Confessions of an ADHD Blogger

The first time I ever heard the word blog, it was described to me as an online journal. Immediately, I had images of reading page after page of mundane, dreary tasks written by a mundane, dreary person. What possible interest would I have in reading about someone that couldn't convince his cat to use the litter box - or was desperately trying to replace his wife after she was granted a divorce on the grounds of extreme boredom?

Needless to say, it took me a while to actually investigate the world of blogging. Once I did, I was pleasantly surprised. Although I did come across bloggers who didn't seem to have a life, I also found some very useful, interesting and/or funny blogs. They got my attention. My next rational step, of course, was to start a blog of my own.

There are numerous places all over the web to set up a blog and develop a social network for free. That was the easy part. My enthusiasm combined with my lack of focus was my downfall. I hit my first wall when setting up a blog that asked what the subject matter of my blog would be. I get just one topic? Help!

For those sites, I did the only thing I could do. I picked a broad, generic topic (like humor) then I found other venues for my other fascinations. It was a simple solution. Unfortunately, it created a host of more complicated problems. My little notepad where I keep user names and passwords was quickly filling up. And every time I needed it, it got harder and harder to find the login information for my neglected blogs, patiently waiting for me to post my next entry.

Imagine my dismay when I realized that each blog had other tasks for me besides posting entries and reading other blogs. With the first comment I got on a blog entry, it suddenly occurred to me that there were friendships to establish and maintain. My first thought was, "Cool! I love making new friends!". Then the second thought hit me. Making new friends is a lot of fun, but it takes time and effort to maintain those friendships. Neglected blogs wait for you. Neglected friends lose interest and leave, and I didn't want that.

So, sharing my clever insights with the world had to wait. I shifted my thoughts into the "being a friend" mode. I had my work cut out for me. I dug out my little notepad and revisited all of my blogs and social networking sites. It's easy to accept an add-friend request, but I also had to read more entries and leave comments - just like my new friends had done for me. I was kind of caught in a cycle for a while, since while I was tending to friends on one site; more friends were visiting my other sites.

You would think that as long as it took for me to get into a rhythm of writing articles/building friendships, I would have learned my lesson. Think again. I learned so many cool things from reading other people's articles that my browser's bookmarks folder began to overflow. Learning to automatically post the same entry from one site to multiple others alleviated my guilt over neglecting some blogs, but it also gave me time to mentally wander even more.

My next step - cash! I admit, I was leery the first time I heard about sites paying for articles. But I took to this new adventure quickly. Granted, not all of my projects panned out, but those that did built up my enthusiasm that much more. My new motto - "I babble, therefore I'm paid". Not only can I write on any topic that suits my inconsistent moods, I have access to scores of informative articles in a wide array of topics for me to learn from.

I'm sure that as the tangled web we weave expands, I will find many more distractions and activities to pursue. As my daughter puts it, I have ADOS. Attention Deficit...Oooh, Shiny!