Who Reads This Stuff?

Evidently more people than I first thought.

When a person (specifically, me) writes a blog post it seems so private, like say, to be kept among family and friends. Actually blogging is so out there. Certain phrases or key words catch someone's attention whether it be within the body of a blog post or in the author's profile.

I say this as a warning to watch what I say. As if the pictures of my followers - most of whom I don't know - don't prove the openness of this medium then recent comments and emails do.

There are those who responded to something from my genealogy posts because they recognized a highlighted name or other detail. If the post was about one of my own ancestors I replied and signed my real name to facilitate the sharing of our mutual research goals. (Side note: There is nothing special about the anonymity of this blog. Anyone who knows me, knows me and anyone who doesn't gets weeded out in a hurry when they send me requests to join Facebook that say "Hi Karabeth!Remember me? I sat next to you in high school English! Join Facebook and be my friend." Um, give me a break! Bill Murray used that line in the movie Groundhog Day in order to seduce one of the Punxsutawney women. There is more than enough information included here to expose my identity, but some anonymity has helped to keep a few weirdos at bay. PS.  Sorry Punxsutawney for the misspelling in the original of this post.)

There are those who contacted me after I mentioned I'd read certain books. That has happened a couple of times in the last week thanks to my list from 2010. Who knew that the authors and their agents kept such close tabs on things? It makes sense, though, doesn't it? As Dan Miller said in his book, marketing the product could be the difference between success and failure. Okay, I'm paraphrasing. And Dan Miller isn't one of the authors that contacted me, but if he sees this and wants to confirm or deny my paraphrase he's more than welcome to do so.

There are those whose digital designs I've used (in the whole 2 weeks I've been digitally scrapbooking here) that have thanked me for using their products. Okay, one is my friend, Vicky, but truly, it was unexpected to receive a word from Kim telling me that she liked how I'd used her items to make my Family of Faith page.

There were several unknown individuals who contacted me requesting the Bible reading schedule in file format. I suspect now that there were more who followed last year's schedule than I originally suspected. I thank you for your encouragement, both in using the schedule and in helping to keep me on track. Yes, I need the accountability, too. Aren't Christians supposed to encourage each other to good works? Hmm. I think I read that somewhere. :) (cf. Hebrews 10:24)

I've also received offers from educational software and curriculum developers that want me to try their products and write a review. So far, I have not taken advantage of these offers and the blog has remained non-monetized. However, I wouldn't be adverse to trying a product and writing a review if it actually fit my focus group. The days of spelling, learning to read, math manipulatives and other early-to-mid childhood education topics are long over in this homeschool. {sob}

What I need are programs that teach

• Physics,
• Calculus, and
• Spanish.

So if you have developed quality products for homeschooled high school students that you wish me to review, then we just might be able work out a mutually beneficial arrangement because evidently there are more people who come across this blog than we might think.