What To Say?

...Or, where to start? Well really it started with Julie. Maybe you know Julie? She's a friend and a blogger I like and admire very much; and I'm regularly to be found hoovering up whatever she has to say over at Notes On Paper. Now, Julie recently launched herself on a campaign: a 300 Comments In 30 Days Challenge.

She wrote about it; and then she wrote about it again, just to double check her readers understood she was on a course of discovery and investigation herself and not on a mission to lever comments in her own direction. Because what she felt like she'd started, she said, was a "Mexican wave of guilt"..

...actually, you should read what she wrote for yourself. If I quote any more I'd probably start breaching copyright law; and that's guilt of a different kind, in a librarian. Worse, even, than that time I tied a knot in a bow. See, Julie? Worms, snails: we've all done it.

I've done that other thing too. I've read, and hugely enjoyed, many posts; but I haven't said so. I've pinned pretty pages; but I haven't said "Thanks. I'd love to keep this pinned so I can look at it again." But that's one I'm going to make an effort with. (Solidarity in numbers, Julie! 300 in 30 days? I'm up for that!). Because the reason I started this blog in the first place was to meet other scrapbookers. I couldn't fine anyone round here who liked cutting and sticking. I had to search further afield; and when I discovered the cornucopia of scrapbooking talent spread across the internet, I decided the only way to make contact was to say hello. And it's a delight when someone replies. It really is.

Why I'm writing and not sticking. Or decluttering. Where to start?

Years ago on a forum I saw a thread about blog commenting. Someone said something along the lines that, although she had a blog, she had never understood why a reader would stop in to write "Hi. I like your layout today." Frankly, she said, she wasn't interested in that kind of bland comment. That brought me up short (-er than usual) because I did - and,yes, still do - write that if I mean it; because I'd always thought that, if I am short on time, a quick friendly hello is better than nothing . Maybe it isn't, though? That was a lightbulb moment for me, when I realised that we don't all put the same interpretation on, or look for, the same thing in someone else's reaction to what we write. I thought about it again recently when I joined Instagram. Until I started posting there myself, I had never, I have to admit, understood why so many erstwhile bloggers had converted. Now I get it. Now I see how easy it is and, with that information, I can understand why someone might comment there but not here (or any other blog). It's just a different way of doing the same thing. We aren't all the same, even in our little scrapbooking world. It would be reductive and silly to think so. But even so, even if you always take milk in your coffee while it makes me gag, maybe we're still - mostly - coming from the same place?

I came looking for a community and I found one. I wanted to be somewhere where others understood what I enjoyed doing. That's important, we're alwys hearing these days, for our mental health. Joining in, being a part of something bigger. We know it's good for us. That's why we encourage our children to sign up for school clubs, why we put our name down for swaps and that's why I hope to keep on saying hello.

Oh look: there's more. It's everywhere..

And why I want to thank Julie for generating the great discussion on her blog (seriously: read it if you haven't already); and thank anyone who has ever helped me to feel part of something bigger by leaving a few words here for me. Julie discovered that there's a measure of shyness out there, and even a little belief that whatever you have to say isn't worth the time it takes to type. Believe me, I think it's worth it. Some bloggers use comments as market research ( so in the spirit of Julie's put-it-right-out-there ideal, I'm just going to come right out and say I get fewer comments on my scrapbooking posts, so does that mean you don;t like my scrapbooking?) ; or as a bit of cheer on a grey day (yes, I've felt cheered too). Mostly, though, it's back to that community thing. If you like being part of it, then what you have to say is worth the hearing.

Now, if you have kept going to the end today...I'm delighted! Yes, of course I'd like to know what you think! But if you gave up halfway through or skipped to the end...no worries. I have only one thing to say about guilt. You can read as many blogs as you like without saying a word. Just never tie a worm in a bow. It won't thank you. And you'll be haunted by the look on its face for the rest of your life. Probably.

Me? Look out for me! I'm taking Julie up on her challenge. I'd like to try some investigation and discovery for myself. I could be coming your way...