I Am Not The Pioneer Woman, And That's OK

Dang this woman messes with my mind

Maybe I'm Unique In This, But I Highly Doubt It.

Let's talk about All Things Comparing. For some reason this week, there has been so much circulating in the blogosphere (our alternate reality) on bloggers feeling "bloggy despair." The feeling of where you don't fit in,  in the blogosphere, that you don't make the cut, that your blog isn't good enough. The feeling of others doing it better, having more readers, more commenters, more visitors, more pageviews, more beautiful blogs, better graphics skills, better photography.

Comparing ourselves to other bloggers, other blogs, other posts.

It's natural ---- we can't help it, and nothing will kill and shoot your blogging mojo down faster than looking at someone else's blog and then saying, "I've got nothin'. I'm just pushing the chair away, turning off the computer, and it was nice while it lasted and whooohooo I sure had some good times, but I got nothin'."

The thing is, we are all different. We bring something new and unique to someone's world, and those we strike a chord with, will return. The readers that like us, will come back. We can't be all things to everyone. I mean, yes, some can, like The Pioneer Woman...who, holy hell, just go look over there: what CAN'T she show you is more like it.

But, for the rest of the human blogging race, we can only offer who we are, and our own special experiences and style.

We can always improve, learn new things, take on a technical bit of new knowledge, improve stick figuring, and photography know how. We can tighten up the writing a bit. A little bit of angst about our site can be a good thing:  it can be the push we need to try a new prompt, or a different type of style that we usually don't have on our blog. Maybe we'll think of hosting a guest series, or creating a blog hop. All those things are ways we can get better, or offer more, and meet a new group of people. But, for the most part, we can only give what we know.

What I've learned, is that I have to believe. I have to believe that there is something in my writing and my blog, that feeds someone out there what they like.

If I go to a blog, and see all sorts of stupendousness there, and then I head back home with my head hanging, well, I can barely lift my shoulders off my knees high enough to hit the keys on the keyboard.

What I have learned to make myself do is this:

1. Straighten up that spine.

2. Take a deep, deep breath.

3. Put on a smile, literally.

4. Put the fingers on the keys.

5. Tell myself I am who I am. And only I can do that best. Only me.

6. Just do it. Type away. Smile. Check for typos. Check once more. Then Post.

If you love blogging, and love to connect and find people who get you, then keep doing it. Don't look at what someone else can do that you can't. Don't tell yourself that someone is so much better than you, they know more than you, their blog is so much cooler than yours.

Just don't.

Your love for what you do, and for who stops to check on you daily, will cross over into those fingertips that tap the keys, and put words out there that will speak to someone.

In other words, only listen to what the good voices in your head tell you to do. The bad voices?  pfffffffffft....shove them out the door. But, still, dang,  Pioneer Woman, 22,639 comments on one post? Really, woman?

------------------------------

.