Nervousness about Readathon
So... here's the thing.
I'm apparently a total ignoramus, and have no idea how readathon works. I mean, sure, I'd heard about cheerleaders, and stuff, but I guess I didn't, like... take that SERIOUSLY. I mean, I figured, I'm in this tidy little out of the way corner of Bloggeria, right? So, maybe I'll get, oh, a few comments here and there from random clickers, but not very many, cheerleader would drop by two or three times, and that would be nice.
Apparently this is not how it works. Amanda tells me to expect, sometimes 20, even 30 comments on my posts on readathon day.
I hope that the very talented and very nice people who organize readathon won't take this wrong, because I really mean this in a nice way, but this SCARES THE LIVING BEJEEZUS OUT OF ME.
20 PEOPLE?!?! ON ONE POST?!?!?! AND PEOPLE I DON'T KNOW?!?!
At least they won't have time to read through the archives. But, even so, I don't know how to write posts that everybody will read. I mean, I know, a blog is public, and it's that way by design. But realistically? There's not very many people reading this (and that is the opposite of a complaint). I have, oh, maybe 10 people I can think of that really ever read this blog, regularly. I like that. I like having a small little circle of acquaintances, it's nice. I've mentioned before, I am not as brave as people like Nymeth, who can write up some beautiful things and know that a jillion people will read it. I'm not brave like that. And the idea that 20 or 30 people who I've never met will come in and read my silly little stupidities at 3:00 in the morning is kind of mind-crippling.
I honestly don't know what to do with it, and have no idea what I'll write on Readathon day, I even had a few panicky moments where I thought about not doing readathon, but I'm committed now, and I don't want to let Amanda, or my charities down. And Amanda reassures me it is fun. An idea which I'm having lots of trouble with, but I trust her, and I'm sure I'll get comments from some of you saying the same thing, but it's still terrifying. Sigh...
9 comments:
20-30 might be exaggerating what I said a bit. In my unknown-at-the-time corner of the blogosphere last April, I got between 5 and 10 comments on most of the posts. Yes, many were from people I didn't know.
I don't think you should worry about who's going to read. Most of your update posts will just be what's going on since your last update, and some stats. You'll be fine. :)
Sorry to scare you though...I guess it's better to be prepared than to have you find out as it happens?
Oh yes, I'm definitely glad I know ahead of time, thank you sweetheart. Don't mind me, I'm just fretting.
I was going to say, 20-30 per post sounds like a lot. ;)
You know, I'm in charge of the cheerleaders. So I could tell them to leave you alone. lol
BUT I'm going to tell you a secret...when I'm cheerleading, I speedread the posts I'm commenting on, and I'm not thinking "Gee, that was horribly written!" I'm thinking: "awesome-they're doing great! I need to leave a comment so I can get to the other 11 blogs I want to visit this hour!"
In other words, I'm more focused on leaving my comment & encouraging a reader than I am on what the post is about!
And I've made some really close friends from people I first met via the read-a-thon! But now that it's so much bigger, I won't have time to revisit readers as much as I used to. So we'll see how it goes. :)
Jason, to absolutely truthful, I don't think ANYONE writes eloquent posts on read-a-thon day. Or for days afterward, as the recovery process takes time. ;) Seriously, most people just update what and how much they've read since their previous update, maybe talk about a mini-challenge they did, stuff like that. Honestly, as a cheerleader, there's not a ton of time to spend reading beautifully written posts anyway, as there's so many people to visit. If were to be writing extravagant, eloquent, sink-your-teeth-into kind of posts on read-a-thon day, you would actually pretty much stick out like a sore thumb. :D
Plus, Jason, your level of writing ability is FAR ABOVE the majority of blogs out there. You seem like the kind of person who may not believe me when I say this, but for real, you don't have anything to worry about. And even though I'm not participating in Readathon, I'm sure that what other people are saying is true - that EVERYONE gets incoherent at 3am, and nobody is reading for quality at that point. It's just a fun activity to all do together. You'll do great!
People like me who appreciate the finely-crafted posts are not going to be around for the readathon posts. One of my rules is never to do blog stuff on the weekends. It preserves some semblance of a family life for the over-scheduled.
Ms Eva - I half thought of asking you that very thing, but I didn't, I suppose you're right, noone will really be READING what I write, which is somewhat comforting :D. Just skimming...
Ms Debi (I almost just wrote Debi, which is weird for me, except when it's a typo... maybe it's a sign!) - My concern is that generally, the tireder I get, the more rambly, sappy, and generally sodden my writing gets... I guess we'll see. But thank you for the encouragement.
Ms Emily - From you, after reading you beautifully worded posts, that is an especial compliment, thank you. :)
Ms Jeanne - Well... as long as I know you won't be reading... I suppose you guys are right, it's not like people are going to closely read it. Thanks!
You are funny!!! It's going to be fantastic and you'll have fun and no one leaves anything but the most fun encouraging comments anyway and now that I finally have your blog in my reader you can say you have 11 readers, lol. (I think you probably have more) And I"m not signing up for your giveaway b/c the thought of any sort of reading terrifies me!
Ms Amy - See, it's weird to me to feel nervous about a tarot reading. So we're even :P. If it makes you feel better, I don't read the future, and I've never predicted a tall, handsome strnager, or a gorey death.
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