"Nobody cares about your blog"

I saw this exact bumper sticker on a bedraggled vehicle ahead of me the other day. Abby nudged me, sniggering, "Mom. Look at that."

"I don't care about your bumper sticker!" I shook my fist out the window and snarkily shouted to the unknown woman as her vehicle turned the corner out of sight.

There were other stickers affixed to the rear-end of this car, most notably the 01*20*09 sticker and the one that says "LOVE YOUR MOTHER". (Liberals generally speaking are more likely to have bumper stickers on their cars. And why is that?)

I was looking at the vehicular rear-end of a fine liberal, one maybe not unlike my own bad self. And so while on the outside I snickered derisively at the offending sticker along with my kids, on the inside I suffered a wounded pang deep in the hardened tissues of my heart.

This was, after all, one of my people who had taken time out of her busy liberal day (shouldn't she have been off in Haiti innoculating the poor?) to affix the blog bashing bumper sticker to her vehicle. So now, as a victim of liberal elite snobbery, I know just how Sarah Palin feels. I'll probably go rogue on my next post.

What does she know anyway? She probably has never experienced the cathartic thrill of writing something from her heart and then pressing that "Publish Now" button for the first time; or the agony of waiting to see if anyone finds your earnest post; or the guilt associated with getting too busy to post so that your blog becomes stale; or of finding the blog of a kindred spirit and nodding happily about the fact that, yes, there is someone else out there who gets really angry about all those jerks who zoom up in the right hand lane at a traffic light, when they knowthey are going to have to cut you off to merge back into traffic!

No. That woman has probably neither written nor read a good blog.

As a former newspaper reporter, I have seen my writing published before. But for the average Josephine, the world of self-publishing is one of endless possibility, filled with boundless money-making potential, possible fame and fortune and a veritable jet stream of free goods.

Okay that's all bull@#**: most bloggers will earn nil and eat nary a free lunch from this sort of writing. But blogging is fun. Cousin Julie (former reporter, current freelance writer, with a number of books to her name -- and have I mentioned that one is dedicated to moi?) insists the writing she is doing for her blog, Bad Home Cooking ([email protected]) , is the most fulfilling and enjoyable writing she has committed in years.

And then there is my best friend Debbie. She was diagnosed with breast cancer almost exactly three years ago and has taken up blogging ([email protected]) as a way to unload her cancer anxieties and connect with a community of breast cancer survivors. Her last post, a grateful nod to the people who have helped to get Deb through the worst of her treatment, has already elicited eight responses. That's almost more than the number of responses to all of my posts thus far!

For those who would turn their noses skyward scornfully and assert that the average Josephine shouldn't be published because she is not a trained writer or because she has nothing significant to say, I say fie! Reserve your scorn for the true scourge of the literary world -- the tell-all celebrity memoir.

That's what's so cool about blogging. It is for everybody. Like with pornography (xxstream alert!), the blogging naysayers and disapprovers can abstain from participating and keep their traps shut about the rest of us.

The problem is I fear it is too late. A quick Google search of "Nobody cares about your blog" yields a veritable big box store of boxer shorts, t-shirts, mugs and other anti-blog paraphernalia. The blog backlash is already in full swing.

It's the same thing that happened with the Crocs. Humans find something that is functional, fun and, yes, a little dorky and self-indulgent and then it is not too long before the killjoys come along to ruin it all. In the case of the Crocs it is the fashionistas who are spoiling all the fun, by convincing a gullible public that tottering about in spike-heeled shoes that cost $300 makes sense, all while sneering at the most comfortable shoe to hit the foot market since the native American mocassin. Spare me.

Just as Crocs are the enfant terrible of the fashion world, so blogs are fast becoming the ridicule of the cyber world. But they function as an outlet for the writer -- whether accomplished, budding, or just plain "trying". And why should the Philip Roths and the Ian McEwans of the world get to have all the fun?

So listen up bumper sticker lady. I know three people who care about my blog. And I'll be blogging as long as I'm breathing! Or at least until the next TypePad bill comes due and I still have not received any free stuff.

Comments

[tamara niedzolkowkski]

My dear, dear friend...I read it religiously and laugh hysterically or cry empathetically all the while hearing the clarion clear quality of your voice in the cyber wilderness! Love you!
tamara

[Bad Home Cook]

Now stop your whinin' cousine. I read your blog religiously. So does Luke. So do a few other people I know of. You're funny, snarky, and a helluva writer. F*'em if they can't take a joke!!

[Cheap Jordans]

To your blog, I learned a lot! This also is very good!

[Gucci Shoes]

I love blog, because any person can blog in their own feelings and to share things with. But i suppose the blog could only be improved if you posted more often.