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February 25, 2009

Pied Piper

I'm flabbergasted a little surprised.

Come on people. Be for real.

I have been a bitch on wheels haven't been feeling too great for the last couple of days. For the bits of time that I wasn't hiding under the covers in bed I was parked in front of the computer.
Reading blogs.
I saw that I lost a follower.
Then I read a post saying "OMG I LOST 46 FOLLOWERS"
And another "WAS IT SOMETHING I SAID"

Followed by "COME BACK, COME BACK I MISS YOU ALL"
It was the Google Flu, people. Google was "adjusting" something somewhere in their Technical Batcave. No Followers were lost, they just got shuffled into the wrong bus line for awhile.
Google should apologize for damaging the psyche of so many bloggers in so little time.
Some of the "I've Lost My Followers" posts were tongue-in-cheek.
Some were sincere.
Some promised never to say "faux" again.
Some said "faux-ity faux faux."
Just A Reminder: Blogging is NOT a popularity contest.
Blogging IS all about you.
It's whatever you want it to be.
It's in your words.
It's in your time. Don't apologize for being a "bad blogger"

Blogging is not meant for you to feel inadequate, or all-powerful, or smart or stupid.
Blogging is a release. It's a place to vent. Or share. Or make wisecracks about your sisters. because you love them.
It's a tool, people.




Love Yourself Just The Way You Are.

Embrace who you are right now, help another woman love herself too. Life is too short, time is too precious. Let's wear our hearts on our feet, put on your red shoes and walk with your head held high!

Liberty Post and the lady in Red Shoes would like you to share the RedShoe Love-a-thon. If you'd like to join in, add the photo to your sidebar.

P.S. I'm still following you.


69 comments:

Kori said...

I seriously thought for a little bit that I was being blackballed. unitl April told me that SHE thought SHE was blackballed-peopel aren't hanging around the blogworld as much as they were awhile back, and it will either pick up or not. Though I will write anyway, I AM a little but disappointed that my traffic is down-I am up to a whole .64 cents on AdSense, and I was trying to make it to a dollar. HA!

Liz Harrell said...

Amen to this post! Blogging is SO a release, thank goodness for it! I was blogging happily back when I had 2 followers. :)

♥ Boomer ♥ said...

Blogger is so slow lately! I almost gave up just then waiting to leave a comment...kept saying 'waiting for blogger....'

I've read that there was bloggerflu...oh, well. At least I'm here! ;-)

Unknown said...

When I started blogging, I got excited to see followers only because it let me know that what I was writing we being read. At this point, I am not out for a huge amount of bloggers but if they come, that's great too.

Feel better soon.

life in red shoes said...

Bless your ever lovin' heart! Are you waering red shoes???

Debz said...

Damn that Google!! I spent the better half of the day curled up in the fetal position in the corner.

NOT! But I did leave bread crumbs so my errant followers could find their way back if need be.

nikkicrumpet said...

I had several people email and ask me if they had said something to offend me. It made me feel so bad that people that I was "unfollowing". I think I lost some too but I'm not completely sure where I was before all this started. I'm just happy if somebody shows up and listens to my tripe. I love my invisible friends!

binks said...

That IS so true.

I am glad, however, that I missed all the drama of the Googled mess.

Alpacamountain said...

Your so awesome! I really needed to hear that. I get to feeling bad because I'm not like a lot of the other bloggers that have 200 followers but I have decided that I have as many as I can handle...that's it. Only my favorites.

Rudee said...

How did I miss this post? Damn that blogger is annoying. I think blogger changed the follower gadget this week. Must have bit them.

Tess Kincaid said...

I totally agree! I lost nearly 30 followers and I DID think it was something I said. Very damaging, indeed. And they haven't come back, either!

I think it had something to do with anonymous followers not being counted in the total. Oh well.

♥ Boomer ♥ said...

Hey, come on over and post a comment. I'm having a little giveaway to celebrate 100. And wear your red shoes!

Justine said...

Hey there! Just noticed you're a new follower on my blog, so I had to come over and check ya out. Loved the post, and can't wait to really look at all the pics on your sidebar. I've gotta do that one of these days!
Okay, if we wear our heart on our feet, aren't we going to squish it with the red shoes?

Justine :o )

Mammatalk said...

Great post! Good reminder!

Mammatalk said...

Great post! Good reminder!

Mammatalk said...

Great post! Good reminder!

Suzie said...

I agree but I freaked when I lost my followers too. I am shallow I admit it.BUt at least I can embrase that

Snooty Primadona said...

Excellent blog post! Last week I was thinking I was so bad for not visiting everyones blogs & commenting. After my recovery from the head-filled-with-green-snot & then the barking bronchitis, it seems that somewhere along the way I decided to screw it. I'm going to be me whether anyone likes it or not. Translation: I'm cussing in full force on my blog again, lol.

