I see blogging as a real adventure. It reminds me of messages in bottles that I used to cast out to sea, as a child ~ never knowing where the bottle would land; who would open the bottle and what he/she would do with my message?
There are people who are into messages in bottles and who recognise them the minute they see them tossed up on a beach ~ because they too have probably flung bottles into ebbing tides in the hope that magic would happen.
Blogging is like a ‘grown-up’ version of all that. I never have a notion when I post a blog where it will end up. Will anyone read it? Will anyone respond? And I’d have to say that I’m still amazed by the posts that draw comments and those that don’t.
I’m wondering am I alone in this or have the rest of you got to grips with what ‘rocks readers’ boats?’
I’d be delighted to hear about your experiences! Meanwhile, I think I’ll head to the beach and launch a message in a bottle and see what happens. I wonder does the type of bottle matter and presumably ‘childish’ writing would be more likely to garner a response, or would it?
SOCIAL BRIDGE ~ Jean Tubridy connecting with you from Ireland 
A very magical metaphor Jean. There can be so much trepidation about sharing in the wide expansive ocean of the internet, the fears of what wild beasts and dangerous sea creatures there are out there that many stay safe on shore. I have shared this post w my blogging group 🙂
Thanks Anne. You’ll be interested to hear that I thought I saw a whale out at Garrarus yesterday. Maybe it was just a rock but one that was never there before!
Awesome! Short and sweet. Loved reading it. I am glad, I followed your blog. Keep it up. Wish you all the best. Great!
Hi BJ, many thanks for writing and I’m delighted that you have no regrets about following my blog! Watch out, though, you’d never know where it could take you!
I love the metaphor of the message in a bottle!
Hi Shelly, thanks for writing. Are you a message in the bottle type of person? I got a lovely letter once from a teenager who had found a message that I threw into the ocean in an old lemonade bottle.
Hello! I’d like to think I am a message in the bottle type person… but I’m not sure if I’ve ever actually done it. Maybe I’ll make it a point to send one off into the sea this summer and we’ll see where it ends up!
As a fellow blogger, I am always amazed at what gets comments and what does not. Even on Facebook short posts, I am amazed at what gets liked and what goes uncommented. I love getting your blog. I find it a breath of fresh air in my urban jungle. It always instills a moment of peace, and it reminds me of having a pen pal back in my childhood. A little slice of life from a foreign shore is always welcomed, even if I don’t comment on it. Thanks for continuing to share.
Sandy, thanks so much for such a lovely comment. I’m very conscious of ‘urban jungles,’ having lived in Dublin for almost 20 years before settling here in Tramore. I think urban and not-so-urban have lots to offer but whatever else, I know I can’t live away from the sea.
I used to have pen pals too. I never, ever got to meet any of them ~ something I regret now. Have you met any of yours?
No, I never met any of my pen pals. Oh wait, I used to correspond with a soldier friend of my brother when he was in Vietnam. I’d just make up the most fantastic stories to entertain him. I did get to meet him once after he was shot and returned to the U.S. Fortunately he was only injured minimally and healed well. Six of my friends from high school were not so lucky. In a small town, that many boys from one small high school was crazy. Oh well, a long time ago. When I was studying French in school, I had a French pen pal, but I no longer remember her name or any of the correspondence, nor most of my French. Still it was exciting in a small Midwestern U.S. town in Illinois to have such an exotic pen pal. Now I have fans from Thailand, India, the Phillipines, and I reconnected with a French boy I met when I was 16 on a bus from Houston. I found him on FB and we exchanged memories. The internet is brilliant and so expands our world connections. Thanks again for engaging us.
Aha! I love that suggestion…..and I know exactly what you mean…..one of my most popular posts was one about some tiny wood mice that emerged from a nest while I was weeding…..went a bit viral……never had any other to beat it……you just never know!!! I still don’t Jean….
Hi Catherine, you make me smile! I think I’d have gone a bit viral if tiny wood mice emerged from a nest while I was weeding. I wonder why mice and the like continue to freak me out after all these years?
I guess it’s ‘the never knowing’ about blog posts that keeps us on our toes. On the other hand, there are some posts that I would have paid someone to let me writ. They are the one’s that I feel need to be written and if no one else sees that need, it doesn’t matter entirely but I somehow always feel a bit surprised.
Great comparison of blogging to messages in a bottle. Just write and pitch it out there. Life is full of mysteries and surprises for those who dare.
Hi Philospher, many thanks for writing. Nice to know this one landed on your shore!
hey, i think I was on the bridge!
Carrie, you’re going to have to explain as I’m all curious here.