I’m feeling very sentimental about blogging after all of your thoughtful and kind comments yesterday.
I started writing online back in 2006. That was the same year that I joined and started participating online for the first time via a message board. If you would have said to me in 2005, that I’d be regularly interacting with people online, via a message board or WORSE! a blog, I’d would have thought you were just trying to annoy me.
All that I knew about blogs at the time was that it was a place where geeks wrote about geeky things. Most blog writers were middle-aged balding dudes, living in their parent’s basements, wearing wife-beater tees. They stayed up all night chatting online about Dungeons and Dragons while eating cheetos and drinking cheap beer.
I’m still certain that type of blogger exists (ha! kidding!), I found that my image of bloggers was way off. In fact, I’ve discovered a group of people that I really identified with and now I can’t imagine NOT interacting with people online. I depend on your support, perspective, and humor.
So back to aught six, I met a local blogger through my message board . Through her blog, I then found a whole world of people interacting online, talking about motherhood and marriage, weight gain and women’s friendships. The very first blogs I read were several of the now defunct Club Mom blogs. Those first blogs that I read were the ones that changed my outlook of blogging and quite literally changed the course of my life. Those blogs were, (since I can’t link to their Club Mom blogs, I’ll link to their personal blogs…) Motherhood Uncensored, All & Sundry, Cheeky Lotus, and So the Fish Said.
Today is Delurking Day, a day where you I encourage you to “delurk” or say “hi,” especially if you don’t normally comment. Yes, it’s a blatant ploy to get comments. I’m okay with that. I know it’s awkward to comment when you really have nothing to say, so I’m asking you to delurk (or just comment as you regularly do!) and tell me, who were your first blog reads?
Delurking Day, hosted by Greeblemonkey and Rude Cactus
I started blogging nine years ago (now I feel old) on a Diaryland blog. All my old cronies from back then are long gone. I’ve had my current blog since 04 and all my original reads have packed up and moved on. The moral of this story? If I read you, you will leave.
.-= Jen´s last blog ..Sorry, I can’t respect you disrespecting me =-.
Oh man, that sounds dire!
I discovered blogging through reading catherine newman’s column on babycenter. I love her writing, and one day she posted a list of her favorite blogs. I followed a link to journeymama.com. Love. Followed links from there, discovered italiantrivia.com, sweet juniper, dooce, swistle, and several others. The rest is history!
.-= Lora´s last blog ..I’ll Try Not To Fret =-.
You’re about the 50th person to mention Catherine Newman. I feel so left out!
The first blog I remember reading is The Unlikely Housewife (Now Globetrotting in Heels) and she’s still one of my favorites.
.-= LZ´s last blog ..Ghosts and my imagination. Did I mention ghosts? =-.
I feel like a jerk, I didn’t even realized her blog had changed.
I don’t recall the first blog I ever read. I mostly read geek blogs before I had kids & discovered Club Mom & other mom type blogs. Motherhood Uncensored was an early one of those though. I played a lot of D&D and ate many Cheetos way into the night prior to 2002. I’ve personally been blogging since 2004 starting with Livejournal.
.-= stacey@Havoc&Mayhem´s last blog ..Chillin’ =-.
My husband loved D & D, too, but he won’t admit it outloud. So I do it for him.
Jennifer,
Hey! I’m de-lurking! I’ve been watching your blog since stumbling upon your “Ode to Dora the Explorer.”
my first blog reads were mainly on livejournal, but I’ve since digressed to blogspot where I sport a few blogs
http://www.freuhauser.blogspot.com (our puppy blog)
http://www.babyschetky.blogspot.com (our “hoping for a baby TTC blog)
and my latest http://www.seejuliarun.blogspot.com (where I talk about my goal to run a marathon this year!)
I was so non-computery back in the day, I didn’t even know what Livejournal was until maybe 2 years ago!
My first ever blog read was Chris/Notes from the Trenches from an article she had published in Good Housekeeping. I still read her…and a few hundred others!
.-= Headless Mom´s last blog ..Delurker Day 2010 =-.
