blogophobe to blogaholic.

On blogging.

I still don't quite understand it. Although apparently I'm doing it. For two whole months. Seems like longer, doesn't it? (yes, she replied, it surely does).

Three weeks ago the only blog I had ever read was Geekgirl Unveiled (link to the right). Well, okay I had read Diane's myspace blog too. And Jonathon's myspace blog once or twice. But never an independent blog. Or so I thought.

Because the more I look in to this whole blogging thing, the more confused I become. Ask poor Geekgirl, my personal blog wiki! Why am I confused? Where to begin.

In a quest to increase traffic to my blog (barely a blog, more of a blo), I began reading a few others. After getting a crash IM course in Google reader and so-called feeds (don't ask me!), I am discovering blogs of interest.

One blog leads to another and before you know it, you've fallen into the rabbit's hole. Endless, I tell you, endless. But anyway. In reading I begin to notice many logos. Blogher. Expat blog. Women who blog. etc. etc. One finds one can list their blog. Until this aha, I had been madly posting anywhere I could find, putting my blog address in my post. Hoping some hapless reader would click before they think and then get mesmerized with my tales of packing. Or something.

Now I am in the process of submitting my blog for listing in a variety of places. It reminds me of when my kids were little and I was filling out applications for preschool. Racking my brain for tantalizing keywords and snappy descriptions, in order to gain acceptance ... and, dare one hope, admission!! Instead of "Johnny started reading when he was two and look at the facial details in this Urkel drawing" (yep, dating myself with that one), I'm tossing in buzz words like reinvention and corporate dropout. See how that gets'em!

I've gotten myself listed on 2 or three (see sidebar) and already readership is growing. Relatively speaking of course, since I've barely broken 3 digits. Three digits in 3 weeks, bring it on!

And another thing. Geekgirl will have to give me another lesson on this one I suppose. Or one of you out there in blogland.

What determines when online writing is a blog? I mean, a blog vs. a website vs. myspace vs. an ezine vs. ? I did a search of top blogs and blog lists, and according to Technorati (that's the thing about Google and the internet, anything that comes up seems to be definitive but how do you REALLY know.... ?). But according to Technorati, The Huffington Post is the top blog site. HuffPo is a blog????? who knew??? I thought it was an online newspaper! Isn't a blog written by one person? God it is all so ... purposefully deceptive.

Welcome to the internet, Kimba. You've only just begun.