Writing by Ear

A friend of mine recently added Writing by Ear to her “blogroll” — a list of blogs and sites she likes to visit. I’m flattered and have been wanting to return the favor, especially because I read her blog, Melmoirs, all the time. Hers is one of only two blogs I read regularly (the other one, One Woman Show, is by an acquaintance I met once at the writer’s group I belong to).

Since two doesn’t make much of a blogroll, I decided to see if there were others out there I liked enough to visit regularly. First, I searched for topics I’m interested in.

I love cottage decor — and so do lots of other people — but not one of the blogs I looked at made me want to come back again. A couple had music I couldn’t turn off, which turned me off. A couple had pictures of the writer’s 5 or 6 cats — I love cats, we have 2, but not when it borders on crazy-cat-lady-ness. A few had very flowery, victoriana kinds of things, many, many sites about scrapbooking, pictures of various projects around the house; they just didn’t hold my interest.

I tried searching out gardening blogs; still haven’t found a favorite. Sad truth: Seeing other people’s beautiful gardens makes me feel a little jealous, rather than inspired. I need to get mine a little farther along before I can enjoy looking at someone else’s successes.

Speaking of, I know a couple of “professional” sites (HGTV and Better Homes & Gardens) let you upload pictures of your rooms/decor at home and get other viewers’ feedback or ratings. I can’t think of anything I want to do less! Like I don’t get enough critique of my professional work every day, I need perfect strangers critiquing my house too?! I looked at a few of these — nobody ever seems to say, “Beautiful” or “Great job.” It’s always, “The color is wrong,” “The blah-de-blah is too big or small,” “Did you think about doing….” Everyone is a designer/critic. (Thank you sir, may I have another?)

Anyway, back to the blogs. I did a random search next, which my blog host, WordPress, makes really easy: Click a button and it will randomly pull up blogs — one after another, endlessly. Very interesting! Among the randoms…

• Student blogs, most of which started with, “Yes, I should be studying….”
• Knitting blogs, lots of ’em. I know this is a hot, hot hobby. My niece makes really beautiful things. But, not something I do, so moving on…
• A fashion blog from a teen or young 20-something where she showed pictures of herself in her outfit du jour.
• Japanese animé blogs — I’d see those big-eyed kids and that was enough, so too with the fantasy gamer sites.
• Moms-wanting-to-connect-blogs (who can blame them!). I can sympathize (I have lots of friends with young kids), but not really something I’d seek out regularly.
• A woman battling bipolar syndrome (made me say a quick, “thank you, God”).
• Same with the woman battling cancer.
• Family blogs, clearly only of interest to a select few, and that’s OK!
• Blogs I didn’t stay on long enough to find out what they were about because the first sentence or two was peppered with a WTF or other f%#$-ing reference. Get a vocabulary! 
• A student/aerial performer (I saw pictures of her Cirque du Soleil-like shows).
• Somthing called “Teen News Network,” which seemed to have regular news stories (not sure what was “teen” about it, except the name. Maybe a case of “know your niche?”)

So, out of my quick, half-hour search, I didn’t find anything. It makes me a little worried. Am I too boring? Too narrow-minded? Too judgmental? Not interested in enough? 

I’ll keep looking. Of the 60 million blogs out there, there has to be something. I just haven’t hit upon any kindred spirits yet.

Or maybe the key is I have to know the person to feel connected (I know the vast majority of the people who read my blog know me). So, friends and family, how ’bout starting up your own blogs, so I can have more favorites to read (and add to my blogroll)!?

After all, when you come right down to it,
how many people speak the same language
even when they speak the same language?
                                     ~ Russell Hoban