“…and a few hundred others.” Exactly. It’s impossible to keep up with so many great people out there!
I am new to blog reading (as if I needed another distraction) and yours is the first one I became addicted to! I think you’re hilarious in a very ME kind of way… maybe that’s why I enjoy your posts so much?? How vain of me. Thanks for delurking me.
FYI, I found your blog on a link through wordmama.blogspot.com who is someone I know in real life.
Thank you so much, it’s quite a compliment to be told I’m hilarious.
Also thanks for letting me know how you found me!
I started blogging in 2006 when I was pregnant with my first child. The first blog I read was Daring Young Mom, at http://www.daringyoungmom.com
.-= Carrie´s last blog ..Delurker day! =-.
You’re lucky to have found blogs when you were pregnant! I could have used the insight, that I didn’t get until my son was already at least 6 months old.
I first read Dooce and Miss Doxie. Not particularly creative, but there you go. Dooce is now pretty boring (sigh, her life is soooo hard) and since I’m not a mom, those posts got pretty old pretty quickly, but I’m still a loyal Doxie fan and I wish she would post more frequently!!
.-= NGS´s last blog ..The Lie of the Multitasker =-.
I have told several others, but I didn’t know who Dooce was for the longest time.
I started blogging the first time, in 2006 as well. Maybe even the end of 2005. I remember reading your blog back in 2006. Doubt I was any better at commenting then though.
.-= Issa´s last blog ..Will you help me out? I mean it is delurking day after all. =-.
My goal is to be a better commenter in 2010, but so far it’s not going well.
I’m really not sure which blogs I started reading first. I think they were blogs written by women in an online community I was already a member of. They encouraged me to start my own.
I love reading yours!
.-= Joanna´s last blog ..Coming to terms with my cool status =-.
Thank you, Joanna!
awe, you know me.
.-= Mrs. Flinger´s last blog ..The Inner Voice – Mommy Guilt, Family, Work and You =-.
I do know you! I’m a lucky gal. And I think I still owe your $25 for a failed bet back from 2007 when we were encouraging each other to run.
TIS I, TIS I – THE ONE TRUE SUE. COMMENTING ON UR BLOG. EATIN’ UR CHEEZITS.
OH HAPPY DAY.
.-= Sue´s last blog ..And So We’re Back To This Again…. =-.
OH HAI!
(And thanks for the lovely comment on my last post. You can pat my back if you want. It would only be creepy for a second.)
I found Swistle first. Then AndreAnna over at Diary of a Modern Matriarch. That’s how I found you!
.-= Kristin´s last blog ..There are days =-.
Swistle is a great writer, I found her blog through a comment she left on one of the Club Mom blogs I used to read!
Hi, unveiling myself
My first blog reads were How About Orange and Homemade by Jill, both crafting blogs. When I decided I could never do a craft blog, I found I Never Grew Up. And she also changed the course of my life and motivated me to get into blogging myself.
.-= Amber´s last blog ..Music and Emergent Literacy =-.
I look at craft blogs and just ogle, I could never be crafty enough to have something to blog about!
It’s always interesting to read. Blogging has become part of society now. There’s even a newspaper devoted to peoples blogs. Saves the editors tons of writing.
I started getting into blog, especially from mothers when I was researching a project I wanted to do in Grad School. I had been looking at blogs by women dealing with infertility and I was amazed by the support that the women were able to offer each other- even without meeting face to face. That was a few years ago, and now I read lots and lots of blogs, and I definitely always read yours.
.-= Habbala´s last blog ..Delurking Day 2010! =-.
The TTC/infertility/loss community is amazing to me. They are so supportive and encouraging to one another in ways people who haven’t been through the same could be.
Thanks for reading.
I am a lurker! =]
I started reading blogs of people I know, and then I kind of ventured out to design blogs, and then linky linky linky I found a few blogs like yours that I love to read! What you write really inspires me to find my voice… definitely still working on that one!
Hello, Lurker!
I think we’re all always working on our voices. I just keep writing and hoping that each time I hit publish, it sounds like me.
