There are certain folk who are very close to me and whom I love very much, who tell me my blog is boring lately. Yeah, Andrew, I mean you!! Evidently recipes, accounts of shopping trips, and toddler anecdotes are not exciting enough. May I ask, what it is you were expecting from a SAHM of 4, one of whom is a newborn?? Because recipes and shopping trips are the stuff of life around here.
Oh yes, and dog barf. Indeed, folks. This evening while my husband dined on delectable choice beef at Ruth’s Chris Steak House (the French were in town, he had to entertain them) I walked into our bedroom to discover a very nasty pile of regurgitated dog food. On the rug. Just as I was about to enjoy my homemade pizza (which, incidently, I WON’T post the recipe for!). Ugh. Anyone want a free dog??
No dog for me, thanks. But I was just thinking the same thing about my blog. Why on earth does anyone care about me losing my checkbook (see http://www.dishmans.net/blog/angie for riveting details). If Andrew was still reading my blog before that, I’m sure he’s a goner by now! Sorry!
I would, however, take the recipe for the homemade pizza…..
I enjoy reading your blog very much, & I assume that others do also (including us SAHM types) because what you post about IS the stuff of life!
Those who feel the need for thrill seeking excitement should consider sky diving or something!
Unbearable; why don’t all the SAHMs in the world gang up on me at once? And what is a SAHM anyway? I’m guessing something along the lines of Stay At Home Mamby-pambies because your feelings get blown up over a little constructive criticism about your blogs.
First of all, I never said I didn’t enjoy toddler anecdotes: if anything, these are the strength of your blog, and should be played up more.
Take “Abigail versus the trampoline”, for example. That entry got eight comments. EIGHT!!! That’s bigtime when it comes to blog writers. In that same vein, Josiah’s five-week update received six comments, another blogging home run.
Second, pictures are good, and can make a particular entry that was otherwise boring into a true winner, but they can suffer from overkill too. In “Back to School” I think I counted four images altogether. They were great pictures, but it stretches the page out so much that you lose the flow of the text and make it feel like we’re reading a novel.
Third, Jay’s theological and exegetical entries are very interesting to read, even if they don’t get a lot of comments. The truth is, the vast majority of your audience doesn’t feel like they have a lot to offer when they read those types of entries, because they say enough on their own — that’s not a bad thing, because people enjoy reading them to broaden their understanding. Besides, the whole “theologia” branch of hornes.org doesn’t receive the attention that it deserves (IMHO) anyway, so any means of connecting the two is a good thing.
Finally, the format, though serviceable, lacks a bit in dynamism. Why not have ten pictures for each sized frame at the top of the page that randomly alternate when the page is loaded? Also, a space that shows new updates (like articles/sermons on theologia) on the main page with links to them would help increase traffic to those parts of the site.
All in all, you’re not running a bad blog, but nobody’s perfect. Hopefully you don’t flip out by reading and cause Sid to go into a convulsion of stress-induced vomiting.
Then again, that would be a pretty good thing to blog about.
“Interesting” and “boring” are totally subjective. I have no illusions about holding the attention of more than a handful of my readers for longer than a millisecond on any given post because sometimes I write about geek stuff, sometimes music, sometimes random thoughts.
House of Horne is one of a very few blogs I read daily. I wish more of our SAHM friends blogged as you do. Keep it up.
Okay, so for some crazy reason, the Comments box is working for me now. I don’t know why!! So now I feel pressured to say something witty and clever, but that’s too complicated so I’ll just say hello! And notice, of course, that I put my comment after one of Tricia’s posts and not one of Jay’s. I can relate more to yours, Tricia!! Now, about that pizza recipe …. I’m in a baking mode, so post it, please! 🙂