Momma Mia, Mea Culpa

Okay, um I thought I was the only one who felt this way, but after spending a few hours on mybloglog last night searching for something, anything, that is non celebrity related (even though I do enjoy a good ol’ celeb-smackdown now and again it is beginning to get old. The over glorified “enquiring minds want to know” style of writing and delivering the out of control celebrity watches, photos, and stories are just annoying already.) I’m even considering an overhaul of my sidebar links to delete a lot of that crap.

I was looking for blogs that are writer related, full of valuable content, or at best a good story. What can I say; I am hungry for a good read. I came across a few (and far between) blogs by writers for writers.

I found one awesome blogger that I did not have time to book mark, link, or join the community because my phone rang, cutting into my wireless connection, kicking me off the net, and now, for the life of me I can not find that freeking blog, person, or page…DAMN IT.

Who ever wrote that blog was able to articulate exactly what I have been thinking for the last few days. I really wish I could put that link here. I will never be able to convey the same message with any sort of dignity. Sigh.

Anyway, after I read that blog, having identified 100% with what they said, I feel the need to bitch a little bit myself.

I don’t really know when? Or why? Or how? But lately it seems to me that the blogosphere has kind of steered away from being a form of an online journal, with intimate, interesting, funny, and touching stories from people’s lives, or, as a means to relate valuable finds and new information to other people. Blogging is looking more and more like it has turned into what I can only say resembles a bunch of really bad get rich quick schemes.

Damn near every blog I have come across lately are full of “how to get rich blogging” “how to be a better blogger” “how to make google ads work for you” “write for this or that and get paid” …and so on. Some of these blogs are full of promises like being able to quit your day job and blah blah fucking blah.

Now, I know there are plenty of blogs that have generated enough revenue for the authors (lucky bastards) of these sites that can, and do, quit their jobs. I’d love to be one of them someday. But, how do I become one of those people? And how do I become one of those people, while keeping a modicum of dignity without a website that looks like fucking panhandling.

I can’t stand the over bearing Ads, blinking widgets, and the incessant “get better stats” “increase your traffic, and revenue here” that shit drives me crazy. Is that what I have to do to my page to make a few bucks? Say it isn’t so!

There is so much of that floating around out here that I almost feel obligated to partake. Like, maybe my blog isn’t a ‘real blog’ because I don’t have 75,861 widgets, and this blog is AD FREE. Maybe, I should run Ads here? Lots of people that I enjoy reading on a daily basis run Ads. In fact two of my FAVORITE bloggers, AMALAH and ROCK STAR MOMMY run Ads on their sites. For some reason the Ads on their sites don’t irritate me to the point of wanting to poke my own eyes out. I think that has a lot to do with the gift and genuine talent for writing they posses. The content on their pages far outweighs the Ad’s in the sidebars.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I would loooooooove to make a living writing. Believe you me, my paycheck is nothing short of sad. Even after devoting 5 years of hard labor, and even though I have paid my dues bitches, I am still paid like I am comming out of the starting gate. But I don’t write this blog to get rich. I write this blog, because I have to write. Just to fucking write. Most of the time, I write a bit of crap, my random, incoherent thoughts that never seem to connect. But, if I manage to string together a bunch of words into a sentence and tell a funny story now and again, great. One day, if I am able to make a living for doing just that…. than even better.

Another thing that has my head spinning is that even if I did want to “get rich blogging” I still can’t tell what sites are for real, and which ones are pure scams. I still very much consider myself a newbie in this field. Plus12 hours of my day is devoted to commuting and a fulltime job, so I don’t have the kind of time I need to thoroughly research a lot of these so called help a writer out blogs.

On top of having hard time trying to decipher what can be trusted and what is total bullshit, I am so unsure of the correct blogetiquette. Thankfully I have BLOG! BLOG! to help me learn some of the do’s and don’ts. (for real, a lot of people on the internet could really use the advice and knowledge being handed out over there.)

And one more truly annoying thing, I understand that people want increased traffic to come to their blogs, so more readers might click on the Ads, to make the all mighty dollar, but some of the profiles are so….. um, whoreish. Yeah, sure I could slap up a bunch of whoreriffic pictures up to get people over to my site too, but I just don’t want that kind of attention. Has part of the blogosphere gone go-go?

I have only had this blog for about a year; fortunately I am lucky enough to have an honest, experienced, real life friend that I can trust to point me in the right direction. Because of her, I was able to snag a real free lance writing position as a result. I wasn’t subject to a scam. (so far) But it is hard out here, with all the new blogs popping up every day.

I wish there were at least some pop-up warning signs on blogs:

“Don’t look directly into the sidebar; your cornea will burst into flames”

“Dood! We will steal all of your words and take all of your ideas too”

“Hey, click this for some cool viruses”

“We are crooked liars, but you won’t find that out till we hijack your soul”

Anyway, maybe BLAUGH has a crafty comic to summarize my latest blogging experience! I am sooo addicted to them right now.

Besides I have to go surf the net for some widgets now, just to jam up my page.