Hello?

My daughter, the blogger, just posted a cartoon from Grammarly that purports to explain why the blogger gets no comments on his/her blog..and it concludes that the major magnet for comments is mistakes. Hmm.

My daughter's blog (kayorzech.blogspot.co.uk) is pretty interesting and entertaining, I think (over and above the precious pictures of my granddaughters, believe it or not.) She writes about Americans living in Scotland and the cultural adjustments they are making, the sights they are seeing, the food they are eating, and all the other 'inconsequentials' that are SO consequential when it's YOUR life they're talking about. (Read it--you'll like it.)

But...now that I've wandered off my point...she hit upon one of my pet bugaboos. Every time I post an entry on my blog, I watch the record of 'hits' I get. I know there are some people who read what I have to say (thank you all) but I have no way of knowing who, unless you comment. I don't know if you like what I'm saying, are infuriated, are even reading it. All I know is that you opened the connection.

So--if I could crawl through the wire or surf through the ether and find you, I'd try to start a conversation: what do YOU think? am I way off-base? did I make you think of something (other than "I waste far too much time on FaceBook")? Are you a friend of a friend? Do I even know you? Unlike the peripatetic "Like" on FaceBook, your 'hit' doesn't even tell me your name. It may not always be obvious, but I try to say something to a blogger or a post-er other than blindly hitting the 'Like' button, other than simply reading the blog and moving on. Sure, it sometimes means  deciphering some picture 'so we know you're not a robot', but that's a momentary irritation. 

Were it up to me, we'd all go back to writing letters. (Remember learning in school how to write 'friendly letters' as opposed to business letters? I'm dating myself.) I LIKE writing letters, but, even more, I like GETTING letters. Facebook is my outlet for that particular weirdness. Every post is a 'friendly letter'--or, more often, a friendly post-it note stuck on my door. And every reply, every comment is like a little friendly note in response. Even the 'like' response is welcome, though it doesn't engender the same kind of 'You've got MAIL!' enthusiasm in my heart.

Therefore, I declare today (whatever day you read this) as "Make Yourself Known Day". Write a comment, reply to an e-mail, respond to a blogpost. It doesn't even have to be mine. I guarantee you that most personal blog responses are not as ill-mannered, unintelligent, grammatically ignorant, and narrow-minded as the remarks left on most FaceBook articles you might encounter. (At least I hope not!) And, in addition to all that, you'll make your favorite blogger's day.