Blog-A-Thon

I wasn't going to reveal this until I had finished, but I was outed in comments this morning by "I-66" in his blog, Yeah, So I'm... Earlier this week, I decided to take on a little project of working through every Washington, D.C. blog mentioned in Patrick Thibodeau's blog, DC Blogs. Patrick, aka "KOB," is a well-known figure in the Washington blogging community and it's chief supporter in terms of highlighting the writings of close to 450 people. I told KOB of my plans on Sunday. At the time I made a rather grandiose proclamation that I would do all of the blogs in a 24-hour blogathon. Patrick said, "Are you sure you can manage that?" Well...he knew, didn't he? DC Blogs

I started at midnight on Tuesday night, and whenever I had a spare minute during Wednesday I was hitting the sites by groupings. I didn't stick to KOB's blog ordering as I had initially hoped, because I had to keep making breaks for other things going on in my life. By midnight Wednesday I had actually gotten to my last group, and the biggest: DC Lives. Patrick has that broken down into alphabetical groups, and I started with A. Here it is Friday, and I'm only in the B's. However...I should be done within a day, and I have to say it's proved a fascinating glimpse into the D.C. blogging world.

What you might think the most difficult--dreaming up something to say on 450 blogs, isn't the hard part at all. What is difficult is working with everyone's security codes. There are only a few, luckily, where I was asked to register before I could even comment: the Mayor's blog being one of them. One I wasn't able to enter at all without an owner-assigned password. For the ones who use Blogger.com's word verification-- "Curses," uttered in a Snidley Whiplash voice. On the system I use, every time I stumble on word verification, I have to go over to Firefox's server and enter your blog name, which often doesn't match your blog's given name, and take it from there. Many more steps for me, and it's really been slowing me down.

Initially I was just going to make my comment and depart, but a friend suggested I also leave "Washington Cube Was Here," followed by the number I had worked up to, for example #220. Until I-66 mentioned it this morning, not one person has emailed me and said "Just what is that all about?" Equally appalling, in it's way, is that I've heard back from less than ten of you. Of that group, some kindly wanted to link and some had nice things to say about my blog. It left me wondering if people even watch their blogs, and if so, upon seeing a name not familiar to them, do they bother to go check on that person to see what they are about? Apparently not.




In the past several days I've written about knitting, dogs, insurance, politics, baseball, neighborhoods, cooking, photography, painting, movies, architecture, hockey, football, and interior decorating, to name a few. I've written to Singapore, Moscow, Bangalore, and Manila. Oh yeah, and relationships, relationships, relationships. Some sadly query in their own blogs if anyone is even reading their words, or are they writing to the void. I've read about illnesses, deaths, accidents, and traumas. The quality of the blogs varies, of course, but they've all proven intriguing to realize how many people are compelled to share their thoughts with the world.

If I could say one thing to the blogging community it would be this: Go outside your blogging box. Check and see what other people are writing about. You might be surprised. Don't see "knitting," and think "NEXT!" Any group bound by a category might surprise you. Since I've been there, I can tell you, the given subject is not all that they are writing about. Read the community blogs to get an intimate glimpse into a neighborhood you might not know. And leave comments. I've often wondered myself if I am reaching anyone when I write. I already know I will continue to write, regardless of the comments, but it is nice to hear back from people. I've seen blogs this past week that are slobbering in their slavish praise of the author. Do you people delete the negative? I have to wonder. I discovered one writer who wants to give up, because of the anonymous negative comments being left on her site. She isn't, by the way...just taking a breather.

During my blogathon I left town on my usual trip to Cape Cod in the fall. I'll be here until just before Thanksgiving. I don't really anticipate writing much about the Cape, this being my first blog year here, but we'll see. The picture that I found on Google which I use on my blog profile was chosen because it is very akin to the view I have when I'm here, and it captures the mindset I have of writing out into the void of other bloggers and the internet. I know you're out there people. Keep writing. Keep sharing. Keep exploring...and I'll get back to my "B's." I know I can do this.



.....Washington Cube Was Here. #226