Posting will resume in five minutes, although (most of) the next dozen (or more) posts are more than two weeks old. Hopefully they will carry me over into the week when I go to LA and don't have anything to blog about.
Anyway, I have come to terms with the fact that I AM NOT A PROLIFIC COMMENTER. (I AM NOT CHARACTERIZED BY ABUNDANT PRODUCTION.) I am terrible at "returning comments" in a timely manner and absolutely do not want to consciously grow my blog by forcing relationships of reciprocal commenting with things like "great skirt xoxo" or "luv the dress! check out mai blog 2, thx." The fact that every few months, I declare comment bankruptcy à la e-mail bankruptcy should be indicative of how useful I find comments.
Part of me tells me I should feel guilty for this, and for not caring about developing a community of readers, and for not considering SEO and being socially acceptable and, you know, hoarding comments and looking good all the time and watching what I post and not offending people, and part of me says I don't care and I don't owe anyone anything through blogging.
Maybe this makes me seem like a cold hard bitch. I kind of am, but I'm also just not someone who finds commentary on fashion or style blogs to be particularly intelligent or worth reading (have I offended anyone yet?), except when the topic isn't strictly fashion or style. I mean, do people really develop relationships with other bloggers through comments? That is so bizarre to me. Give me emails! If you want to talk, let's get personal! Tell me about your life! I don't want to go to tea and spend an hour exchanging compliments on how gorgeous and amazing our shoes and jewelry are. I want to talk shop, or talk about you, or talk about me, or talk about, you know, our lives hopes dreams aspirations interests fears loves beliefs pains all those things that make you tick!
Because you know what? The best comment I've ever received was one word long, and it wasn't "fierce," "gorgeous," "sexy," "cute," or "pretty," but this:
on a post where I threw up my insides all over the internet and felt very very vulnerable.I guess as someone who spends her free time taking pictures of herself and planning outfits and looking at other people who take pictures of themselves in planned outfits, I shouldn't be talking about superficiality.
But anyway. This is my explanation for why I don't respond to your comments 90% of the time. I only comment when I have something to say. And as with most things, I'm thinking myself into circles and nobody is actually pressuring me to be a prolific commenter.
I appreciate my readers, in this big, vague, very pleasant sort of way, but I don't really want to appreciate "my readers." I would rather appreciate you, your unique online presence. Unless you are one of those people with foot fetishes who have been Googling things like "beat-up Keds" and arriving here because I don't really appreciate you very much. Or if you are one of the Chinese spambots selling porn or erectile dysfunction products. But for everyone else, I probably will really like you and am not doing you justice when I say "Thank you, dear 2.5 readers," but THANK YOU, DEAR 2.5 READERS, including all of you who have just unsubscribed because I am so goddamn offensive and heartless and networking-unfriendly.
Blogging feedback is wonderful and validating, but I don't think feedback should be a prerequisite for my enjoying posting pictures of myself/impossible men/impossible clothes and rattling off commentary whenever I feel like it.
Right. I think it's time for some Jake Gyllenhaal.
YEAHHH!
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