Notes from the Trenches…I think was my first….and yours. I have been reading yours for a long time…but it is just hitting me the way comments can build friendships.
.-= Sarah´s last blog ..Delurking day…. =-.
They definitely build friendships. For me, most of the people I know online are because of comments we’ve left at one another’s sites.
Thanks for pushing me to “de-lurk”! I love your blog, writing, etc. You are so REAl … very refreshing. I think some of my first blogs were Sippy Cups are for Chardonnay, 3 Peanuts, Happy Meals and Happy Hour (just to name a few). But I really started looking at blogs for interior design inpiration. There are so many moms out there that are into design and decorating as well and so I got sucked into all the mommy stuff (my girls are 2 and 9) as well as the design stuff. So I always look at both kinds of blogs. Like now… I should be doing laundry, prepping dinner, etc.
I don’t even remember where I stumbled upon your blog, but I just love it. Thanks for keeping it real.Stay who you are and thanks for writing from the heart. It’s always nice to know that someone likes you for who you are rather than who they “think” you are or project to be.
I really appreciate that you think I’m real…seriously! I am exactly the person off line that I write about online.
I love design blogs, too, but they often make me feel overwhelmed and lacking creativity!
I am a lurker and found you one day when working from home. I have no idea what I did before reading blogs, but I do enjoy your posts on your hubby and kiddos. I think you do a great job!!
Thank you, Monica! I’ll have to tell my husband that you enjoy posts about him. Then again, maybe I shouldn’t, it could go to his head.
Hi, I am a big lurker for the past couple of years, as I had told you before. The first blog I remember reading was milk-inducedcoma.blogspot.com, that of which is also where i was linked to your blog! She is amazing, the remainder blogs that I read besides yours, is all women from a message board of a sperm bank. It has been a tremendous help in my personal life having a group of women to reach out to, that are in similar situations like your own! Please keep writing, I look forward to reading your blog, it always makes me laugh!
Thanks, Alicia. The online community is truly amazing for finding just the area of support you need.
Hello! I love your blog, I’ve been reading for about 2 years now:)
.-= Steph´s last blog ..Whoops =-.
Thanks, Steph! I appreciate that you’ve stuck with me!
Long time no see, J.
Seeing your comment made my day! Glad you’re no longer MIA.
[...] (as you might have guessed) is Delurker day 2010, and (of course) I’d like to find out if there are actually any lurkers [...]
I think yours was one of the first blogs I ever started to read, also my dear friend MEP’s Not to Brag. I wish I were a more loyal commenter, as I know how happy comments make ME feel. Really enjoy reading about your life, appreciate both your sense of humor and your honesty.
MEP is terrific! Love her. It’s funny, I used to be such a loyal commenter, but now since I read most blogs from my phone, it’s a pain to comment. I really want to do better, though.
Delurking! I didn’t even know what a blog was until I ran across a friend’s a couple of years ago. I was instantly hooked and spent most of the time that I nursed my first kid following others blogs and starting up my own. I started off just reading mom blogs but soon discovered crafting and cooking blogs. I love being inspired by all the recipes and neat ideas!
.-= Drea @ Monkey Monkey Underpants´s last blog ..Play Time! =-.
That’s all I did when I was nursing my daughter! When she was ready to eat, I’d make sure to put on Blue’s Clues for my son, get the laptop situated just so, and I’d read blogs as she ate. I kinda miss that!
De-Lurking! I made an account with Xanga, back in 2002 or 2003, and that’s where I really started to see that blogging was fun and entertaining- not just the geeky “chatrooms” on AOL.
I really enjoy reading your adventures- thanks fr sharing!
.-= Sarah´s last blog .. =-.
Thanks Sarah! I haven’t thought about Xanga in awhile. I have a friend who had a blog there, wonder if she still does…
I afraid to admit that I tend to lurk, with the occasional comment. But I’m trying to get better you…get out there a little!
I’ve been blogging a very very very long time…since September 2009. I know…over 4 months now. One of the first blogs I found was Alex over at Whoa-Mumma! and from there I found Connie at The Young and the Relentless and Travis at I Like to Fish.
