The Story Behind the Diner

I'm joining in with Chili for her Tell Your Blogging Story link-a-thon, which we all know is really a ploy to up her traffic, but hey, it works for me. Plus, I'd like to find out more about we all came into existence, other than from God, that is...

• How did you start blogging?

My blogging started like this: A friend at church sent me a link to Antique Mommy. This said person happened to be related to my friend in some distant sort of way: she was her fourteenth cousin on her mother's side, twice removed... or something like that. Anyway, I read one of her posts that made me laugh out loud and I felt compelled to get up the nerve to say something to her, but being the blog idiot I was, I had fill out all sorts of stuff to say anything to her and I thought, "If it's this much work to comment everytime, then I don't think I have the time for it!" As it turned out, I was, unbeknowst to me, creating a blog the entire time. And the reason I had to create a blog? Well because AM had clicked "No Anonymous Comments" which lead me through the ordeal of creating a blog just so I could say, "You're hilarious." Yeah. Two months later, I got up the gumption to post this. Who's sorry now, huh? Huh?

• Did you intend to be a blog w/a following? If so, how did you go about it?

Following? A following? That's like saying I intended for someone besides my family to actually read my drivel! Ummm, so the answer is no. I'm not sure I even have a following now, with my crappy posting and such. I'd love to be another Antique Mommy, Shannon, Boomama, Daring Young Mom (a real, live TV star!) or Big Mama, but really, I'm no where near as gifted as those ladies, and I just couldn't stand under the pressure to be a perfect writer and look so darn beautiful all the time. I'm just a diner owner in a ponytail, with a new tagline: Serving the same slop everyday. (Did that one make you smile Jeana?)

• What do you hope to achieve or accomplish with your blog? Have you been successful? If not, do you have a plan to achieve those goals?

You mean this blog is supposed to have a purpose?! I totally missed the memo on that one... I guess if I had any kind of purpose, it would be to show the family members what's going on with us and to make friends. But since I don't think anyone in the family except Mr. Right, who of course is living the blog and knows that I'll ask him what he thought about it anyway, and occassionally my sis-in-awe or my parents might read - but I wouldn't know really, would I, because they rarely comment, not that I think that commenting is the ultimate end goal for them to read this post or is important to me in any way, shape or form or even to leave the occassional "hey, you suck but your kids are cute" comments... Ummm, where was I? I do, however, feel that I've definitely succeeded on the friends portion of my purpose. I look forward to talking with you and knowing what strikes you as funny and why makes you cry and how bad your days get and what made you smile. I love the comraderie that we all have and the fun that occurs in the comment sections and later maybe even on the phone.

• Has the focus of your blog changed since you started blogging? How?

I'm more of the "out of focus" type blogger. I'm usually have no set themes, unless of course you include the "WFMW" stuff - which is really all Shannon, the recipes - which is really kudoing to Barb, the Memes - which are from everybody (Oiy! I just remembered that I still owe memes to Chili and Susanne!) and the emails that I send to my IT department. Okay, those IT posts are all mine. But I can't run a blog on IT requests alone, so I try to throw in fun things like family times, birthday and random pictures of my cute kids. Yes, I do succumb to the "Awww" factor once in a while. You never know what you're going to get when you come my way.

• What do you know now that you wish you'd known when you started?

That Mr. Right would loose his job a month after buying our house, that I would become so much more faithful through trials, that I would enjoy the reading my Bible as much as I do, that I would love my kids so much that I could send them away for months at a time so that they can enjoy other family members, that I could have made a killing in the stockmarket if I had purchased... Oh, you mean about blogging! Oh, I wish I had known how time consuming it can be/addictive, and I really wish I had thought up the WFMW idea. I could have been Shannon - the most well-loved, stinking smart blogger I know. I also wish I could figure out how to be a reviewer so that I could get really cool things like a Nano, books, or neat gadgets to use around the house. Yeah, that would have been cool to have known before hand... And how much I look forward to the comments. Comments sometimes just totally make my day. So talk to me peeps! I won't bite, I promise... well, not hard anyway, not enough to leave a mark... maybe just a playful nip here or there...

• Do you make money with your blog?

Yes, but just a little bit. I do have the BizRate add off to the right. It's not going to bring me anything I can live on, but it definitely has supported my book habit! I would consider doing other advertisements, but I would be very selective in which I might choose. And as Chili said, "I will gladly thank and link to anyone who would like to extend an invite to me to do BlogAds. Everyone I know who does it doesn't have any invites. I would love to try BlogAds. Besides, don't you get a cut of my profits? Win-Win!" Yeah, what she said.

• Does your immediate or extended family know about your blog? If so, do they read it? If not, why?

See above. They all know about it, but I don't think they all read it. They may read occasionally just to see that we're alive. My dad just told me yesterday that he's way behind (due to travel and work, but he's trying to get caught up. And honestly, I'm not going to beg them to read it. I want it to be something they choose to do rather than something that they feel obligated to do. It kind of takes the fun out of it when I know I'm guilting someone into reading the blog.

• What two pieces of advice would you give to a new blogger?

1. Don't measure yourself up to anyone else. You're you, with your own style and presence and that shows in your posts. Enjoy your blog, make it your own and have fun.
2. Pace yourself. Blog regularly. And lastly, set a time limit to blogging and stick to it or else you may find yourself looking at a clock saying, where have the last 8 hours gone!
3. Read me. (Hey you knew I was going to say that... I am entirely self-centered in case you haven't figured that one out yet.)