The Blogger Zeitgeist

Being a relatively new blogger - new defined as blogging under a year or having fewer than 500 followers - I often wonder about blogging etiquette.  What are the rules?  If someone follows me, must I follow them back?  I check other bloggers and find that some have more followers than they follow, and others follow more than have followers.  I usually do try to follow back others who follow me, but only if their blog is of interest.  If the blog is just a bunch of ads for clothes or hotels, then no.

What about people who say "Follow me and I'll follow you"?  I always check out their blogs too and won't hesitate to follow, but then what if they don't follow me back?  I feel cheated.  I feel let down.  I feel that someone has broken their word.  But I continue to check their posts in my reader anyway.

When surfing the blogosphere, I must admit that I am sometimes afraid to follow people whose blogs are a good read and instead just bookmark the page.  I don't want to appear too eager, and would prefer to lurk.  I do try to follow new bloggers because I know it can be intimidating and disheartening if you think no-one is listening.

Sometimes when I want to comment, I don't - again for fear of looking like I'm fishing for followers.  And what are the rules for commenting anyway?  I see a lot of blogs with comments and yet the blogger is silent.  Is this okay?  Do they see the comments?  Why don't they answer?  In the real world I would feel rude if someone spoke to me and I ignored them.  So I try to reply to all my comments.  This brings me back to the followers, what if a blogger has too many followers and too many comments?   How can you possibly keep up?

I have other questions too.  Experts say a blog should have a theme and many blogs are very very consistent, always posting on topic: outfits, crafts, recipes, photos or what-have-you; but what if your outfit was nothing special, you didn't have time for crafts, you bought take-out and your photos were blurry? What do you do then? 

Have you asked yourself these questions?  Are there any rules? What do you do?

Today's topic is linked to: alphabe-Thursday

Weighty Saturday

It has not been a good week on the weight loss front.  We had a wonderful Christmas lunch on Wednesday and also an all-hands meeting complete with tarts, cookies, pastries, squares and other diificult-to-resist desserts.

So, rather than focussing on what is sure to be a disappointing weigh-in I thought I would base today's post on some of my favourite blogs.  Some  are the inspirational blogs of refashionistas who could (and some do) sell their wares, and others are the what-i-wore blogs of clothes hounds who never ever seem to wear exactly the same thing twice. 

My current favourite blog read is Refashionista.  I discovered it quite by accident when searching for a project and have been a daily reader ever since - even going back to read all the back posts.  I love the easy-peasy refashions and hope to tackle a giant dress project myself one day.  Jillian's blog gives off a great wacky-funny-energy vibe.

Other refashion blogs I check on a regular basis are:

• Grosgain - Crafts, refashions, photography, you name it and everything looks professional.  I am contemplating some of the easier projects here.
• Tea Rose Home - Another blog where everything looks professional.  Lots of little-girl dress refashions (too bad I've got giant boys!) which I'm hoping to convert into big-people refashion projects. I also like the more personal style which gives everything a human touch.
• Threadbanger - I can't believe it took me years to find this. It has tutorials for everything!

There are way more, but these are my current favourites.

As for the fashion blogs, I have three regular reads.  To me, they have vastly different looks but are all very inspiring:

• Sheila Ephemera - I started reading this blog before it became a regular fashion blog and was initially attracted by the pics of the sci-fi-ish fantasy-themed miniature models.  I love Sheila's conversational tone, the beautifully accessorized outfits and the aha! I could wear that moments. I think we're in roughly the same age bracket and work in similar office-attire environments.
• whatiwore2day - There are a few blogs by this name, but Kasmira's is my favourite.  Her outfits are colouful, innovative and fun.  I love the way the same item appears again and again but with the use of creative layouring, looks completely different.
• Fashion for Nerds - Being somewhat of a nerd myself, the blog name was what got my attention.  I stayed for the wildly layoured avant-garde outfits.  I think everything has toned down in recent years, but Audi also intersperses her posts with writings on travel and once-in-a-while decor so it keeps me interested. 

Once you start to read these blogs on a regular basis, it's almost like a letter or postcard from a friend.