Blog is Life, Life Blog

Ever since I have made this blog, I sometimes think about during my day what my next update will consist of. I have been blogging since my freshman year of college* when I was introduced to Deadjournal. My initial reaction to my friend having an online diary of sorts was, "Why? Why would you want to put all your shit out in public for strangers to see? Why would strangers want to see your shit?" I signed up and have been blogging ever since. I had an account on Deadjournal (long gone), several different accounts on Livejournal (still have one), a couple on greatestjournal (no more), and a few others.

*Let's just say during my freshman year of college I signed up for a myspace account but deleted it soon after because I didn't understand it, and no one I knew had one anyway. That's how long ago (and not so long ago) that was.

But all of those journals have been pretty...incognito? The various [adj]journal.com communities seem to be their own little worlds. It feels safe. Feels like a club. Or in my case a very jaded, knocked down sorority since I usually only have female journal friends, and they usually bitch a lot (that's not a criticism. I bitch, too. It's what we do). Now my blog home is blogger (no need to link it. You're on it!), and I feel more...exposed? So I actually need to put some more thought into my posts.

So why the post about posts?

I wondered is it better to have too many posts or too little? Where is the happy medium?

I always thought if you post more than once a day, that's overkill. Especially if you write novels each time, and especially if your writing makes people want to claw their eyes out (I should hope mine doesn't. Why would you still be reading?). But then I read that some people don't appreciate it when you don't post every day. Some blogs (not mine...yet...) have very loyal readers who want to read an update during their daily internet adventures.

That makes sense. If you don't post enough, people lose interest or get tired of waiting. We live in very impatient times, people (though our procrastination and laziness say otherwise, but we're all about instant gratification)! If you don't have my mocha ready by the time I walk over to the pick-up area, I'm going to stare you down and tap my foot because it's not about quality, it's about GIMME NOW!

I'm sorry. What was I talking about? Oh, yeah...

I personally read about 25 blogs in total, and that includes friends' blogs, online friends' blogs, blog friends' blogs, famous blogs, and community blogs. So if one of the blogs decides to update with ten updates a day, I learn to skim. If I tend to see nothing of interest, I learn to skip. But like I said, with the flip side of it all, if one of these blogs updates once a month, in some cases it's like a treat once a month ("Hooray! An update from so-and-so!"), or I don't bother checking anymore because I checked for two weeks straight and I'm over you now so thanks for the short time we had together and abandoning me when I needed some entertainment from you the most.

So to reiterate: what is the happy medium? More than once a day is too much. Too much! Unless you're absolutely lovable and hilarious, then blog away. Once a day may still be too much ("I was on vacation! I have to read 14 entries to catch up! You should have taken a break when I did!"), but for most it may be reasonable. Once a week is ok for the readers who do the weekend thing. It's like a television show (though now I watch my shows on DVD. Instant gratification!...Commercial-free instant gratification!). Once a month is only good if your entry is gold (none of that "I'm still alive" bullshit). Once a year...who does that?

So it seems in my not so humble opinion 2-5 entries a week is the best option with only one or two of those entries being essays of epic proportions.

Count the clichés. I am the queen of them.