Hi, I’m in the middle of creating my blog and I was wondering when did you make yours? Did you have help? And do you let your friends/family read your blog?
EM
I let my family and friends read my blog
Honestly, my blog is such a huge part of my life. If my friends and family didn’t know my blog existed, I feel like we’d have nothing to talk about (since I’d have to be all hush hush about one of the biggest things in it). Or if they knew it existed but I refused to give them the URL, they’d pester me forever, and I’d feel annoying for talking about my blog but not letting them read it.
So for me, it made sense for me to share my blog with my friends and family. It’s a huge part of my every day life and I wanted to share that with them. My mom, dad, and husband actually all subscribe to my blog (love you guys!). It’s funny when my dad emails me about typos in my posts (hah).
But one of the reasons I don’t mind is because I don’t feel the need to censor myself around my family and friends. On my blog I swear, I review erotica, I rant, I vent, I day dream… I do all those things, and I don’t mind my family and friends reading it. I think it’s important that you still be true to yourself and don’t change the way you write just because people who know you in “real life” are reading your blog.
But some people like to keep things more private
However, that doesn’t mean you have to let your friends and family read your blog. Some people are extremely private. Maybe they read a ton of erotica and it’s awkward if they let their family read their blog (I always feel awkward when I review an erotica book and know my dad will see the post lol). Or maybe they just want a place where they can vent and rage away from family and friends. Some people don’t like to merge their online lives with their “real life” ones; they like to keep them separate.
Do what works for you!
So I think you have to decide what your feelings are. Will you feel awkward if you let your family/friends read your blog? Will you feel like you have to censor yourself? If so, don’t share it. But if sharing your blog with them will not affect the way you blog and write, then by all means share it with them! They’d probably love to read it, even if just once.
And to answer your other questions: I created my book blog (I had several blogs before this one) in April 2012. I didn’t have any help with it, but that’s because I’m pretty tech savvy. 🙂
Everyone knows about my blog but not much of my family or friends really reads it because no one is a book lover. My mom use to read each post helping me check for errors but that fizzled out. I don’t care who reads it though. I don’t need to hide anything. Though it does creep me out when I think of my family reading my erotica reviews.
My family knows about my blog but I doubt they read it. Most of them aren’t that good in English or they don’t really care lol. I only have two friends. My best friend Stephanie, who reads my blog every day, and my boyfriend who doesn’t really care about it lol. He’s not a bookworm like me.
I DO let my family and friends read my blog – but they DON’T, lol!
Maybe my kids don’t read it because they have had enough of my talking as they grew up. My friends are into other stuff like playing games (Bejeweled Blitz and Words with Friends), and they tolerate my strangeness.
Actually, I don’t really know who reads my blog – but I do seem to get a lot of short hits coming from Russia and India.
My mother knows my blog exists and she is allowed to read it of course, but her English doesn’t really exist so that would make it hard for her to read it. Besides she isn’t really into reading as much as I am. So i don’t know. It’s no secret, anyone can read my blog. I really don’t mind.
I used to keep my blog private, but it just got to be such a huge part of my life that it seemed silly not to share. Plus, like other people have said, my family doesn’t actually read it. Or if they do, I rarely hear about it.
I do occasionally feel awkward about what I post, especially if it’s erotica or sex-related, but I usually post regardless. If it makes them uncomfortable, they don’t have to read it. And sometimes I need those reviews/discussion posts to round out my schedule. 😉
I WILL say, however, that I don’t have any of my family following my Twitter account, and that I like. They know I have Twitter, but they’re not on the network. So Twitter is my family-free place. Not that I need such a place, but it’s nice to have. Especially since my Twitter feed can dip into rated R territory sometimes.
My parents never read any of my articles (I work as a freelance writer), so it makes sense that they never read my blog. Friends wise, only my best friend know about it. It feels awkward, I feel like I’m exposing myself (you can reveal a lot about yourself in writing), so I keep quiet about it. 🙂
I completely agree with this! It’s like you’re more exposed or something!
Exactly!
For me, I always let my family read my blog. My older sibling is possibly the the best critic of my blog, and that helps me always to become better at what I do. As for friends, I’m kind of this socially awkward person so I doubt if any of them actually knows about my activities online. Plus the very few friends I have don’t really share the same passion for reading as I do 🙁 but I am more than willing to let people who know me in real life read my blog 😀
My family knows about my blog but they don’t really read it other than a quick perusal from time to time. They’re not book people.
My closest friends DO know about my blog & read it. I don’t mind, but it’s always a little strange to hear them refer to my blog in conversation!(I never bring it up, but sometimes they’ll talk about something I blogged about).
