Why I Blog

Picture by: http://streetanatomy.com/author/jenny/page/53/

I've danced around this question a couple of times. I always feel self-important talking about my blog. Oh yeah, I'm so cool that I need to write about my life and opinions so that the world can experience the glory of them.  It couldn't be further from the truth. It has nothing with ego, although it has helped pump mine up.

The reason I write is obvious, it's a great excuse to not exercise or do the dishes. Oh but I really need to post today!

Ok, not really.  The real reason I started to blog was to do something for myself. I live in Rio de Janeiro with my Brazilian husband and my kiddos. Moving here was for both practical and emotional reasons. Mr. Rant got a job, I had no healthcare, and we both really love Rio.  Honestly though, I wasn't in real love with Rio when I first moved here. It was puppy love. The real love only happened in time, once we got to know each others quirks and learned to accept them.

The fact of the matter was that my husband is happy in Rio de Janeiro. There is a spark missing when he's abroad, even during visits. The true Glory of Mr. Rant needs the Carioca spirit to fill him. Can you blame him?

Anyway, I had yet to have my thing here, even after all these years. Having the bambinos didn't help. While it's amazing and wonderful to have kids, it is a lot of giving.

So the blog is my thing. I do it for me. I talk about things that come up in my head that my 2 and 4 year olds do not want to discuss with me, much to my delight. If my boys had an opinion things like the statistic that 70% of Brazilian men cheat, I'd be quite alarmed.  I'll wait until they're at least 10 to bring that bad boy up.

The surprising part of blogging was all I gained. I'm not talking about wealth or fame because that is far from anything in my reality. I'm talking about these:

1. Friends. Blogger friends are amazing people who become quick friends after you read each other's thoughts and ideas. My Rio blogger friends have, more or less, become flesh and blood buddies who I've met on some occasions.  I've met people who can relate, understand, and actually care about what I have to say and vice versa. Priceless.

2. Inspiration. I have this forum to write and so I do. I had lost my will to write, something I used to do a lot of. Of course I'm not Shakespeare, but it's nice to do something I enjoy.

3. A New Perspective. I had stopped paying attention to the world around me. It was my every day, nothing special. That couldn't have been further from the truth.

4. My Voice back. Holy crap, I have something to say and it has nothing to do with Woody and Buzz or how to say Pickles in Portuguese. It's me saying things I normally say when I have a chance to talk to other grown ups. Awesome form of release.

5. A chance to share what I know. I know I rarely do this, it's more rants than facts, but I love answering people's question and, possibly, making a process that I had a bitch doing a bit easier for someone else. I've done the marrying a foreigner, moving, translating documents, marrying in Brazil, Green card applications, Brazilian visa extensions, Brazilian residency applications, Portuguese, and many more things I can't even think of. Hell, the accomplishment that made me the most excited was ordering food here for the first time by myself. And they understood and brought the right thing! So if there's something I could help you with, please let me know!

6. The fuzzy feeling that I get realizing that people actually like to read what I write. I get embarrassed by it because I find it so amazing that people want to!  I love it! And to get the emails/comments from you guys saying that I make you laugh just make my week. Not day, week!

7. The readers. I love you guys! I LOVE the comments you make on posts! I love it even more when my comment section turns into a debate. I swear, half the time the comment section is far more interesting than the freaking post! You guys rock. I have readers who really kick ass. That is a hell of a big compliment for me! By the way, I am not easily offended. Even if I get defensive in posts, I'm not offended. I have an open blog for people to share their opinions. Please do!

So I started writing my blog for me and now I also right for you guys. It's like a great blog sex with all the give and take going on here. Gold stars all around!

Now you tell me, why do you blog and/or read blogs? 

How to Become a Professional Blogger

For my New Years resolution, I decided to stop half-assing it with my blog and start dedicating serious time to it.  Organize it.  Clean up all the widgets and add on stuff. Oh, and mustn't forget organizing blog posts and categorizing them for easier reading.

But today is the first so I'm going to start tomorrow. Then again, Mr. Rant travels tomorrow night so we'll be busy. The 3rd. Definitely going to start the 3rd, once the kids are in bed.

Have I mentioned that I suck at New Years Resolutions?

At the same time, I am pretty damn good at googling. And as the professional half-asser that I am, I decided that I should share some of my finds with people who may actually use them.

Maybe I'm not a half-asser but more of an information finder for other people.  That's a nice way of looking at it.  Let's try that line of thinking again.  Maybe I'm not lazy but just don't want to take up the gym slots that other people need more than I do...

Sweet!  New New Years Resolution, keep up with putting a positive spin on things!

As for the links, here we go:

I would start with rating your blog first:

At http://blog.grader.com/ they will grade your blog and give you some great improvement tips. I recommend pouring a stiff drink first. I was like 437,000 out of 547,000 or something like that.  Sure, I beat out around 100,000 bloggers but am still 300,000 peoples' bitch.  Try putting a positive spin on that! Anyway, live and learn.

Next check out these widget, gadgets, gizmos, whatever the hell you want to call them links:


http://www.kludgymom.com/great-articles-on-blog-plugins-and-widgets-b2sb2b-extra-credit/  A friend of mine (The Little Hen House) did the "Back to School, Back to Blogging" thing mentioned on this page. Her blog is now read by the entire world.  It also helps that she rocks.  I swear, I will get around to doing it to.  Remember, I am not a procrastinator, I just like to let other people go first. It makes them feel good.


http://www.widgetbox.com/widget/facebook-share  Here's a facebook share link. I'm not 100% sure how good it is. I already have a like button on my page (which I like because of low self-esteem issues).  Let's face it, Facebook is cooler than all our Moms combined and everyone who's anyone restricts their number of friends on it.  So dude, plug in and be rejected like all the cool kids.


http://www.addthis.com/web-button-select This is an add button site where you can get the buttons for people to share, or not share, your page on a number of things. I love these!  It's like the opportunity for your blog popularity to spread, even though it won't really work unless your blog rocks in the first place.  It's like buying the cool shoes in high school. Just because you have them doesn't mean you still won't be the last one picked for dodge ball teams. Trust me on that one.

http://www.tipsblogger.com/2008/11/how-to-add-feedburner-email-subscription-widget-to-your-blog/ This is a link for you to add the blog straight to your email feature. That way your Grandma doesn't have to surf the web to find your site.  It'll go straight into her email.  I'm going to add this right now and call mine to let her know!

And last but certainly not least:


http://www.scarymommy.com/a-better-blog/  Essentially this page is the same post as mine, only written better and with more direct points. Again, laziness just bit not only my ass, but yours too. That is, unless you check out her post.  Seriously though, it does break down strengthening your blog to the basics, ones we should all follow. Now to add to my to do list...

Happy 2011 to all you Readers and Bloggers out there!  I hope this post helps you as it will eventually help me, once I get around to do all these things.

Please feel free to share reviews of the above sites and/or recommend your own.