Changes

I'm going to admit something really lame right now. For a while I was feeling pretty down about this whole blogging deal. Every time I had a post that got no comments I would feel a little sad. I would be bummed if I checked my stats and I had a slow day. (I feel stupid even typing that out.) i would think things like "I would like to do this with my blog but I'm not popular enough." and "I would like to do that with my blog but no one would even read it."

How stupid is that? It finally occurred to me that it doesn't matter how many people are reading my blog. If I want to do something new with it then I should. If I want my blog to be something other than what it is then I have to make it that way and it doesn't matter if I have one reader or one million. I'm not blogging for stats, I'm blogging for myself.

So, with that in mind, I'm going to be making some changes around here.

First off, I'm going to start answering comments. It might not matter to anyone but me but it's always bugged me to not answer comments. So often people leave such kind, funny, helpful words and then I just ..... don't say anything back. It's not because the comments don't matter to me, it's because I've never found a good way to answer them. Bloggers "respond" button doesn't work, email doesn't work. So from now on I'll be responding right in the comments. Don't feel like you have to check back over and over waiting for my witty response. Just know that I am responding because your comments do matter to me.

Second, I'm going to be expanding my blog. I know what you're thinking. I thought the same thing myself. "But Jen! Don't you have like, four readers? And isn't one of them your grandma? Do you really need more content for people to not read?"

Ok, valid points. But shut the hell up and listen for a second. If I'm not blogging about what I want to and what I care about then it really doesn't matter how many readers I have. I want to like what I'm writing about. I want it to be interesting and enjoyable to me. So, here's some stuff I'm planning on adding:

• A cooking section. I'm not a master chef by any means but I do enjoy cooking a great deal. Sometimes I would like to share recipes and I would like for other people to be able to respond with "I tried that recipe and it was really good" or "That recipe made me sick and caused my blood pressure to skyrocket. You should be in jail!"
• A photography section. This is something I've been holding back on for a while. I'm beyond armature when it comes to pictures so I've been a little shy to share my efforts. But I love taking pictures and I think I'm getting better at it. Maybe it's dorky but I want to share that too.
• An artsy-fartsy section. I like to make things (even if I'm not very good at it). I would like to talk about the things I make and the things I would like to try to make.I want to open an Etsy store but that's way off in the future. Right now I don't have the space to create things like I would like too. The only space in the house that's open enough is our dining room table and .... we eat there. So I have to wait until we're in a new house and I have crafting/computer room that I so desire.
• An exercise/getting healthy section. This is largely for my own benefit. I need to get my rear in gear and I think blogging about my attempts will make me more accountable to myself. This will mostly be for my own benefit but anyone who wants to is invited to come along and point and giggle at the fat girl in yoga pants.

So there you have it. A lot of this is a ways off as much of what I want to do requires some site redesign. I need some technical know how. And some time. And maybe a little money. But I really don't have a lot of any of those things right now so I'll have to move slowly.

One final note - A while back I mentioned that I was starting a new blog that was more private. I changed my mind about that. I started it and I didn't like the direction it was going in so I erased it. So if you asked for an invitation to the new blog and you never got it, that's why. I just decided the hurt feelings and upset it could cause if it was discovered just weren't worth it. So that's what happened with that.