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Rachael and Stacy
This is me and my friend Stacy, who authors the Down to Earth Digs blog. It’s so great to meet with fellow bloggers in person! Though Stacy and I cheated a bit–she and her family have been friends of my husband’s family for years and years, so we knew each other even before the Internet 🙂 This picture was taken at my niece Sarah’s wedding on Oct. 20.
I was really happy to reconnect with Stacy via WordPress and I’m so impressed with her blog that details her garden, animals, landscape, etc., at her home. She lives outside of Waseca, and I’m happy that she calls my hometown her adopted hometown. Country Gardens Magazine did a photo shoot at her place in July, so look for Stacy’s garden in the glossy pages of the magazine!
I’m glad she doesn’t live far from me because in the case of a nuclear winter, I’m heading right over to her house because I know her pantry is well-stocked with her plentiful produce! She could be transported back in time to 1933 and she would get along just fine. Whereas I would probably wither and die.
Do you have a “connecting with a blogger” story? I would like to meet more of you in person someday!
If You Have Five Seconds to Spare 
I’ve got 3 blog-connection stories, and the number is slowly growing. You were the first, Rachael. I have a feeling Stacy will be the 4th.
The outward growth is happening, for me, because someone I’m following (like you) posts about another blogger whose interests are my interests (like Stacy) and I start following the new connection (which I’m going to do).
I’m interested in real connections, based on real commonalities that would probably turn into real friendships in the real world.
“Real” as opposed to the “blogosphere” which of course is real, but is so new to me that it doesn’t yet feel entirely real. Or maybe it doesn’t feel real because there is always a “virtual” feeling about it, in the way so many people flit in and out my blog-arena like thoughts that haven’t yet formed into ideas, instead of like the flesh-and-blood people they must be, somewhere. Because of that, I’m getting to be like the Victorians, who demanded letters of introduction before they invited a newcomer in. I prefer to be “introduced” to a blogger by a blogger I already know and trust.
Also, I want connections I can keep up with. I’m not interested in trying to follow/read/comment on 500 blogs for the purpose of increasing my readership. And so, I’m selective, just as I’ve learned to be with social commitments. Something has to resonate deeply before I start commenting on someone’s blog–
and strangely, that resonance is turning out to be partly about content but more about geography/place. The topic has to interest me, but then, when the blogger has a connection to a place that is meaningful to me, I’m much more likely to believe that something “real” could happen between us.
Waseca and closely-surrounding places (approximately 30-mile radius) fit into my place-resonance map, which has to do with places I’ve lived, connected with important memories.
Tracy, I have always been skeptical about blogs, even when I was keeping a sporadic blog on Blogger. It just felt so, so difficult to actually make connections. But for some reason, this time around it’s easier. I feel like I’m making real connections. Maybe as a society we are just getting better at navigating this digital world and letting our real selves show through the screen. I also think it becomes easier to connect if you can connect with people through several different platforms, such as blogs, Facebook, Twitter, etc.
I like what you say about place. I do a lot of thinking about place and where I’m from. I always thought it was neat that I might not have anything in common with someone but if I find out that they are from the same place, instantly we have a connection. That actually just happened to me. A woman from Waseca approached me after she heard me read an excerpt from my book. I hardly know her at this point, but I already feel a “sisterly” connection! We had a great time talking about the mutual people we know.