Blogs We Like

I added another blog that I like to my list this morning and I was remembering back to when I first started out here and I had like one blog listed that I read.  As time passed, I added more and more.  I started with Ember, and after a little bit of blog-stalking, I added Kate, Aubrey, and Amanda.  I still blog-stalk a few folks out there and I have a few blogs that I read which are published to the masses authored by people made famous by their blogging.  In reality, I enjoy us regular people telling the stories of day to day life.

I always wonder about blog-stalkers (people who read without revealing themselves).  I know they exist.  I have had a few people confess to it - I do it myself.  I always wonder what keeps them from coming forward.  For me, I always feel as if I don't know this person well enough to reveal myself.  Or what if they don't want me here?  I have a similar aversion to requesting friends on social networking sites - I guess it's called 'fear of rejection'.

I struggle with inviting people to read about me.  Really, we all want someone to read about us, don't we?  Everyone wants that hint of popularity.  I'm not ashamed to admit that I do.  I like when I say something and I get a big ole bunch of comments.  You can't tell me you don't!  I'm always too embarassed to say 'Here I am!  Read me!"

I have linked a few of my posts to said popular social networking site but, I typically take them down out of fear or nervousness.  You know - the "what-if" game.  What if I offend someone?  What if they think I'm talking about them?  What if they think I just did this for attention?  What if they think I'm the suckiest sucky writer ever?

It's always a huge deal at my house to find out when I have another reader or someone requests me as a friend.  I typically will call Jeremy right away, "Guess what?  Guess what?  I have a new reader/friend request!"  and we have a big discussion on who they are, how I know them (not that he's upset, he's simply curious).  Most often, it's taken as an opportunity to know a piece of my past.

It's an interesting list of people I enjoy reading about (including those I blog-stalk that don't know that I read them) and I am curious to see what happens to this list over time - who gets added or deleted?  How big the list gets.  And how many blog-stalkers I really have???