back to beginning question).
I read a lot about blogging and how it is the next great thing for businesses – everyone needs a blog. But I blog because I want not only to create a site that will draw clients to my art – I do want that; but also I want something larger than that. I want a community of people I will never know otherwise – all connected here because they are looking for something they can’t quite name and they find it here, both in the art and the writing and in the folks who read and comment. Do I want to be a start blogger – my ego does. What former Type-A A student doesn’t want to go to the head of the class. The Me that does this daily, however, simply wants to know the world better, has something to say to that world, and finds this a good medium for doing so. Here’s what that me wants: "Hey gals, here’s a space for us. No competition, just a lot of sharing. And by the way, some great art to put on your walls to remind you of who you are and why you do whatever it is you are currently doing, and where your path is leading."
I tried this on the ground. It has worked ok but I think I’m drawing from too small a pool here in beautiful downtown Southern Maryland. I need a bigger pool. Can’t think of a bigger one than the blogosphere. Technorati, above, says that 50,000 bloggers post every minute. 55% stay with it more than 3 months (I guess they’re doing behind the scenes calculations)
Over on myspace (which you may have to sign in to read) where I’ve been at this since February this year, they have over 71million members from which to draw. (65 million in February – this is definitely a growing phenomenon as noted in Technorati’s report). I have drawn 17 regular readers. More here. But I can’t track back or talk to them directly until and unless they engage me in the comments section – somewhat frustrating, but I’ll live with it. At least I know I’m not talking to myself. Although talking to myself has never been something I’ve been too worried about. Which is why I have over 40 years worth of journals, starting with my diary in 1961.
What I really want to say is that I am hopeful that the blogosphere is a place where women can carve out their own niche, not based on the male hierarchial model, and thrive. I haven’t yet figured out how to "get this out there" anymore than I have figured out how to find my art’s demographics. But I have done the work to know who I’m looking for. And I’m trusting that they will show up here.
And leave me a note so we can chat.
Over on myspace, noted above, I leave a thought for the day every day. It’s a great excuse for all the books I have accumulated over the years – the ones I’ve kept and not donated or given or loaned away. I like doing it so I think I’ll start doing it here too. And most usually it’s way longer than just a one sentence thought, although I like them too and occasionally find one I use.
Today’s thought: "I thought I could wait until I was inspired by some other life choice in order to leave the job that dampened my spirits daily. I thought that maybe one day I’d be standing by the water cooler in the middle of the hallway and suddenly I’d see it all, the Grand Instruction Book from The Most Loving Universe, opening before my eyes. And then right in the middle of an ordinary day, with too much traffic on my way in, too much work to do , too much coffee, and much too little sleep or primal scream therapy, I’d instantaneously know just how to create some new mythological career life. Now there’s a dream for you.
"That’s like deciding not to go to the dance and expecting Prince Charming to materialize in your kitchen instead, where you’re stirring green beans and waltzing around with some dude named Mr. Clean…Unfortunately we have to leave our prisons to find the keys to our own freedom. Look, I’m not making up the rules. I’ve just noticed that we only tend to find our mission once we take an intermission from the work life that doesn’t work." Tama Kieves, This Time I Dance