I didn't get too upset about the few bloggers I lost. I figured they must have been Puritans... I don't need that kind of reader anyway.

;-)

Anonymous said...

I stumbled upon your blog and nearly fell over the red shoes.

Pearl said...

You're right, of course. There have been times that I have to sit back and think, now why am I blogging?
And then I remember: I'm not blogging. I'm writing. And I'm writing because I truly enjoy doing so.
Pearl

Hippie Family... said...

too cute.. I thought I lost people too.. speaking of flus. there were so many going around my house I thought I lost followers AND my mind!

Suzy said...

I'm blogging to find a rich man. It's not working.

Laura Marchant said...

Seriously blogging is the only thing that keeps me sane when I am home with the kids all day.

Susan said...

Holy crap! Thanks for visiting again... do you remember WAY back I tried to link to you but kept getting error messages - I think I emailed. It started happening with a bunch and I just learned I had to delete ad softeware links and now I'm FREE!! So today, I'm a new follower for you. Can't wait to catch up.

Midlife, menopause, mistakes and random stuff... said...

What a great blog......I'll definately be back.

Steady On
Reggie Girl

life in red shoes said...

Hey! Where in the heck are you, painting Easter colored stars?!?
Get back here RIGHT NOW!

Debz said...

*knock*knock*knock*
Anybody there?

It's been almost a month. Come back to us. Even Aunt Flo comes to visit at least ONCE a month.

Girl in Carolina said...

Um, you cannot lose me as a follower. i will hunt and track you down like the stalker that I am! he he

Thanks for the birthday love!

Woman in a Window said...

I like this. To hell with the numbers and all that. Heart on sleeve and honesty to boot. What else is there? (thanks for following me...came by to see who you were.)

Unknown said...

I have missed you soooooo much!!!!! I promise to do a barn star post soon I am so far behind on peeps i need to thank and catching up on others blogs yiyiyiyi

I hope you didnt loose me I will go check and make sure I am still a follower right now...I know blogger had issues when they switched to the google friend thingy

Hilary said...

Thanks for visiting my blog.....thus directing me to yours, which I have much enjoyed reading.......you are so right....blog because you have something to share, because you feel like it, because you enjoy it, not because you are in a contest, because you aren't.and oh, yes, life is too short.
thanks.

Unknown said...

Thank you for your sweet comment... & yes, I do feel much better throwing up all over my blog! : ) LOL... I'll keep everyone updated... Thanks again!

(Sometimes!) Serendipitous Girl said...

Ok, I might have to make out with Marlene a little for sending all of you fun peeps my way! Thanks so much for stopping by tonight!

Oh yes ... and WHATEVER you decide to do with the elephant penis is your freezer is between you and it. No one needs to know about it unless you want to share.

Frizzy said...

Isn't it crazy how we all started blogging for ourselves but quickly get sucked into worrying what others think? Will we ever escape our internal desire to be liked? It's a struggle I fight all the time! Love your honesty and reminder of why we really started this in the first place!

In addition, thanks for your suggestions on my guest room. I will try to find more ways to layer through pillows or more material. I'm going to paruse (sp) some paint swatches to run by my landlord in hopes she'll approve. As for a throw rug and/or bench at the foot of the bed, there isn't room for either. I have about 2-21/2 feet available on all sides of the bed. Makes for little walking let alone wiggle room.;) Thanks for your help!

T said...

Your site is hysterical! I'm going to enjoy stopping in often!

Missy said...

Stumble upon your blog, I stumble a lot, and love it! Great post! I am one of those panicky bloggers who freak when I lose a follower! But, you really put in to perspective! Did i spell that correctly? LOL

Susan said...

Uh, I was wondering if I had the wrong blog address set for updates from you... WHAT HAPPENED??? Come BACK to bloggy world!!

Hah... I'm heading BACK to full time work in 2.5 weeks. I'll be joining you in long term absences soon. Seriously though, I Hope all is ok??!!

And PS... I seriously didn't know what I was getting into one late night commenting uncontrollably when I came across the review site Ask and Ye Shall REceive. I submitted before I ever even read stuff. I thought about emailing and asking to remove my submission, but then I thought they'd bake my ass even more.

sigh.

to hell i go.

Ash said...

Where are you!?(echo...echo...echo...)

Hope all is well!! E

Mrs4444 said...

I agree with you. You will never find me apologizing for a post. Also, I'm not so self-absorbed that I believe people live and breathe to read my blog every day; some might miss me, yes (wonder if I'm okay), but to think that most would be anything less than grateful to have one less blog in the reader that day would be deluding myself :) Loved the tone of this post.

P.S. Thanks for the birthday wish! :)

Idabel Oklahoma said...

At least you get comments. We're gonna have to start blackmailing the relatives to leave us some,, so we don't look like LOSERS!

