I finish typing and re read my post.
“Wow this one is, if I may say it, Good!”.
I press publish.
Big smile.
Dare I hope “freshly pressed material?”.
Moments later.
Hello? I’ve posted!
Anyone out there?
I have quite a few followers.
Hello, where are you?
Its been ten minutes.
No star.
Oh dear God I forgot to check,
have I over tagged?
Am I not available on freshly pressed topics?
Oh no. Worse again. I have tagged correctly.
What is the problem?
What time is it?
Maybe everyone is busy.
What time is it in America?
Or India?
“Feck”, they are not asleep.
Maybe it is a special holiday,
or the day after a holiday?
(Here in Ireland we understand,
what it is like to wake up the day after a holiday!)
Nope not a holiday.
Time is marching on.
No star.
No comment.
No follower ( not even someone promoting their blog!)
Quickly re check stats.
Heart sinks.
People have read it.
No one “likes” it.
I re read my awesome post.
Somehow it doesn’t seem so clever now.
In fact it is really bad.
What a rubbish post.
An embarrassment.
What was I thinking?
I close the laptop,
and try to carry on with normal life.
Thoughts such as walking away from blogging,
never writing again,
or quickly posting something better,
spring to mind.
I avoid my blog for another half hour.
Then, unable to resist,
I check in for a hypothetical two minutes.
I don’t even sit down,
in order to prove to myself, I am uninterested,
and not heartbroken by my followers lack of love.
Then I see it.
A star.
With a comment, “I liked your post etc”.
My heart lifts.
I smile.
Somebody “likes” me.
I knew it was a good post all along.
I am a great writer.
I hum to myself,
and bask in the glory of my own genius.
…..My mum is still visiting but the urge to write has got to me.
Definitely not freshly pressed material,
but not a re post either!
photo credit: miguelavg via photopin cc
photo credit: fazen via photopin cc
My thoughts on a page. 
I enjoy your posts so much! I was also the first to like! 🙂
Thank you! You put me out of my misery very early! 🙂
I like it….here I am!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Working on my post and not liking my own so easily distracted to every one else popping up!!! Star!
Ha ha. I am just getting to my blog for the first time today. Itching to read my reader, so I will catch up on you there. Get back to your writing ! 🙂
Ha! I hope my new blog doesn’t shock anyone! 🙂
It is just a quick little note playing on something my friend called me. 😉
I am intrigued. It is very hard to shock me!
Well…..the word “whore” is put to use! 🙂
Here in Ireland we have a more friendly word for whore, it is “Striapach” ( pronounced as straypuck). Maybe that is what she meant!
🙂 I like that. I think. Though when you read the post it will make sense. Straypuck. I will have to remember it as it sounds. Though I don’t plan on calling anyone that! 🙂
Yeah, it can be like that sometimes, it is like to talking into the great big void when nobody likes or comments.
I am a great writer.
I hum to myself,
and bask in the glory of my own genius.
I know the feeling. Isn’t it funny how one piece of encouragement can change your whole outlook.
Yes. I wrote this in response to the Daily Post telling us to stop watching stats. They made the point it can affect what you think of your own writing, ie if you think you wrote a great piece and only a handful clicked “like” you might begin to think less of it, and vice verse. I think they were right. The thing is despite feeling dejected or useless I think if you want to write you will.
But it is so much easier with good vibes around you! Great to see you reading my posts. I do appreciate it.
As you’ve probably gathered, I’m not the greatest fan of the LIKE button.
Since WP introduced it, the level of commenting and actual interaction on the MadHatters has declined. People now feel that they can just click the bloody button and then move on.
Blogs thrive on comments, banter, thought-provoking exchanges and a shared sense of humour.
How many online friendships have been built around some lazy git merely claiming to like another’s work, yet not being either inspired or imaginative enough to actually comment on it?
Not many!
I once posted this to try and trap a few serial ‘likers’, but ended up attracting proper comments instead. It just goes to show how much I know, I suppose.
Ha ha. I just read it and “liked” it. Am ridiculously pleased with myself now!
I try to remember not to like your posts but sometimes I forget. If I do press it though I do “like” it. I do however love to comment. You are right it is at the heart of blogging and even though I never did social media, I do really enjoy my blogging interactions especially with those I interact with regularly.
Oh and by the way, feel free to “like” on my posts, I am quite happy with ficke!
One other tip:
Lots of people looking and few people liking can mean that the post wasn’t what they expected when they clicked on it. My post for today seems to be like that.
And then sometime next week I’ll release a really dopey one-liner and get piles of likes. Such is blogging.
Yes it is best to just think of the writing I think and enjoy.
You wrote the most important words that should have dispelled all your fears…YOU LIKED IT! I write posts that I love and some I think are shabby…but readers sometimes feel the opposite! I gave up trying to outguess them and just write for me!
And, by the way, you are a great writer!