I didn’t do it on purpose, but my family and friends found my blog through a single link I posted on my personal Facebook, and now I actually feel better knowing they can sometimes catch up to what I’m doing even if we don’t get to talk all the time because I’m so busy.
It was weird for me at first, especially since I write gay fiction, but it’s not something I’m ashamed of (at least, not anymore). I’m pretty open about everything with my friends and parents, though, so that’s just me. I definitely didn’t used to be.
To each their own, but I think sharing blogs is really cool. :]
My wife only reads it occasionally, none of my family is interesting in the books I read. I do think my mother in law reads it regularly, but she is not a commenter so I couldn’t know for sure.
Its cool that your family reads your blog. My brother reads mine fairly regularly and will sometimes ask me something that makes me think, “hey, he reads my blog!” My mom used to – but I honestly don’t know if she still does and, while my dad knows about my blog, he’s never expressed any interest in actually reading it. I do censor myself just a little bit because of the possibility that my mom will read the blog – but just to help my brother keep some secrets that he’s not ready to share with her yet (because I’m a good sister like that lol). Other than that, I don’t censor myself at all. Fun post Ashley!!
Yep, my friends and family know about my blog. It’s important to me, and they like to see what I’m reading sometimes. The hubby even shares links sometimes. There aren’t many readers in my family, but they know where they can find recs.
Majority of my friends and family know I have a blog, but don’t read it… That I know of anyway.
I talk to my mom and obviously my husband about it, but not much to anyone else. It’s a huge part of my life, but once i get going, I don’t stop. haha
I absolutely let my friends and family read my blog. My blog is a part of who I am and honestly, I’m really proud of it. So I’m all about sharing it. I understand though that some ppl might be tentative to share and that’s okay to do. It’s up to each individual’s preference if they do or don’t! 🙂
My mom does know I have a blog, but she’s never seen it, and I don’t even think my dad knows what a blog is! LoL
My two BFFs have seen it, and one of them is a blogger herself. I don’t think they’re regular readers though, since I’m the oddball bookworm in the group.
No one else has seen it, but that’s not because I’m embarrassed or trying to hide. I just don’t advertise it, or really talk to anyone else about it. If they were to ask, I’d happily link them though.
For the longest time, I didn’t really tell my friends and family about my blog, but recently, I’ve been sharing links with close friends. A lot of people know that I blog, but most of them don’t know specifically where.
I’m happy for friends and family to see it. My family know about it, some friends do – I invited bookish friends to like the Facebook page. I’ll occasionally post links to the blog on my own personal Facebook, for example when I did a recent post about my love for The Lord of the Rings. The reason for that is that I was basically known as a huge LotR nerd at school, so I wanted to show all my old school friends just WHY I was (and still am) 😉
this is so funny this came up. I’m one of those peeps that I don’t share with family and I only have online friends. so I haven’t given the link to my online friends because I’m not sure they’re into books like me and the one that is reads strictly ya. I read a butt load of erotica.
with family it’s because as much as I love them I think I would get judged for what I read. it’s sad really. my blog is a huge part of me too but I only share with strangers.
sorry for all the lower cases but I’m texting from my phone and dealing with auto correct etc. that’ll teach me.
I’m usually pretty shy when it comes to my blog activities. I really want to share about it, but at the same time, I don’t want to look like I’m begging for attention. So, usually, I just share a few links through my Facebook account and er… wait. Yeah, I know.
I prefer not to let my family and friends read my blog. My mam knows it exists, but she can’t even turn on a computer so there’s no worries there. Recently one of my best friends started following me on twitter, which is just for my blog. I don’t know how she found it, but I worry that she clicked the link leading to my blog. I like to keep it private and I don’t want to wonder whether someone I know IRL is reading it or not. I wish I felt comfortable enough to share it!
Because I’m a teen, my family does know, but I don’t talk to my friends about it. Sure, I Fangirl and chatter nonstop about books (I can be pretty annoying) at school, but I like having my own little corner of internet.
Great topic for a discussion post! My sister has “access” to my blog, as in she knows the URL, she blogs too but about something else entirely unrelated to books – Interior Design. I’ve been following different blogging communities for a long time, but never actually joined one. I set up her blog originally around two years ago to document her journey through an interior design degree. I know she has read some of my posts (she likes or comments on them) but I doubt she religiously follows me (I on the other hand read practically all of her posts… :)) I haven’t told many friends or family about my blogs, even people close to me, and I don’t promote it on any of my personal social networks. I think I like to keep something just for me, that and they’d probably find the topic pretty dull anyways – none of my real-life friends are big readers. I have a second blog that is work related, this is mostly to document the things that I’ve done but if anyone stumbles upon it I’m happy enough, and I have shown that one to a good few people. I’d love to dedicate more time to it, but this blogging thing takes up so much time! I’d love to do more rambly/discussion blogs on Book Geek too, but I would honestly need to make it my full time job. Respect to all you ladies (and guys) who manage it!!!