Girl in Carolina said...

Now don't make me come after you again. I make good on my threats. I mean promises. Hee Hee.

CA moosie said...

Dear Mom,
Please start blogging again! You're good at it..I know you're busy but make time to do things for yourself.

Love,
CA Moosie

Country Girl said...

Loved this post.
Whenever I lose a follower, I think the same thing! And whenever I gain a follower, I think "what are they thinking following my little blog".
I'm strange.

♥ Boomer ♥ said...

Come back!!

Lorrie Veasey said...

Just popping by (nice place ya have here by the way) to let you know that Jane! from Emptying The Nest will be guest blogging tomorrow--and I know you will have missed her as much as I have.
Her guest post will be here:
www.ournameisblog.blogspot.com
please come and say hello to her-maybe we can get her to come back like blogging. Kind of like bringing a box of wine to the intervention.

scargosun said...

Do you know how much I needed to read EXACTLY what you wrote today? :)

Evansmom said...

This made me smile so I decided to become a new follower! I look forward to reading your blog in the future!

Girl in Carolina said...

Woman, we need an update!!! =) Hope you are doing well..thanks for keeping up with me and still reading my blog! Life is frickin crazy sometimes, isn't it??

Mariah said...

Well said, who cares if you lose a follower or 20 it's about YOU and your life and writing and making friends...

Jody Blue said...

You hit the nail on the head!

Andrew Thornton said...

I'd have to agree with a lot you've written about blogging. I've known quite a few folks who cater to their audience instead of making true, genuine expressions from their heart. It's not necessarily a bad thing... everyone comes at it in different ways. It's just that the audience is a fickle thing and it's a lot harder to keep hundreds of people happy instead of just one person... yourself.

Thank you for your insights!

Pseudo said...

Thanks for stopping by my blog yesterday. And I remember when this happened with the follower stuff.

Girl in Carolina said...

I'm so glad you are still around~ Your comments always make me smile (or laugh!) You need to get on twitter so we can stalk, I mean follow you!!

Unknown said...

i miss you! are you coming back to blogging or do you have a new home i don know about?

cindy@cottage instincts said...

Fabulous. Great reminder...although i wasn't aware there was a screw up with the follower thing, and if I'd noticed, I'd have prolly freaked a bit. I find myself laying in bed going, what the hell? Why do I worry over getting followers? As if i'm not peachy-keen happy just to have a place to record my adventures and have fun reading other's adventures. *sigh*
peace.

Girl in Carolina said...

Woman, you always make me laugh! You need to update us soon! :)

Miss Mustard Seed said...

Cute post! It is easy to get caught up in how many followers I have and I probably would've freaked out a bit if I noticed a chunk of them were missing. This is a funny reminder to stay grounded in the blog world.

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Girl in Carolina said...

Oh bloggy friend! Hugs. Update us soon!! xoxo to you!

Country Girl said...

Loved this post.

(blogger is the devil, you know).

spindrift,maine said...

first visit, back at ya! you are one funny woman. I'll be back, for sure.

As I am a new blogger, I particularly appreciate your comments about what blogging is, and isn't. I am still in the "it's for me" stage, but today I got a bunch of new readers, so it is a good time to remind myself of the fact that blogs are not popularity contests, but a place to do what you set out to do. ;o)

ethelmaepotter! said...

I don't know how you stumbled upon my blog, but I'm so happy you did, as it gave me an excuse to visit you!

Yes, I agree, blogging is a release, a break from reality, therapy even. In the beginning, I didn't even KNOW about followers - I just wrote. Then I became OBSESSED with followers. I've lost 2, and still worry about why they left. One I didn't even know - I checked my blog one day and my number had increased by one and the next day, that number was down one.

So, you're right - just blog and be happy about what you write.

For a long time, I made the mistake of trying to visit everyone on my list every time they posted - and there simply weren't enough hours in the day. Now I try to break my list up - I'll visit A - H this week, etc.

Still spending waaaay too much time on the computer. But reading other blogs makes for better writing, too. And THAT is what I'm doing now - trying to improve my writing skills. And I enjoy it.

So there.

By the way, you cats are beautiful. Ollie looks like my Spooky (who writes for me when I'm on vacation or just too tired) and Clementine (love it!) looks just like my dear departed Tabitha. Poor Tabitha - we never discovered what became of her - we moved to the country and she stayed hidden under the bed the entire first day. My husband (grrrrrrrr) decided she needed to be out in the fresh air, and chased her out with a broom, with me chasing after him hollering, "She's scared! It's moving day!" and we never saw here again. I like to think that she was taken in by one of the wealthy landowners around here (we are not among their numbers) and spent the rest of her days sleeping on a velvet cushion and eating caviar.

By the way, your followers just increased by one!