Thoughts on Blogging

Happy Wednesday readers! So today I'm doing something a little different with Ten Things Wednesday. A little serious. A lot real.

I read a LOT of blogs. 100+ a day. I read a lot of things that make me smile, make me want to be a better blogger, make me cringe. To the latter, I want to provide my thoughts on a bunch of blogging "hot topics." Bear in mind that these are only my personal philosophies on how I choose to blog. There is bound to be people that will disagree, but the beauty of blogging is that it is purely subjective. So, without further ado...

- Why I don't post pictures of every single thing I eat: First of all, I don't post pictures of everything I eat because frankly, you would get bored. I tend to eat a lot of the same things over and over again. Plus I have zero desire to open up my diet to scrutiny from others. Some days I eat too much (actually, most days). Some days I don't eat enough (like once a year).

- Why I don't post three times a day: Again, this would get boring. The bloggers that post three times a day frequently have NOTHING interesting to write about (hence why they post everything they eat because that's all they have time to do). I want to keep things new and interesting for my readers without overloading their Google Readers.

 - On Privacy: This is common sense in the blog world. Not that I think I'm hot or important enough to have someone be obsessed with me, but stranger things have happened. This is why I don't post my address, phone number, where I work, or last name. However, if you're job is social networking, etc. than obviously it's perfectly acceptable to list your job and last name...but for us regular Janes, there's no point.

 - On Responsibility: I never paint myself as an expert. I never even give advice. I tell you what I do and what has worked for me. That being said, a lot of "healthy living bloggers" encourage very unhealthy habits, whether they are meaning to or not is a different story, but I believe in reading your post after you've written it as an outsider would read it and consider if perhaps you are sending a bad message.

 - Why I don't post on the weekends: As much as I love this blog (and you guys!) I also love my "me" time. I don't blog on the weekends because I actually enjoy living my life, spending time with my friends and boyfriend, and don't want to have my life revolve around my blog.

 - Things you will never see me do on this blog:

• Post pictures of my furniture - In all honesty, who really wants to see pictures of my furniture or go on a video tour of my apartment?
• Post pictures of myself in a bathing suit - Nothing good can come of this. Good for you if you have a rocking body, but posting pictures of yourself in a bathing suit is nothing short of narcissistic and tacky. Don't fish for compliments from your readers. It's shameless and unnecessary.
• Post multiple pictures of myself in one post - I don't like to add fluff to my posts, and posting multiple self portraits is exactly that...fluff to add bulk and length to a post. In conjunction with this, if I do happen to post pictures of myself, I promise to never be making weird faces to convey emotion. I'm a big girl and can use my words.
• Outfit posts (unless in jest). If I wanted to post pictures of my outfits, I would start a fashion blog. Plus, I don't have the fashion sense that a fashion blogger is required to have. A few other bloggers should take note of this.

- On giving credit: If I use ANYTHING from someone else's blog, I link to it. Period. If I get an idea from a conversation I've had with someone, or something I read by them, I link to them. Period. Using someone else's idea (even if it's just your question of the day), is stealing.

- On censorship: To some degree I have to censor my blog (i.e. don't talk about X rated things, keep swearing to a minimum even though sometimes I just have to do it, don't tell stories about my friends, etc.) That being said, I try to be as real with you guys as I can and give you the inside track on my life as much as possible. I like my readers to know I'm a real person, not a robot, and my life is far from perfect. The portrayal of the perfect life in the blogosphere is not just irritating, but I also feel that as a blogger, portraying your life as perfect (or with fake, tiny little problems only) leads to a disconnect and lack of relatability to readers. Rest assured that if I was ever able to work from home on a daily basis, you bet your ass that I would never complain about it.

What are your thoughts on blogging?