I wish I could remember where I found you Jennifer, but for the life of me I can not. I tend to clink on the followers or commenters of other blogs…I’m guessing that’s how I found you.
and if I may gush…I love your blog!
Your comment is hilarious! You are such an OLD TIMER!
And thanks for the gushing. I can use all I can get!
Hi dee ho!
Dee lurk ing, even though I comment once in a while.
The name of your blog drew me in all those years ago.
.-= kj @ Where my boys at?´s last blog ..Opposites =-.
This is why I can’t really ever fathom changing my blog name. It is such a blessing and a curse!
gosh…I don’t even know. so the fish said, amalah, dasbecca, state of grace, child’s play x2…those were some of the first I read.
.-= ali´s last blog ..Scavenger. =-.
I think it’s interesting that most of the blogs people started out reading, those blogs are still around and going strong.
When I started my blog in late 2005 I didn’t know there was this whole interconnected web of blogs! I just had a few friends blogs that I read. Then in late 2007 one of them posted a link to someone like BooMama and from there I just kind of found a bunch of other people! It probably saved my sanity being home with a 6 month old when my husband went back to teaching after having the summer off… I didn’t know what to do with myself!
Blogs are some of the best therapy/sanity savers out there!
Notes from the trenches. I don’t remember how I found your blog but I love it. It’s funny because when I first discovered blogs less than a year ago (!) I subscribed to practically everyone I came across. I quickly learned I can’t do that and, you know, have a life. But it can be hard because there are so many great blogs.
.-= Carrie @ Who Knew?´s last blog ..January 13 =-.
You are about the 20th person to mention Notes from the Trenches. Of course I know who she is, but I’ve never read that blog! I know! Crazy.
The very first blog I ever read was Pamie in about 1998. God, I’m old.
.-= Shelly´s last blog ..Announce Yourself! =-.
There were blogs in 1998? Wow. You ARE old.
i started with pioneer woman when i was searching about texas life…then i think it was woulda….then it was yours….
That’s quite a compliment, to be found at PW and Woulda…, thanks!
That was supposed to be found “after”…not “at.” Sheesh.
Hi, I’m Cindy…I read your blog, and I think you’re awesome.
The first blog I read was LalaGirl, now The Real SuperMom.
.-= Cindy´s last blog ..Quite a day =-.
Hi Cindy! Nice to meet you. I already like you a LOT since you think I’m awesome!
I used to just read a couple of blogs from family members, and a really geeky blog by a guy I liked. The first blogs I read for their own sake were probably Dad Gone Mad and Girl’s Gone Child, which I still read regularly. They did indeed introduce me to a whole awesome community of bloggers. Isn’t it great?
Happy Delurking Day! I’ll have to visit more often here. Come by my blog any time you get a chance.
.-= Kimberly Hosey (AZ Writer)´s last blog ..Delurking, morons, bragging and other miscellany =-.
I will! And I’ll do better about checking out your gorgeous photos on Flickr!
I didn’t even know what a blog was until my local paper had small paragraph about a women getting fired because of her blog. Thanks, Dooce!
After that, I got hooked on Fussy, Dad Gone Mad and I am Bossy. I still comment on almost every one of their posts!
You are better than me, I am such a lurker on Bossy’s and Dad Gone Mad’s site. In fact, I think I’ve only commented one time at DGM’s.
Hi Jennifer. I’m delurking today. I started a triathlon blog back in 08 because I needed to fix the social depravation that came from working from home as a software developer. i think I found your blog from the Blogess. love it! i’ve been reading for about a year.
.-= Carolina John´s last blog ..More than a sprint =-.
Thanks! I love hearing how people found this site.
I’ve been reading you for years, but I hardly evr comment. The first blog I read was one of my friends http://www.joclyn.blogspot.com. After that, I think I found Childsplay x2 – my husband was a SAHD at the time and I was trying to get alittle insight into what he was going through. I love your blog and will keep reading it as long as you keep writing.
