Don't get me wrong!

I love blogging. I love the idea of it, the unity, the creativity. I like how I can discover one blog about someone who reminds me so much of me at some point in my life, and like the turn of a page, find someone who offers a completely unique perspective.

I'm always trying to figure out how to improve my blog. Aside from just being lazy and not dazzling it up with photos and videos (which I intend to do soon) I think the most influential part of a blog comes from the voice of its author.

Having said that, I've identified some things that I absolutely love, and hate, about bloggers.

Some things I love:
Focus. I love when someone is able to achieve a crisp narrative based on one subject. There's a blog I read about one man's innocent obsession with food and cooking. It's such a great blog to me because from time to time, he deviates from the usual subject, like grocery shopping, and talks about moments in his life that just drips with a charming awkwardness... a lot like a William Macy character.

Openness. There's a blog about a stay-at-home dad whose life resembles a family living on Wisteria Lane. Somewhere, deep down, I half expect this father of two to morph into Lester Burnham... only he's not interested in "OD's" best friend, nor is he smoking weed with the neighbor's delinquent son.

Depth. Not every blog is glamorous. I've come close to nixing this blog from my bookmarks folder several times, but decided not to because it has come to help me. This man surrendered himself and acknowledged that he was powerless against Alcohol about 100-something days ago. It's not all roses, but this guy lifts my spirit so much because of his humility and integrity. I find myself rooting for him because he has been a phantom influence behind my decision to stop drinking.

Originality. Okay, so there's nothing very original about being a cop. But this guy has 180'd my opinion that police officers are essentially armed sheep. Not to mention, he's funny as hell. He adds color by including cell phone photos of some of the cases he responds to during his patrol shifts. The latest post is just nuts.

Influence. The diarist of a micro ecorevolution never fails to impress upon me how wrong I was to think that the green movement belongs only to hippies. While usually entertaining, I love how informative this girl is with her posts about living a more efficient, healthier life as a citizen of the most energy guzzling (and belching) country in the world.

The main thing I like about all these bloggers is for one, they're good writers. They don't ramble (too much) and they stay away from gut-wrenching abbreviations (omg, lol).

The main thing I can't stand isn't exactly the fault of any blogger, but blogger.com itself. When I want to find a blog, any blog, clicking on that "next blog" link at the top will land me on a completely useless waste of internet space about 19 out of 20 times. I've also noticed that there's an ungodly amount of blogs dedicated to quilting. What the hell is up with that? Is quilting so exciting that someone feels the need to dash over to the ole' comp and upload about 35 photos of their latest pattern? Yikes. It's a quilt. You see one, you've seen them all.

The other thing I can't stand in a blog is relentless over-updating. Whether the posts are long or short, I really don't condone blogging more than once a day. Twice is fine on occasion, but really should be reserved for if an epiphany arises and the author wants to gush it out before it's lost. On the other hand, I hate reading a great blog post, thinking that it was so well written and concise... something new and exciting... only to wait two months to see a single update-- usually to the effect of "sorry I haven't updated. I've been busy."

And finally... the last thing I ever want to read is some self-righteous banter about how even though they are very busy, they're taking time out of their extremely important schedules to let us all know how excruciatingly important their life is. Like I said... I love blogs... but it is just a blog. Nobody pays you to be a dickhead. You're doing it for free.