Why I love blogging

With the blog's one-year anniversary approaching, I've been thinking a lot about how fantastically fun this blogging year has been. Here's my list of 10 reasons why I love blogging:

1. I have a short attention span. Really, I do! As much as I love to write, I tend to get distracted from longer projects. Blogging is perfect because I can write shorter snippets than allowed in academic writing (which I still do!), and go where my attention takes me.

2. I love to know people are reading. In academic writing, it is said that an average of 8 people read an academic article. Thanks to the fact that people comment and sign up as followers, and that SiteMeter tells me how many people pop in to read the blog, I know I'm reaching more than 8 people!

3. I love the people who are reading and commenting and following. I feel really fortunate that the regular readers here are totally cool people! Yes, I mean you! I've learned a lot from you, and truly appreciate my indefatigable commenters like Lisa and Mei-Ling and Osolomama and Wendy just to name a few -- the ones I can ALWAYS count on to comment! Thanks to you all!

4. I love to hear different viewpoints. That's why I love comments so much. The first thing I do each morning is check for comments on the blog. It's nice to hear when people agree with what I wrote, or find it helpful, or thought it was funny, but it is equally nice to see people raise points I hadn't thought of or considered, and given my weird personality, it is equally nice when someone argues thoughtfully that I'm just dead wrong!

5. I love to make people think. I really never care whether anyone agrees with me; the nicest compliment I can ever get is "you made me think," not "I agree with you!" In that way, the blog is an extension of what I do in my law school classroom -- I'm asking people to consider different points of view, not to adopt my point of view!

6. I love to think I'm helping people. Like the person who made the search, "Chinese mothers abandoning thier daughters," and then spent 40 minutes at the blog. I like to think they left with a better understanding of Chinese birth mothers. Like the person who came to the blog with a search, "responding to 'not my real mom.'" I know she/he found resources to help. I love the reader who complimented me about the resource list and linked blogs by saying, "I've always known the stuff was out there, but you did all the work for me!"

7. I love being part of a dialogue. When another blogger links to one of my posts, or I link to another blogger's posts, I very much appreciate the expanded discussion. That's especially true when the dialogue includes birth mothers and adult adoptees as well as adoptive parents. And I'm thrilled when bloggers include me on their blog rolls. I have a real sense of membership in a larger adoption community.

8. I love finding new blogs to read. There are lots of intriguing blogs and websites out there, and I've found some really cool ones by backtracking references to my blog in other blogs. And then many of those blogs have become my favorites!

9. I love thinking and learning. I'm one of those people who process things by writing about them. As I write a post, I'm actually thinking through my position, my beliefs, my basis of information. I'm then sometimes led to research a bit more about an issue, and that new information then gets processed in my writing. So I'm learning new things and thinking through my opinions all the time.

10. I love talking about my kids. What parent doesn't?! While I try to narrow what I talk about to adoption issues, it's still fun talking about my kids! Because they are completely amazing and wonderful and adorable and smart and curious and challenging. Mostly this blog is about helping me to help them.