So tell me about your website?
I’d just met my sister’s boy friend {let’s not get those two words too close together just yet, we might embarrass them} and he wanted to know more about what I did.
Him: Do you answer people’s questions? Are you helping them?
Me: No. Not really. I just write.
Him: About what?
Me: About my life.
Him: {puzzled look} About your life? I don’t get it.
Me: I just write about stuff that happens.
Sister: And she takes photos. Her photos are actually pretty good.
Him: So hang on, you take photos and write about your life. You don’t help people?
Me: No, I don’t help people. I just write. About things that happen. Things I’ve done. Things about being a Mum. Just stuff.
Him: I don’t get it.
Me: Yeah, it’s hard for some people to get it, I guess.
Him: So, will you write about tonight. What we did here?
Me: Yeah, probably.
Him: I bet you won’t write the words ‘off chops’. I bet you don’t put that on your blog.
Me: Hmmm….I might.
And now, I just did.
When did you first hear about blogs? Which was the first you stumbled across? Did you get it straight away? Did it make you want to start your own? Have you ever been… off chops?
*Off chops? I think that means drunk. Because on that night, they were very, very drunk.
How many websites out there help people anyway? Funny. Most sites are entertainment no?
I get the odd person look at me strange when someone says 'you should check out Liss, blog/website' etc. like I just stepped off a space ship.
If they do check it out though invariably they'll compliment me on it though. I suppose my blog does 'help' people.
What on earth does “off chops” mean? lol
“Off chops”??? Hmm. OK.
The first blog I ever read was Mamamia. Then, funnily enough, YOURS was the 2nd blog I ever found after I read one of your comments over there. From that point, I just blog-hopped further and further until I'd found a bunch of beautiful sites.
It took me a while for me to start my own, and even now, it's still a work in progress. And I don't help people! People help me more than anything… I often find myself asking for advice or opinions in my posts.
Some people just don't quite get the idea of blogging. They don't understand how freakin addictive it can be to both read and write them! xx
I started blogging way back in the Pyra days when you had to pay for a blog…2002?
It was just my “online diary”.
But it was totally private.
And then I “went public” in Jan 2008, so I always figure it took me about 6 years to write my first comment!
Hehehe….'off chops'??? what the?
I first came across blogs when I was in my first trimester with Ella in 2007. I started reading 'pregnancy / Mummy related blogs. I was hooked straight away!! So started my own in May of 2007 on a pregnancy website. I wrote about my life, the journey of pregnancy, the anticipation, the birth, and the first 6 months of Ella's life! I have saved all of that & love reading through it all!! Helps me remember the ups & downs…and joy! I then started my 'new' blog earlier this year to journal my business's growth & my life as a Mummy 🙂
And blogs like yours Chantelle…inspire me everyday 🙂
xo.
I also came across it by 'blog hopping', started with MammaMia, just reading it for comments, then realised reading actual blogs was even better! I've just started my own, and am finding it a bit scary to be honest. What tips would you give to 'newbies' about getting over that whole what can I/should I/shouldn't I write about? I'm the type of person who worries about what others think far too much!! 🙂
Chantelle!
You are helping people, you goose!
You help by:
1. Inspiring others.
2. Teaching new photographers to get out there and photograph with point and shoot.
3. Writing good content.
4. Sharing your blogging tips with your e book.
5. Inspiring others!
People only read blogs if they do “help” in some way. People come here because of all the different ways you do help them.
Now, go and show this to your sister's boyfriend.
Oh and I mean goose in the most loving way possible. 😛
I think you do help people though… haven't been a good blog visitor lately but your blog always make me smile or think or want to do stuff when I come by!
As for why I started blogging… mainly because it was a good place to put all the things I found that I liked! That simple really 🙂
I was about to say what Amanda said! YOU ARE HELPING PEOPLE, silly.
Writing can be theraputic, not just for the writer but for the reader too. You post alot of thoughtful things there and I think that helps people get thinking and seeing their life in a positive way.
I started blogging around 1996-97 – no such thing as 'blog hopping' back then but gradually I've seen the change. I can't remember the first blog I visited….
I'm with Jane – it was Mamamia, then you. People are so confused when I say I have a blog (a what?). Or they tell me I need to get a life because I spend too much time online. Right, thanks for that! I just say I love to write and it's really quite fulfilling.
The first blog I read was this one – yours 🙂 When you came into the forums and said you had started a blog I was like “she startd a what” and well the rest is history – my husband lost me to the laptop.
I disagree you aren't helping peole – my day always feels brighter once I have checked into the warm and sunny world of fat mum slim in the morning
i started a 'news' page in 1998 when blogs didn't exist…can't remember the first 'blog' i visited! too long ago!
doesn't off chops mean getting off your face?!
I started in 2004 I think? I never kept it up – it was more like an online diary (I think it was on live? something with a goat icon?) and some of my super cool friends had one too.
Then years later I discovered Kidspot and started blogging there. and now here too.
