Scrambled Thoughts

I was pretty excited last summer when I discovered Bloglovin. I'd not used a reader prior to that, so I wasn't one of the grievers at the loss of Google Reader. Now I'm not as smitten, and actually am not sure I'm going to stay with Bloglovin.

I always used to have my favorite blogs listed in the side bar and arranged so that recently updated blogs would be at the tops of their columns. I liked having everything there in the one place. But my lists of blogs were growing and growing and soon that area was very, very full. Bloglovin seemed to be the right step.

I'm going to stop trying to write coherently and in an organized fashion now, and just list some of the thoughts I'm having:

• Since going with Bloglovin, I've added many, many, many more blogs to my stable. It didn't seem as messy to have a private list as it did to have it all on my side bar. It was just so easy to add and add and add . . . .
• When I check into Bloglovin, it isn't unusual to find I've got 60 blogs updated and waiting for me to read.
• I'm spending a lot more time reading blogs.
• Some of those multitudinous added blogs really need to be weeded out, and I don't know why I don't get around to doing that.
• I get peeved when they throw in an advertisement "blog."
• I'm so tired of book tours.
• I don't really want to have someone telling me each week about new lines of fabric and where I can buy them. 
• I'm [fill in some word or another; I can't pinpoint the one I want] of blogs that have lots and lots of give-aways -- all provided by a vendor rather than the blogger herself.

A long-time favorite blogger has stopped blogging. I emailed her to see if she was okay. She replied that she was okay, that she had been spending too much time on the computer, and that the world of blogging had changed.

She's right. It has changed. I recognize that some folks blog as part of how they earn their living. And I know that some blogs are -- IMNSHO -- "blogs" because they are underwritten by fabric manufacturers. Some are so loaded with sponsors that I don't feel I know the writer at all.

The best blogs, to me, are the ones that perhaps have some quilting in them, but that's not all they have. They have bits and pieces of the blogger's life, her family, her thoughts, her frustrations, her theology, her amusements. She might provide an occasional give-away -- out of the goodness of her heart, not because some author has asked her to review a book (like how objective would the review be, anyway?) and then give away a copy. She might ask opinions on a quilt lay-out. She might share a new tool that she discovered on her own and suddenly wonders how she ever lived without it. She's a real person who wants to be known as a real person and who is even interested in knowing her readers as real people.

Here are some examples of some blogs that are -- again, in my opinion -- among the best ones out there. There's this one, and this one, and this one, just to pick three. 

I'm thinking about that former blogger. I almost felt as though I knew her and hoped to meet up with her at a show sometime. She wrote a lovely blog. She was inspired by antique quilts, and I miss her.

This wasn't intended to be a rant, or a moo, or anything but just setting down some scrambled thoughts in the hope of coming to some clarity. Comments most welcome!!