Sunday Salon 9: Why Do We Blog Survey

Good morning and happy Sunday! Hope everyone's having a great weekend so far. We've finally come into full blown summer in Dallas and I feel like I'm wilting. Don't know what that means for August!

I saw this over at Molly's (Cozy Book Nook) and I couldn't resist doing this little survey for this week's Sunday Salon. I've been thinking about these types of questions a lot lately, so I hope you'll join in and do the survey as well.

Why Do We Blog?

1. How long have you been blogging?

I started blogging in June 2007. I can't believe it has been almost two years! (technically I had a blog in grad school for one of my teaching courses--if you pop over you'll see my last assignment which was a literacy autobiography. Kind of fitting that my last entry there was about reading and this blog is dedicated to reading. Most of the other posts are mostly my woes of teaching freshman English at Texas Tech. Kind of funny to look back on. I should save these posts before they vanish into neverneverland).

2. Why did you start blogging?

I started blogging about reading when I stumbled upon another book blog through Yahoo Book Clubs. I was intrigued that there was this whole other booking world on the Internet. Honestly, I wish I could remember what exactly I thought when I started discovering book blogs. I don't know that I thought I would still be blogging two years later or that this world would become such an important one to me.

3. What have you found to be the benefits of blogging?

Many benefits! I've talked about this a lot lately, so I'll keep it pretty brief (ha! can Trish keep anything brief, you're thinking?)

**Interaction with other readers all over the world. Really, if you guys weren't so awesome, I'm not sure I would still be blogging.

**Record of my reading thoughts. I did this on paper once upon a time, but I got lazy with it. And I can type faster than I can handwrite.

**Challenges! I've always been an eclectic reader, but I've now realized my boundaries are limitless.

4. How many times a week do you post an entry?

I usually end up with two posts a week on average but I think I'd like to be at three a week. Right now I think I'm averaging one Sunday Salon post and one book review. I'd like to get two book reviews up a week, but I haven't been reading that fast. Truthfully, I don't understand the need to post something every day, but I guess if I read faster or if I had something interesting to say I would?

5. How many different blogs do you read on a regular basis?

Right now I am subscribed to 85 blogs in my Google Reader. But about a dozen of these are family and friends and some are just challenge blogs, so maybe 65-70 book blogs. Some I read religiously when I get a spare moment, some I just skim through. I've been subscribing to a lot of blogs lately and then taking some off and resubscribing to more. It's a constant cycle, but I will always have that handful that are my favorites.

6. Do you comment on other people’s blogs?

Yes!! Get ready for a long answer because I am really passionate about commenting. I don't think I'm the best commenter in the world, but I do try really hard. It's tough to keep up with so many blogs, especially when some of these have posts multiple times a day. I'd like to be able to comment on everything but I can't. And you all know I'm really hard on myself about this. I've been a little bit better about my self-guilt lately, especially when I realize that not everyone comments on every one of my posts. It's just impossible to be everywhere all the time. But if I had to guess? I'd say I leave at least 50-100 comments a week? Wow--would be interesting to keep track of this!

Part of what makes blogging so worthwhile for me is the interaction with other bloggers and I get this through commenting, especially when the blogger comments back to my comments as I try to do here on my blog. I've really gotten to know other bloggers through comments and I feel like my personality really comes out in my own comments. Sometimes snarky and sarcastic, usually enthusiastic, mostly interested and caring. I think my posts have become a lot more personal over the past few months and my voice comes out more and more, but I'm still a huge fan of comments--leaving and receiving. Even though we can say that we blog for ourselves, isn't it more fun when blogging becomes a discussion or dialogue between two people who are interested in the same thing?

7. Do you keep track of how many visitors you have?

I do use Google Analytics, but I don't think those stats are really indicative of anything useful. The amount of visitors I receive is pretty constant, dipping a little on Friday and Saturday and spiking a little on Sunday and Monday. My two biggest spikes since keeping track are during the read-a-thon and that ARC post. I don't know how many visitors a "normal" book blog receives a day, so it doesn't really matter to me either way. And most of my visitors are probably random search engine hits. It's funny to me to see my most hit on posts--they are usually the same posts each month and they are older ones. Portrait of a Lady (maybe my first book post and it is awful), A Rumor of War, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Keeping Faith, Snow Country. Interesting, huh? Part of me thinks it's high school students wanting information for papers. Ha! Anyway, this is why I don't put a huge stock in visitors.

8. Do you ever regret a post that you wrote?

No. There have been a few times when I've been reluctant to hit the "publish post" button and a few times when I've gone back to my post and edited things, but I don't regret anything I've posted. Although, I've wondered about some of my comments on other people's blogs. I'm a playful and snarky person by nature and my tone is sometimes misconstrued, when I'm teasing the other blogger. But I think by now most of you know that I'm poking you in the ribs a bit. :) I always wonder if I've offended someone, but I can't worry about it too much. I guess I just have to know that my intentions were good and that's what matters. Right?

9. Do you think your audience has a true sense of who you are based on your blog?

I hope so. I used to be really guarded when I first started blogging, not wanting to get too personal. But as I started getting to know bloggers better, I felt more comfortable letting my personality out a little more. Now I'm full blown rambly Trish like I am in real life. Aren't you sorry! Although my blog is book based, I have talked a lot about myself and while we can't really know know know someone we haven't met and interacted with face to face, I'd like to think that if we met, the dynamics would be the same. In some sense I'm even more me here and in my comments than I am in real life. What? There are no pretenses here. I can be who I am and you can take it or leave it. Doesn't always work that way in real life.

10. Do you blog under your real name?

Yes. When I started my book blog my name was "Bookaholic" but as soon as someone responded to me by that name, I changed it to Trish. I didn't like the anonymity. Maybe it was just the negative connotations of the name.

11. Are there topics that you would never blog about?

Yes. Religion and politics immediately come into mind. But since this is a book blog, I don't have to worry about that. :)

12. What is the theme/topic of your blog?

Um...books?

13. Do you have more than one blog?

Yes. I also have a personal/travel blog but I'm lazy and don't update it often. I still laugh at the thought of someone who writes about books for fun as being lazy. I've thought about doing a blog about working out, but I think I'd be too lazy to update that one too.

**Molly originally did the survey for a teacher Ms. Mazzola--you can leave your meme link over at Ms. Mazzola's original post

On another note, my fingers are getting restless, so I'm gonna make another quilt! I feel like I've kind of reached the big girl leagues with my fancy cutting mat and rotary blade that I got on Lisa's suggestion. My design will be a disappearing nine patch, but I think I picked too many bright colors. Really--I have NO idea what I'm doing! Of course I'll keep you posted. I've thought about doing a Friday feature like Lisa does about In Real Life stuff, but I'm not sure I can commit to another post--especially on Fridays. Hmmmm....