Monday, October 3, 2011

My Blog Views

I despise talking on telephones. My husband constantly asks me when I last talked to my dad. And if my daughters' didn't call about once a week, I would mostly likely rarely call them. When a dear friend I've only known on the internet called me for my birthday, I didn't know what to say. I hate talking. But I love expressing myself through words I've typed. And that's why I like blogging.
I enjoy blogging whether for my own blog, group blogs I belong on, or a blog tour.  I like the ability to think about a topic and then write about it and post. It's like e-mail. I can write to someone or respond when I feel like it and have the added comfort of thinking about what I want to say.
Blogging gives me a resource to tap into the knowledge I acquire while writing my books and divulging it in small snippets to generate interest in my books. I enjoy reading others blogs for the same reasons. I like to learn new things. I’m a curious person, but I don’t like to ask questions. Blogs are like mini classes and workshops on a variety of topics.
Blogs aren't a place to write an autobiography. It should reveal snippets of a person's life without becoming a saga.  Some blogs about historic people bore me if they go on and on and on. If I have to roll the scroll wheel on my mouse more than twice, I blast to the bottom and leave a generic comment on a blog.  But that's me. I get tired of my daughters' phone conversation's 15 minutes in and they usually talk for 30- 45 minutes. The subject has to be something I'm completely absorbed in for me to keep reeling down a long post or listen intently for more than 15 minutes.
That's why I try to keep my posts on my own blog to about 500 words or less. I know I’m an impatient blog reader and I figure there are more out there like me.  My guest author days are an exception though I've been known to cut the guests' bios or excerpts shorter than what they sent.
Short and Sweet is my motto and that's how I like to keep my blogs.

Paty
http://www.patyjager.net/
http://www.patyjager.blogspot.com/

8 comments:

Diana McCollum said...

Hi, Patti,
I totally agree how you feel about phone conversations. I have a friend who tends to talk over me, so we really don't have a conversation. We do meet on-line once a week and I love it. I have time to respond to what she is saying.

I don't care for exceptionally long blogs either. It is nice to just have a quick read, learn something and leave a comment.

Paisley Kirkpatrick said...

I agree with you on the 'let's get to the point' type of blog. If it's really long, even if it is interesting, I find that the end I am just skimming.

I am getting better at speaking on the phone, but since my job was answering the calls at work, I tried to avoid phone calls when I got home. I love it when my friends call me unless they go on and on. I cannot understand how people can always have a phone in their ear while walking, driving, etc. Maybe I just don't have that much interesting to say. :)

Sarah Raplee said...

Interesting post, Paty.

I like to hear (or when I can get them to use Skype, hear and see) my friends and relatives over the phone. But everyone's so busy it's hard to coordinate calls.

Messaging and emails slow down the conversations, which is nice. But I miss the vocal nuances, facial expressions, and body language that comprise so much of communication.

As for blogging, like you I enjoy both reading other people's blogs and blogging myself. I always enjoy your posts, Paty

Judith Ashley said...

Guess I'm the "odd-woman out" because I am on the phone a lot. Why? because my best friends don't do emails and two of them don't have and will never have Facebook accounts. Since these three women live out of the area (Southwest Oregon, Ohio and Arizona) if I didn't call them (or they call me) I don't know that our friendships would survive because we see each other sporadically (and up to a couple of years in between for my friends in Ohio and Arizona).

I'm with Sarah in that I like to hear their voices if I can't see their faces (no we don't do Skype because none of them really do computers much at all).

Paty Jager said...

Ah, Diana, I knew we had more than writing in common!

Paisley, I'm glad I'm not alone in the short but sweet blogs. Some that go on and on, I don't even bother to comment.

Sarah, There are a lot of people like you and Judith who like the phone. When we had our cell phones upgraded the clerk tried to convince me that I needed more minutes. I told him to look at my past record and see I never used half of the 300 minutes I had a month. He agreed, I didn't need the extra minutes.

I prefer to let my fingers do the talking. ;)

Judith, Thanks of chiming in. So far we're half an half on the like to talk/prefer to e-mail blog.

Judith Ashley said...

I may prefer email to talking most of the time, but when no one reads or answers - well, they've trained me to call if I want to know what's going on with them.

Tam Linsey said...

I thought I was the only one!! High five, Paty! I think I like the written word more because I can go back and edit what I say before I post / send it. When I have to speak, once it is out of my mouth ... well, lets just say my foot is often in the way.

Terri Molina said...

Great blog, Paty. I think we're cut from the same cloth. ;-)