I wish my husband would try to read some SAHM blogs to get a little insight into my life…and that how I act is totally normal.
I started a blog to share pictures when we moved to Mexico in 2003. I don’t know how I knew about blogs except that I was a Computer Science major in college. I guess I didn’t really read other blogs until recently. Now I am an addict of yours and about ten others.
.-= Alecia, Hoobing Family Adventures´s last blog ..Boy Troubles =-.
It’s easy to get addicted to reading blogs, once you find a few you like, they seem to multiply exponentially.
I started in ’04 and I’m blaming you for something in my post tonight, just so you know. I haven’t written it yet, so this is kind of like when parents make their kids wait in their room while their punishment is discussed, right?
.-= Zoeyjane´s last blog ..On moving on up, part 2 =-.
Oh great. Now I gotta go see what I’ve done now!
I love your blog! I think you are so brave to be honest in a public forum. Your last blog Pep Talk, could have come directly out of my life. The most unbelievable thing is after reading about another with the exact same experience made me feel better. Thanks for helping me, and I hope sharing helped you!
I’m glad it helped, knowing that we all can feel like that. It definitely helped me to just write it and then of course, it was so nice to hear from others who’ve had the same feelings.
Delurking… or should I just say ‘lurking’ since I leave comments every once in awhile?
Either way, glad you said hi!
My online life started in early 2005 with BabyCenter, which I found on the day that I went back to work full time after a six-week maternity leave with my son. (Did that sound bitter? Only a little, I hope.) After a couple years of posting on BabyCenter (and after I’d gone to part time and had my daughter), I found a local site in Nashville that I preferred (that’s now become part of the MomsLikeMe network), and there, someone mentioned Dooce. I read her on and off for a while, but somehow missed that there were so many other bloggers out there. After I became a stay-at-home mom, I found other blogs (like Girl’s Gone Child, who I still read), and then not until I decided to start my own blog this summer did I start reading lots more blogs and start to even comprehend a little the vastness of the blogging community. Apologies for my long-windedness. I read you because you make me laugh and because I feel like I learn from your posts.
.-= Rebecca at Toothwhale´s last blog ..Not ready to give up naps =-.
Thank you, Rebecca.
Sounds like many of us got into blogging after being involved on message boards, I guess it’s the next logical step!
Hi! I think I’ve been really in the blogging world for about 2 years, I blogged occassionally before that, but didn’t really have a reader or anything… not like now. Now if I don’t check my reader for a couple days there are 300+ things and I throw my arms up!
Who were my first reads? That’s a hard one! I think you’ve been in my reader since very early on. Also, Sarcastic Mom, Queen of Shake Shake, Girl’s Gone Child, and one of my fav ladies, Maria at Immoral Matriarch.
Maria is a great writer, she really is able to make a point and make me see things differently.
Blogging is a nice thought ,through this we can share our ideas with others.
well… you were one of my first reads… along with amalah, motherhood uncensored and Attack of the Redneck Mommy.
As for my start in blogging… I had a LiveJournal (ACK) all the way back in 2001, but didn’t start truly blogging until August of 2008 after being very active on the boards at WhattoExpect.com for over a year and wanting a better way to connect and keep friends and family updated.
.-= MommyNamedApril´s last blog ..Flashback Friday! =-.
It is easier to connect through blogs, I think, rather than message boards. Also easier to keep other people up to date.
Jennifer, you are the first blog that I started to read regularly. I only started to read because I herd about this new lady in town and she has a blog. I looked you up and enjoy reading about another mom going though the same things I go though. Now I am also hooked on blogs of parents of quads because I want to know how they do it. So I need to thank you for the 30-60 minutes a day I take to read blogs these days.
I love those kind of blogs, where they have lots of kids…it’s great to see how they do it.
Sure miss being the new lady in that town.
Unoriginally, Dooce. Then Amalah.
(Thank goodness I found your corner of the Internet. You inspired me to go from blondish/brownish hair to dark, dark brown.)
.-= Jennie´s last blog ..You there? =-.
Yay! I’ve not once regretted my dark hair! Glad I was an inspiration!