On the blog, off the blog

It's been more than a year since I started blogging regularly. The 5 posts I wrote in 2010 don't really count as active blogging :-) And  it's  been only a few months since I started coming out to friends and   relatives about keeping a blog.

To anyone who asks I still refer to myself as a newbie. But after one year, a significant increase in   exposure and a blog format pretty much set I believe my grace period is over. That's okay. No drama.

As time went by I felt more and more comfortable letting people in. We've moved from me posting about my stuff and my DIY to sharing some vulnerable moments as well as some happy ones. And as honest and open as I try to write about myself there is still a large portion of my life that I keep off the blog. Some things are private, others, I feel are irrelevant and still some are difficult to translate into written word and equally if not more difficult to translate to English.

A bouquet for my mum for her birthday

The most interesting phenomenon has been telling my friends about my blog. The people who  see what I include or choose not to include in  my posts. Though no one  ever asks I get a lot of quizzical looks when  something didn't make the cut. I'm quite sure it comes off as a sort of split personality  effect.
Re-reading my posts as I often do I sometimes get a strange out of body experience because I am reliving the same event  twice: As it actually happened and as I wrote about it. There is a  definite distinction and try as I may there will always be one.
That whole lost in translation thing comes to mind...

This  post is meant as one part my observations on the subject and one part explanation/apology why I've been absent from the blogosphere for the past couple of weeks. I miss it more than I can ever begin to explain, I miss visiting the regular blogs I follow and commenting, participating  in the debate. I feel so terribly disconnected and yes I just realized yesterday was the first Friday of the month and I haven't written a film review  post. Which makes it the second in a row.

Detail of an exhibit piece from MSUM, Modern musem Metelkova, Ljubljana

I've also been involved in a couple of projects I  haven't really discussed on the blog yet: one of them being a a two months course to become a guide for visually impaired in the field of culture (galleries and museums). I've met so many wonderful new people, we discussed the problems the blind face on a daily basis, stuff we tend to overlook (pun intended!) or not really conceptualize.
I've also seen so many of Ljubljana's galleries and museums , I'm ashamed to admit I didn't even know some of them exist. All in all a timely reminder to reacquaint myself with culture. I've begun to realize this kind of involvement and real human interaction was missing from my life. But it can be pretty scary, looking back on the past 5 months and see the swift changes.
For one, I'm beginning to look my age and I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad one...

The perils of blogging and an award

Without fail my morning routine for the past year has involved sipping a large cup of coffee in my pajamas and going through my Google reader checking the latest post from my favourite bloggers.
This morning was no exception. Here I was sitting with my first morning coffee and racking my brain what to write about when I inadvertently, as I always do, stumbled upon something wonderful.

Blackthorn tweed jacket

One of my favourite bloggers Mette wrote about shoes today and one of "the regulars" My Spotty Pony mentioned a brand of boots she prefers. Dubarry of Ireland.

Arrowgrass tweed skirt

Oh so elegant, oh so classic and oh so expensive. What's more they not only have footwear but clothing too. I can just picture Mr. C shaking his head. Another fabulously extravagant obsession in the making.
Big sigh...

Footwear care sample pack

I also received a blog award from Mette yesterday. My first blog award. Yay! Thank you Mette :-D

The rules:

1. The award is given to bloggers with fewer than 200 followers.
2. You are to thank the giver, who gave it to you.
3. Reveal your 5 blogger picks, and let them know, by leaving a comment on their blog.
4. Copy and paste the award on your blog.
5. Hope, that the people, you have sent the award to, will forward it to their 5 favorite bloggers.

