Happy Blogiversary, Book Buds!

Many times over the past three years I've looked at my stats and cringed. Poor Book Buds, stuck in single digits for months after its birth. Then the slow creep upwards. Twelve page views a day. Thirty-five. Then a hundred. Yes!

And then ... nothing. A baby. A cross-country move. A death in the family. One hiatus after another after still another. I'd claw and scratch my way back from oblivion, just to see it nosedive as real life butted in. My hard work would evaporate in lost subscribers and inattentive fans. Tomorrow will mark this blog's third year, and the third time I've had to ask hard questions about what I wanted from it and why.

While Book Buds would languish during those intermissions, I'd watch other kids crash this party and steal the cute readers I'd been chatting up feverishly. But most never knew I existed. The green-eyed monster set up residence under my keyboard.

But I had only myself to blame. After all, I'd walked away from Inland Empress, which had a high of 500 hits a day when many future Mommy bloggers weren't Mommies yet, let alone bloggers. Where would that blog be today, if I'd kept at it? I don't let myself go there.

Focus, I tell myself, even now. I wanted a blog that fed my career, not my ego. Reviews only. No Q&As, no news, no personal meanderings. I sometimes stray from that path (this essay is proof) but my footing is still solid.

Each time I came back, it was with renewed purpose and vigor. That's easier when you can be single-minded and not scattershot, lemme tell ya.

I'd already learned with Inland Empress that unless you're firm, readers will steal your blog from under you. They'll comment here or link there or email you about your witty ol' self. And it's natural to tailor a blog -- the ultimate vanity press -- to the admirers who fuel that vanity, only to wonder who the hell are these people. Why was I spending more quality time with them than my husband? What demon in me needed validation from strangers?

With Book Buds, I got lucky. Encouragement came from people who knew the writing business well -- my writing coach, a visionary media watchdog and several editors at the L.A. Times. I knew I was being watched. And they were a tough bunch with high standards. They had little time for bullshit. I decided that neither did I.

You'd think I'd feel some schadenfreude watching several popular kidlit bloggers go through what one's dubbed "Blog Focus Angst." See here and here and here and here. It's epidemic. But I like these people. Many are friends, and they're a smart, dedicated bunch.

Some have asked my advice, and being an opinionated sort, I give it, hoping I don't sound pompous and blathery and insensitive.

All I really want to tell them is that giants like Andrew Sullivan have gone through this too, and come back swinging. And that the information highway's littered with the rusting hulks of abandoned blogs. All those people hit a wall too.

I want to tell them that critical thinking skills are often sidelined in the race to feed the Sitemeter beast. You can have speed or quality. You can have breadth or depth. These are dilemmas, not shopping carts. You can't have it all.

But I also want to say, painfully, that wanting to change the world isn't a reason to chain yourself to your keyboard while dinner gets cold. The Talmud teaches that small mitzvahs done with a glad heart can add up to more than a big mitzvah done grudgingly or for the wrong reasons.

I write Book Buds to connect fun-loving parents and curious librarians with some darling new kids' books. I write Book Buds to hone my skills, and to steer my children -- and others' -- to books that are lovingly, purposefully crafted.

Those are small mitzvahs, but in the grand scheme of things, they still count.

Happy Blogiversary, Book Buds.

Comments

[brettdl]

Just for the record: My wife really works hard on this site.

[Susan T.]

Hey, Anne! Happy blog anniversary.

A Book Buds fan,
Suan

[Susan T.]

Okay, I just misspelled my own name in that comment. More coffee, more coffee!

[Anne]

Thanks, Suan! A chicken spaghetti by any other name ...

Okay, off to make tea and hustle Seth out the door.

[Jen Robinson]

Happy Blogiversary, Anne! And thanks for your wise counsel. I'm still figuring it out for myself, but it is nice to not be alone... I say stick to your guns in providing the quality over the quantity - you seem to have plenty of fans as it is.

[Kelly]

Happy Anniversary, Anne! Your advice is always welcome :)

Here's to many more years!

[Sheila Ruth]

Happy Blogiversary, Anne, and thanks for being such a good influence on us all!

[MotherReader]

Well done and well said. Happy Blogiversary to you.

[Susan Taylor Brown]

Happy Blogiversary! A well-said post with much to remember, the heart of it of course is why we do it. Thanks for giving me juicy bits to mull over.

[Gregory K.]

Seriously now, are you sure it's not all about Sitemeter???

Happy Blogoversary, indeed. And as they say "...and many more!"

[Andrea Beaty]

Happy Blogaversary! And may you have a blogarific time celebrating!!!

The Three Silly Chicks!

[Mary Lee]

You are a great role model in the kidlitosphere. Congratulations on three years of blogging!

Mary Lee
A Year of Reading

[Anne]

Many thanks, all you crazy kids. See you around the blogosphere.

[cloudscome]

"small mitzvahs done with a glad heart" I really like this teaching! Happy Anniversary and thanks for the wise words.

[bookbk]

Happy belated blogiversary!