Thank you, that is a great compliment coming from you! I wrote this very much tongue in cheek. It is in a sense an exaggeration of my reaction to each post I publish. I was intrigued to think that I might be influenced in my writing by how others react online, especially as outside factors like numbers online and reading are not necessarily known to me. I do tend to go by my instincts mostly though.
I love this, and it’s amazing how much my (writing) self-esteem can momentarily be buoyed by some people “liking” and commenting on a post. Or others sharing it on FB really makes me happy! I’m procrastinating writing a post of my own, so enjoying reading others’ blogs…It’s hard not to take in the response as a true assessment of the quality of the writing, even when we know something we’ve written really “feels” right.
Can you say more about how to make a post available on Freshly Pressed Topics? Thanks! Or I can search and see what I learn…
Yes it is funny how easily swayed we are. I have read blogs where I didn’t really think the post was great and so many many people “liked” it. I often wonder if it is past work over many years that they remain loyal to.
As far as I know to be on freshly pressed topics you just add those categories before you post and those categories and tags combined must be less than 15 I think. When you post if you go to freshly pressed and click on one of the categories you chose you should see your post. If not you have added too many tags. Try it and see how it goes, more people may see your posts. If you want just email me and I will answer more fully.
Thanks! I’ll check it out.
I would have read it sooner, but still real worried about these damn bears!! You’re a wonderful writer…. Forge on good buddy!!:)
Ha ha. Thanks a million. I am not a fortune teller, but I do not see you being eaten by a bear in the near future! I had a friend once in Australia, and when we went camping she was 100% convinced she would be bitten by a snake. (Take note here)…. She was never bitten.:)
That’s one of the things about blogging. You click publish, and then? Life resumes around you and you step back into it. Meanwhile, someone/s might just read your words. And you may never know what they made of them! Such an act of faith!!
I agree. I remember a few months ago when I began to blog I never for a minute thought anyone would read what I wrote. Those first few days when I saw anyone liked a post I stopped everything to check them out. I have to admit I still love comments and likes. I don’t think I will ever get used to the fact someone somewhere read what I wrote.
Thanks for the comment.
I haven’t been on wordpress much this week. Had been down with a cold bug so didn’t have much energy to read or write. If it helps, your blog is one of those that I make a point to read when I’m on 🙂 a star for this post!
Hope you are feeling a bit better. Thank you for your kind words. I hope my posts managed to make you smile this week.
Reblogged this on Bastet and Sekhmet and commented:
Ah…such an great poem…and mybe we won’t admit it but we all know the feeling well! Thanks for writing this and sharing!
You’re not the only one, tric – the first thing I do when I logon to wordpress in the morning is to check our stats. Most of our readers are in the USA so our stats re visitors are very much linked to the time difference between the UK and the USA and of course we always get a dip around USA holidays. But sometimes our visitor stats go up and down like a yo-yo for no reason that I can come up with so I try to ignore them and pay them no attention – but I can’t help but look
every 1/2 hourperiodically throughout the day 😳I’m really chuffed when someone likes a post because it’s like leaving a calling card – they’re no longer an anonymous reader but someone who’s blog I can visit in turn to find out more about them. I’ve discovered some great blogs this way !
P.S. I share your puzzlement over the number of ‘likes’ some posts get. I have read some blog posts that amount to something more like a status update on Facebook, e.g.,
sorry, guys, got a bit rat-arsed last night so no posts today
and 1200 people have liked it 😯
why ????
Yes I love to see new “likes” as for me I can then go meet them on their own site. Recently I have begun to get a bigger audience ( which I am thrilled about) but it is harder to go meet everyone quickly.
For me though it is my addiction to writing which is still the driving force. As you say sometimes I am amazed at how some posts get so many likes. Imagine how many views they get!
But that is just me and you looking over the neighbours fence and wondering. As long as our own little back garden is good I suppose we should be content.:)
Aw, Tric 🙂 You’ve put your finger on how much blogging is as much about recognition as writing… Maybe that’s why I have trouble motivating myself to write my book. Immediate gratification and reassurance that what we write has brought some happiness and isn’t just lost in cyberspace is rewarding and reassuring. BUT what is important is to write: visits go up and down, readers come and go, sometimes returning after months of absence…. Don’t worry, WRITE 🙂
I’m here, Tric, albeit a little late. It is puzzling and I think that is what keeps me going sometimes. There’s a missing piece and I’m going to find it one day. It’ll probably turn up in the least likely of places.
Ha ha. If you find it you will make a fortune. I enjoyed writing this as it is a bit of a dig at our fragility as writers. As you know I do like to laugh at myself (or my husband!) regularly.:)
My thoughts exactly, lol. 😉
I’m on a bit of a hiatus and not reading a lot, so you should feel honored. Or honoured. Whichever.
I am greatly honoured! Thanks a mil. Enjoy your break!
ok now you have 49 likes! hehehe! we all need encouragement, but fortunately we still keep writing with or without them.