I get that people don't get it. It's new and different still – I guess.
As for “off chops” – yeah I've been there –
I first came across blogs when I was at home on maternity leave. I was watching Oprah and she interviewed Heather Armstrong, aka Dooce and I liked what I saw. Looked up her blog and then decided to do a bit more looking for Aussie Mummy Bloggers.
And after being inspired by so many lovely ladies, decided to start my own at the beginning of this year.
I've never heard of “off chops” before but I like it 🙂
BuBbles
x.
Well firstly, you *do* help people. When you write about issues that you struggle with (as you've done before), people relate and they realise they're not on their own. Then they get feedback from comments….that's helping.
A friend's Hubby suggested I start a blog (I write for my sons' school newsletter, so he had read my stuff there), and even though I knew about blogs, I had no idea what they were really.
The first blog I read was MM. No – not Mummy Mayhem, the slightly lesser known MM – Mamamia *cough*. Anyway, I decided to start a blog not long after that. I was hooked on commenting on posts, and sometimes my comments (like this one) were loooong, so I decided I needed my own blog to voice them!
And I love it!
But like you, I find people don't get it. They think, 'What's the point?' They'll get it. One day…
xx
I mocked my sisters for MONTHS about their blogs and then got hooked on reading theirs and then 'started a blog just for me, you know, like a journal' and then became obsessed with getting comments and then settled down about that and am now so enjoying the ride!
Your blog was my first blog I came across (I'm a freshie)I discovered you through Kidspot and now have spent the last 6 months stumbling through and reading some amazing blogs and am very badly attempting to blog myself!
Ahhhhh I have been off my chops before, wayyyyyyy back in the days before children!! lol I do love that terminology to be “off ya chops”!!! Almost as good as “drunk as a skunk” “maggotted” and “off ya face” !! lol xx
Your blog has helped me! You bring together people from all over with your lovely words and pictures. I guess it's hard for people to understand if they're not familiar with them…
Hahaha – yeah I have been “off chops” I try to keep it to a minimum seeing I still got to get up in the morning to little miss. Well yours was the first blog I ever read and continue to go to. And I would have to say that you did inspire me to start my own. It is still a work in progress…..
Off your chops – yeah I've heard it before and yes I have been there before!!!
I've been blogging since 2002. I had the one blog, mostly personal, for 6 years and then deleted it all on a whim one day. All my thoughts and what I'd done and all my hopes and dreams just gone… I regret it some days, most days I just regret not keeping all the posts private (though there were a lot of things on there holding me back).
I'm a lazy blogger and a lazy blog reader. Still haven't found a topic I can keep up with… hoping it happens soon xo
I found your blog through the vogue forums- I think I jumped links and found yours. I never knew people wrote their own blogs, though I had to do one for uni and that was by force! Even though I don't have one of my own, I love reading your blog each day.
I heard about blogs back in '04 or so, on the radio. In '09 I started my blog, and began exploring. The first one I stumbled on was called “She in China”. I think yours was about the 5th one I started following. Thankfully, I've never been “off chops”!
*p.s. i think blogs help people, they allow people to see the world from another person's perspective. and probably grab a little encouragement along the way 🙂
I think I saw my friend Gretchen's blog on facebook and I was intrigued. I thought it was such a fun idea to have a record of our lives. A sort of public record. So I just started. At first, for like a year, I would tell my sister and my friends and no one could care less : ) and then other bloggers started to visit and suddenly, it was a community!
I am glad I learned what off chops was : )
Honestly, I can't remember the first blog I ever read. I started blogging because I love writing. And I never thought about other people reading it until recently. But I have the same problem you did with your sister's boyfriend when people ask me what my blog's about. It's like a Seinfeld episode — sort of about nothing, but I think I say a lot. Or at least ramble with gusto.
Hi!
Just letting you know I gave you an award over at:
http://weheartlife.com/2010/07/versatile-bloggers/
<3
A close friend told me I needed to start one.
I didnt get it, but I started one anyway. I still am confused as to why I did it, in the beginning.
I enjoy sharing my life and happenings when theres no-one home but my dog to talk to. I still dont really know why its so uplifting to recieve nice refreshing comments from strangers (not any more) about everyday struggles and crafting achievements
but it is.
Ive definitely been 'off my chops' on a number of occasions but because im a vodka girl I can wake up without a headache.
I spent my Friday night trying to explain blogging to someone who'd never read one. It's not easy. But it's fun. 🙂
off chops! tee hee.
A couple of my friends understand blogging and my dad reads my blog, but everyone else in my life just doesn't get it. If makes me feel like I'm a little bit of a freak sometimes. *shrug*
Well I am still a relative newcomer to blogs and yours was the first that i 'read' and I only frequent 2!
I don't think it 'helps' me, but I obviously get something out of it or I wouldn't read 🙂
As for “off chops”, i know the term as being “off your chops”, but yeah it's been frequented here … in the past!