I'm passing on this award to the following bloggers:

1. Bead addict from the need to bead
2. Heidi from Ex Post Facto Jewelry
3. Ms. M from Department of colour
4. Paula from Paula's Diary
5. Susan from Style Made by Hand

Blogger culture: Exposure and rejection

About three weeks ago I received my first offer to do a sponsored post on my blog. And it quickly became apparent to me this was nothing but an ingeniously crafted scam.
A pretty generic Chinese on-line retailer was offering me the chance to write a post on their wares in exchange for a coupon redeemable at the very store I was supposed to be promoting.
All I had to do was go to their website, fill out a form, do a post and voila! One coupon coming my way. Yay!

source

The way this looks to me is that they get free exposure and my money, since the $10 coupon they're offering for my writing services can buy me just about one pair of nylons.
Not to mention, how generic the e-mail they sent me was. No salute, no name just hello and a copy pasted message.
What makes it worse is that a week later I received another one of these generic e-mails. This time from a fashion blogger who'd picked the e-mails off some one's comment section and was trying to round us all up and get us to follow her blog.

Again no salute or anything, just come follow my blog, there might be a lip gloss in it for you.
At times like these I am sorely tempted to pack it all up, close down my blog and go do nothing.

What was the most annoying, aggravating or just plain rude experience you've had since you started blogging?

Blogger culture: The creative process

having coffee and waiting for a friend

I just can't seem to get enough of this topic. On today's menu: how do you come up with your posts?
I like to keep a notebook and a pen with me at all times. I've always found it easier to write and re-type my posts.
I frequently take the bus into town to run errands or meet up with friends. It's a 50 minutes ride in relative comfort and I find it relaxing to sit and write in my notebook. I can write up to two posts in the time it takes to reach the bus station. Something I've never been able to do at home sitting and starring at my computer screen. Somehow computer screen give me writer's blockage. Even when I wrote my thesis, I wrote about 70% percent on paper first and re-typed it later.

Blogger culture: followers, readers and Google stats

Another foray into the curious and intricate world of blogging. I've already addressed one aspect of blogging peculiarities here. Today I'll be discussing popularity and on-line presence.
It might sound absurd and hypocritical, being a blogger myself I do have a slight aversion to blogging in general. The main question in relation to blogging is why write one, a public blog I mean?

Is it a need for attention, the desperate desire to seek approval wherever one might find it? Is it a mere entrepreneurial endeavour. An attempt to attain the  elusive and highly coveted position of a professional blogger. Somebody who writes a blog for a living and gets free stuff to advertise.
I can only answer for myself. I write a public blog for several reasons.
Most importantly I write a blog because it's a way for me to connect with like minded people. Slovenes are a peculiar nation and there are times when I find that my hobbies and interests and my general view on life philosophy are completely misunderstood. It's for this reason that I chose to write my blog in English.
As for approval, do I seek it? Well of course I do! To some extent. If I didn't I wouldn't be writing a public blog. And anyone claiming otherwise is being dishonest in my opinion.
We all like to see our posts generating lots of comments or at least hits. Every time I log into my account and see I've gained another follower my heart does a little dance :-) I also check my blogger stats on a regular basis to get a sense of which posts generate the most hits and where my readers come from.
That said, at the bottom of all the stats and the popularity is a basic premise of authenticity. I strive to give an honest and realistic portrait of myself and my life.
Though there is a large aspect of my life I keep off the Internet for reasons of privacy whether mine or my family, the things I ultimately share are genuine. I also try to maintain a balance between the flashy and glamorous and the mundane everyday life aspects.

Blogger culture: Dealing with negative comments

Though I am definitely a newbie to blogging, I am by no means unaware of the fact that blogosphere comes with its own set of rules. The one I find most conflicting is the almost complete absence of dissenting opinions. While the words stunning, awesome and cool are a daily feature in the comments section, I rarely see anyone openly oppossing.

Močilnik, source of river Ljubljanica

It's absolutely impossible that this apparent unity of opinion is real. The practice of voting by walking has reached alarming proportions. It would appear no one is willing to rock the boat.

And all is fine and fair in blog land.

In all my time blogging I haven't yet received a negative comment but I am "guilty" of writing dissenting opinions myself. Every time I've written a particularly strong dissenting opinion a flurry of violent and demeaning words ensued with the purpose of ostracizing me. I was shocked and hurt each time.

I grew up in a culture that emphasized the right of opinion and rules of engagement were: you are free to attack the ideas, opinions not the person voicing them. I ventured into blogosphere hoping to connect to different people, discussing our thoughts and ideas openly without fear of verbal conflicts and attacks. Am I being naive?