I am blown away by the reception this post got. I wrote it in jest as an observation as to how fragile our egos are. Looks like a lot of people could identify. All my posts will look sad in the “like” department after this one.:)
Holy cow, Tric! I haven’t been doing much on WP this week and when I saw this in the Reader and the 52 likes I thought maybe you’d gotten Freshly Pressed! I always like your posts, lately if I’m reading blogs it’s on my phone while my teenager practices driving and I often get distracted and click out of something before hitting like… I try to tell myself everyone else is doing the same when a post I write goes unnoticed. 🙂
But yeah, when you write something and are all “Hell YEAH, they are gonna LOVE that!” and you get the sound of crickets….agh. It’s the WORST! In the meantime, someone else posts a cute cat picture and gets 983 likes in under an hour… seriously.
Oh no, I totally didn’t realize you had a cat picture on this post after scrolling down! No offense to the kitty picture! Sorry kitty… LOVE YOU KITTY!!!
Oh that was my favourite comment ever! I have rarely posted a cat picture so now I am wondering will I write a new cat blog? It would just have pictures on it and the odd word or two.
I was gobsmacked at the reaction to this post especially as I wrote it very quickly very late at night( with the help of a small amount of wine in my system). I was telling my husband that it got a load of “likes” and he commented ” a post about posting, of course it will get some likes!”. I certainly wouldn’t get a big ego with him around. I am glad you liked it, without even seeing the cute kitty!
Thanks for telling the whole world what goes on in our heads when we post! 🙂
\o/
Ha ha. It is so true for so many of us! 🙂
Yeah, well now I feel butt-naked. 😉
(Love your posts – hear anything about the contest yet?)
\o/
We are all in the same boat!
I think nominations go on until next week and I have no idea what happens after that. I would be so thrilled if I got shortlisted but I would assume there are a huge number of blogs out there. I will let you know if I hear anything. And if I don’t I will be looking for sympathy!
Noted – but prayerfully unnecessary! 😉
\o/
🙂
Really good…but sadly enough I recognize myself somewhere there…Well done sharing though! Thank you!
I think it is in all of us!
😉 Maybe we should do something about it if it becomes an obsession…
Well, I am your 57th like and umpteenth commenter. What you wrote made me smile. I can relate.
Thank you. It has amazed me how many people saw this post and “liked” it. I suppose it just shows that we all write differently but underneath we are all very alike. Although as one of my regular commenters pointed out there was also a cute kitten picture!
Thank you for your “like”, I still appreciate every one of then.
Oh this is fantastic! I have had this same conversation with myself! Love it! 🙂
Judging by the number of views this very simple post got I think we all think alike!
Yup that would be my guess! 🙂
I don’t even think that anyone is reading what I post. I have very few people come by but those who do are kind and encouraging. I think the topic I blog about is seriously important albeit a sad one. It is my life now. BTW, I pressed “like” AND commented 🙂
Thanks 🙂 Yes your blog is very specific but it is a niche that is badly needed. I think your site is excellent, so much information but with a human angle. Thanks for calling by. Did you check out Forever21 s blog? I think you two have a lot in common.
Yes, I am following Denise. I feel so very badly for anyone in this position. She is still in the very newness of this dark grief. I pray for peace and strength for all moms who have lost a child.
I have only recently started blogging and I know exactly how this feels!! Just one star…please! Really like your blog
Thanks Deb. I’m glad you enjoyed it and my blog.
I can relate to this, Tric. First of all, I just checked the 73 bloggers (and counting) that have already liked this post and I am embarrassed that I was not one of them, until now. I must have missed this great post. I follow over 160 blogs. It is my ritual to scroll through the reader and try to read as much as possible. I sincerely wish I could quit my day job to read blogs. I love to comment and hit the “like” button because I believe that’s what this blogging community is all about. Otherwise we’d just write in a journal and throw it under our bed, like old times.
The orange, the orange…..I hear you! I love the orange too!! Sometimes I write something that I think was a winner and receive little response. Other times I throw it together and strangely enough, it is a hit. I am sometimes baffled at how little response I get in proportion to my followers. Many, I suppose just do not care to comment. I am also fascinated by the number of followers some have in such a short period of time. I’m not sure it it relates to twitter and facebook, which I do not share my blog openly with. Anyways, here’s to another year of good writing! I love your blog! 🙂
Thanks a million. I too so love to read other blogs in my reader and sometimes, like today, I’m so far behind that I’d love to tell everyone to leave so I can just sit down and catch up.
I love your “ah the orange”. It really is a drug. This particular post I wrote in minutes and posted so quickly and it just took off.
Funnily enough even though I’m a bit more experienced I still feel, just as I describe here, every time I post.
Happy new year to you and happy blogging 2014
Ha Ha. On a scale of 1 to 10, I have peed my pants. Well…not quite. But close. Really really really close. Of course I had contributions from the lamb stew…and the copious amounts of…say no more! say no more!
No, really it was quite lovely…and I have felt more than a few times…in the distant past. Of course, now that i am more mature, I do not have to wait for the star to appear. It won’t shatter my ego…as long as I have my chocolate, and my…
Oh I still wait for that magic star to appear so perhaps I need to mature a little bit more.