Diary of a Wimpy Blogger

Okay, I must admit that I'm still learning about how to be a good blogger. I know I don't really have a focus to the blog - beyond occasional posts about my journey to become a published author, or various blog entries about what little I've learned about writing or my mantra of living your life with passion, perseverance, patience and positivity (have to work harder to make more blog entries on that last topic!). Here and there I'll have blog entries on movies, tv, kids and the various ephemera of life. Once in a while I will blog on a book that has impacted me or my kids significantly enough to warrant what I hope will be a thoughtful, or at the very least heartfelt, blog post. I try to respond to the blog comments as I'm always surprised and grateful when someone bothers to stop by and read what I've written. But sometimes I miss those comments and the opportunity to respond. I was reminded of how much a comment from a blog reader can make your day when I was checking into some old posts last night.

Every once in a while I'll check and see how people end up here at Out of the Wordwork. Like fellow Blueboarder Mary Witzl's post recently about how many of her blog readers came to her via a post on eating slugs (!) I know that how a person stumbles on to a blog can be quite a random thing. For example, a lot of my visitors seem to stop by when searching out info on Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Not surprising since it is a hugely popular series and its author, Jeff Kinney, is a star amongst mothers who have young sons who don't want to read. Except for Mr. Kinney's books. Hence my October 15, 2009 blog post on Boys, Books and Diary of a Wimpy Kid.

Basically the Wimpy Kid post tried to figure out why these books were so popular with boys - especially my boy. I don't know if I quite figured it out (who can figure out a phenomenon?) but I had my theory. Anyway, I wrote it, checked back a couple of days later and didn't notice any commentary then promptly forgot about it until I read it over again last night - and noticed there was a comment on it. Huh. I clicked on it and this is what it said:

I loved your blog post, Nelsa! Thank you so much for your insight. I think I learned something here :)
October 20, 2009 1:46 PM

Nice, huh?

Even nicer when I found it was from - wait for it … JEFF KINNEY, the author of the Diary of a Wimpy Kids books!

Colour me shocked. Seriously, I almost fell off my chair. I DID fall off my chair when I realized he had made the comment in October and I hadn't noticed it until 3 MONTHS later!! My son (a tried and true Kinney fan as well) just shook his head in disgust at my oversight and said, "Geez, Mom. How could you miss that??" momfail

Now, Mr. Kinney did make the comment 5 days after I wrote the post and I had already moved on to another post by then, but really people, The Boy is right. How could I have missed this??? I mean, not that Mr. Kinney and I would have ever gotten into a blog comment back and forth or anything. The man kind of has a few other things on the go, right? But I'm a serious fan girl of his books and for him to take the time - Jeff Kinney!!! - to comment on my little blog entry when there are probably a gazillion other mentions of how awesome his books are and what an impact they make on boys and reading that missing his comment was truly a hit-your-head-against-a-wall kind of moment.

So, my take away lesson from this? Pretty obvious but sometimes I do need to be hit over the head:
Check on your comment section for at least a week after you've made the post, people. It's nice if a favourite author of yours stops by but appreciate that every comment posted is precious and you lose out on the possibilities of connecting with other people who have taken the time to read - and write about - what you've posted. Thank people for stopping by. I know I've probably missed some awesome comments from great people and for that I do apologize. I'm still learning how to navigate this blogger and twitter world thing and, like everything else, I strive to improve.

And just for the record?

Thank you so much, Mr. Kinney, for your comment. Please know that I didn't mean to ignore it but, like your creation Greg, I sometimes am a little clueless about stuff. Rest assured, my son got a huge kick out of my head-banging but, most especially, your comment. Once again, you have entertained him immeasureably. I will always, always be grateful for you and your books and the reading pleasure they gave my son. Thank you!