I’ve been alerted to the fact that my post this morning was a bit too bloggy for my non-blogging blog readers. I’m sorry about that. Someone who has NEVER ONCE left me a comment said my blog is “getting blogged down in all the blogocentricities of the blogosphere.”

OK … I can’t help it. This is just what happens. I’ve seen a slow evolution occurring in the blogosphere. Here are four things I’ve noticed happening lately:

1) Some people just get sick of blogging and quit. When you go to their site, you see a last post that says something like, “Good-bye, y’all. It’s been real.”

2) Some people enjoy the online journaling part, but not the whole bloggy comments thing, so they turn their comments off and say something along the lines of, “Please contact me by email only.” This is how I started out my blog because I was afraid I’d get spammed all the time. There is certainly nothing wrong with this, and it’s useful for many people.

3) Others will go commercial with their blogs and start accepting paid advertising. Why not? What’s the difference between a blog and a newspaper? How do editors and writers make a living? From advertising. Or the blogs become part of the person’s overall for-profit or not-for-profit business. (For example, to build up expertise or leadership skills.)

4) Some people just keep on going, year after year. I don’t know any of these people yet.

I enjoy participating in the Carnival of Beauty because I spend time thinking deeply about a topic and writing out my best. But if I did this every day, I’d have nothing left to submit for publication — to places that actually pay for writing. This is what I do “behind the scenes” of my blog — I submit articles and stories for publication. Once something is posted online, you can’t submit it for first rights anymore. So, your payment might be zero, as compared to several hundred dollars for first rights.

It would be easier to post all of my favorite ideas and stories online, but it would also be lazy of me. It’s hard to submit for publication because you have to seek out the exact editor who might want to buy your story, and you get REJECTED a lot. You get these nice form letters that tell you, “Thanks, but no thanks.”

People have to eat, you know. And our five kids have the stubborn habit of outgrowing their clothes and shoes. But I do love the people out here in the blogosphere — I’d miss out on an awful lot of fellowship if I only wrote for print publications.

Here’s a nice picture so my post is not all bloggy: