Challenging myself

I have been on blogger for almost 8 months now and I wonder about my readership.  Does it really matter?  Of course it does.  Yes, I love to write and I would write irrespective, but the thrill of having people read my work, makes everything suddenly more worthwhile.  I guess, it's a form of validation.  I try to think of ways to get my blog more readers.  Well, to be honest, I am clueless about such things.  How does someone find my blog anyway?

I wondered about how people got chosen for "Blogs of note" and looking it up on google, I realize it's really random.  Or so they say?  Also, I notice there are a lot of bloggers out there.  When I say a lot, I mean a lot.  How does one compete with that for readership?

I know, I'm supposed to share my blogs on Facebook as often as I can and write as often as I can but the topic of this blog is challenging myself.  I'm going through a few challenges, but for now, for this post, my challenge is to get off Facebook.  Not completely though.  I think it would be more accurate to say, to use Facebook in a non-addictive way.  I find myself checking Facebook every hour as though a very important status message will show up, or someone will make a comment on my post and when I sit back and think about the truth, it's pointless.

Facebook, to me, has become this vehicle for narcissism.  Here's my selfie and I'm putting it on Facebook.  Don't I look cute?  I'm sorry, but I'm not into the bragfest.  As a matter of fact, it annoys me when there's too much unwanted sharing.  There are some amazing articles that are shared that I truly enjoy.  I have used that as an excuse for being on Facebook, but I'm really trying to downshift.  I'm taking a self made Facebook challenge.  A form of detox, if you will.  I'm trying to get more control of myself.  I'm tired of being the Facebook zombie starring at a screen, thinking the world will magically change at any given moment.

So, where does this all relate to my blog?  As I mentioned, I would love to grow my readership.  I know Rome wasn't built in a day.  Instead of staring at a Facebook screen, I would like to challenge myself to write more blogs and after a week of no Facebook to just go on to post my blog.  I would also use Facebook for my business and post there to keep things moving forward.  Also, I plan to limit my Facebook time to maybe a maximum of 30 minutes, if that, a week.

I took the challenge yesterday and it has officially been 24 hours since I have checked Facebook.  I feel that when I get back on Facebook, I will have a blog to post and I will have my priorities straight.  Instead of watching the craziness of the world, I can just delete the people I don't want on there and streamline my friends.  If I keep my blog posts public, I can perhaps grow my readership.  We'll see.
I know my blog about being a Muslim and the Ferguson verdict got a lot of hits.  I don't really want to be known for religion or politics though.  Blogging is such a balance.

Enough of my rants for now.  I'm still fasting from Facebook.  When I get on, I'll pick a few of my blogs to re-post, perhaps.

Best wishes all,
TTR