If you’re interested in Interior Design at all (3D visuals, Maxwell Render and all that fun stuff) my sister’s blog is http://www.anitabrowndesignstudio.com. Unlike me, she FULLY promotes that bad boy to friends and family!!
R x
My friends and family do know that I have a blog and some follow my reviews directly there or in Facebook. However, no one at work know about it. They know I love books and that I go to bookish events, but not that I have a blog.
Some of my friends know I have a blog, but few of them have actually asked for the URL and read my posts. For the most part, only two of my friends, who are fellow avid readers, read my posts semi-frequently. No one in my family knows that I have a blog. I won’t deny that I have one if it comes up, but I don’t advertise it to them. I think it’d be weird to have my parents see all of the swooning and squealing over hot characters that goes on on my blog. Besides, my older cousins would never stop making fun of me.
I’m really excited when my friends and family read my blog even though they don’t leave comments, since they’ll sometimes comment in real life on a review they read and then we get to talk about books 😀 Or they’ll ask if they can borrow a book that they saw I reviewed 😉
I started out my blog by not telling anybody in my real life about it. My problem is I care a lot about literacy and pleasure reading so eventually I started talking about it with family, friends, and coworkers. I wanted them to get excited about reading. I actually have two girls at the office now who ask me for book recommendations. 🙂 I guess what I’m trying to say is even if you start your blog and keep it to yourself that may change one day!
Excerpt for my immediate family, no one else knows about my blog. Since nobody in my family (or my friends) like or even read books, nobody understands my passion for it so I just don’t talk about it. Also, my family is Mexican and most don’t even speak/read English so *shrugs*
They all know I’m crazy about books though because they’ve seen my library loft room.
I don’t try to hide my blog at all, I’m really proud of being a blogger because it’s something I enjoy so much. My family and friends all know I have a blog and I know sometimes they read it. It does get a little embarrassing and I don’t quite know how to handle it when someone says they really like it because I’m really flattered but flustered too. But I like that it’s established me as someone who loves books and that I can be relied on for book recommendations 🙂
My family and friends know I have a blog and I’ve posted a couple of my review links on fb, but I don’t think any of them actually read my blog, and frankly I prefer it that way 🙂 I’m ok with them reading it, but I know there’s a few people (aka my mom), who have a tendency to ‘butt in’ and if they started reading my blog, I think issues could arise (I already have to regularly delete innapropriate fb comments from them oiy!
My family & close friends know that I blog which I don’t mind because it’s something that I do that I don’t think I should be ashamed of! It’s not something I’ll just spill in regular conversation though so there are still a couple friends who don’t know and I don’t feel the need to tell them. Beyond my close circle of family and friends, no one else knows and I’d like to keep it that way just because I reveal much more on my blog than I do to the people in real life and the idea of someone I don’t know so well creeping on my blog just unnerves me. But in general, I don’t really keep it a secret that I blog.
I totally encourage my friends and family to read my blog! but work folks now that is an entirely different matter
No one used to know I had a blog (previous incarnation, several years ago), but then I opened up about it a little, and they did — and a relative who refuses contact with me heard about it, and attacked me on it when I spoke about my abusive father who’s in prison for life for what he did to me. That really, REALLY sucked, and it scared me so badly I stopped writing anything but fluff for several years, where previously I wrote some pretty deep stuff. Then I found book blogging, and did a ton of that, then got into other kinds of sponsored blogging, realized I’m really good at it…and then came to a place in my personal life where I want to talk about the past again, to show whoever finds my words that you can heal and be happy and whole and love your life even after horrible things happen to you. And now, after writing fluff and books for years, everyone knows I do it, and yes, family and friends read my blogs (I have two now – lifestyle and entertainment). And it’s time, and I’m ready, but it’s panic-inducing. Because I’ve had to cut off abusive family who all know where I blog. And I’m afraid of their crazy coming into that space.
I would personally keep it secret, for me. Some of them put me into a vulnerable spot. It’s deep and complex. I would not let the haters get into my weak side. I feel when you start out, you would get a lot haters. If you have fans already with your friends/family, share that to them. And so, you start of with positive encouraging start