Like An Owl On The Shelf, I’m Looking At You My Fellow Bloggers

March 26, 2020March 26, 2020 / Ally Bean / 186 Comments

I happened to see the sun shining on this owl pitcher sitting on the hutch shelf and snapped a photo of her for the heck of it.

Never have I been happier to report that nothing interesting is going on around here.

I haven’t been anywhere in a week. Well, I’ve gone outside for walks in the neighborhood, but I haven’t been in a store or restaurant or medical office.

No haircut. No trip to the mall. No foray to the party store next state over. No shopping at the garden nursery.

Pretty much, NO to all the activities I’d planned for the end of March.

My calendar is empty.

Instead of fretting about the nothingness of now I’ve decided to focus on blogging.

To wit, I’ll be writing here in my usual way, trying to keep my posts short, snappy, sassy, stylish, smart. And any other positive ‘S’ word you can think of.

But writing and maintaining your own personal blog is only 60% of blogging. The other 40% is reading other people’s blog posts and commenting on them. Therein is the secret of blogging, truth be known.

And with that little bit of wisdom gleaned after messing around in the blogosphere for 16 years [anniversary this week in fact], I’ll hit publish on this post. No need to dither here when I’ve all of you to read and comment upon. Must share the comment love.

Yep, I’m looking at you, my fellow bloggers. Ain’t you glad?

Who Goes There? Chatting About The Names We Use When Blogging + A Poll Question

March 3, 2020April 6, 2020 / Ally Bean / 153 Comments

BACK WHEN I FIRST STARTED writing a blog I read a blog [whose name I do not remember] written by a woman named Karen [I think].

She was hilarious and outrageous, posting every stinking day about her small-town life. Her writing was wordy and it was perfect. No grammar or spelling mistakes, ever.

I was in awe of her.

She had a huge following. They were as outrageous as she was which made reading the comments a hoot. I was more reserved back then, so I didn’t jump into her comment section like I would today.

• • •

IN RETROSPECT THE MOST INTERESTING thing about her comment section was that the commenters created nicknames for themselves. This was ostensibly to distinguish one from another, when more than one person had the same first name spelled the same way.

For instance [making up examples here] there’d be “Cathy from California” who wasn’t to be confused with “Cathy who hates gerbils” who most clearly was not “Cathy the Cookie.”

It was all inside jokes and seemed harmless. Rather fun, crazy awesome, even.

• • •

HOW THE HECK DID I get thinking about a blog from 15 years ago?

The other day I sat down to answer my comments here. I had three comments in a row from women with the same first name who spelled it the same way. Then I had two comments in a row from women with the same first name who spelled it the same way.

Suddenly, thinking back to the blogger from years ago, I was curious about how many people with the same first name spelled the same way leave comments here on a regular basis.

I had no idea, so I did a little behind the scenes research.

I was surprised by what I learned and I’m betting that you, my gentle readers, won’t guess which first name spelled the same way is the most popular one among my commenters, but give it a go. Here’s the poll question.

Also, out of curiosity, have you ever seen a blogger with commenters who have created specific nicknames to use only when commenting on that blog? Is/was this a thing? Or is this something as unique as I think it was?

June 2014 NaBloPoMo: I Posted, I Commented, I Made A List & Now I’m Finished

June 30, 2014November 29, 2023 / Ally Bean / 35 Comments

– – • – –

The final writing prompt for June 2014 NaBloPoMo is:

“Leave your readers this month with commentary about their comments.”

My commentary is:

You, my gentle readers, are the best. I’m grateful for your kind interest, thought-filled comments and support. I realize that you arrived here from all over the place:

NaBloPoMo via BlogHer [a few people]
IComLeavWe via Stirrup Queens [a few more people]
Susie Lindau’s blog party [many, many people]
and who knows where else [see world map above].

I appreciate you making your way here, and as a way of saying thank you I’ve compiled the following list of everyone with a blog who commented on The Spectacled Bean during this month.

– – • – –

My List Of Blogs Written By People Who Know How To Comment