Pseudotherapy

Welcome to Day Two of my Big 5th celebration! In honor of my five-year anniversary on July 3rd, I’m doing a week of posts celebrating my quirky blogging history. You’re all invited to join me in this retrospective romp.

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After about six months of publishing becoming mrs. bret, I had learned a bit more about this new blogging thing. For most of my life, I’ve been a compulsive list-maker, and while sorting through my piles of hand-written lists one evening, it hit me that I could use a blog to organize them. At that point, it didn’t even cross my mind that other people might enjoy reading them, too. People outside my family, I mean. I still hadn’t seen many blogs other than the ones that came up in the Blogs We’ve Noticed list on Blogger’s front page, and I had no idea what a growing phenomenon it was.

I launched Chronic Listaholic on January 8, 2004 with a list of Ten Must-See Drug Movies. No fanfare, no introduction, just a simple list of ten. I choose that list solely because it was a short one to type. Blogger still had no built-in commenting, but I had done my homework and signed up for a free account with Haloscan about two weeks after the debut of CL. My very first comment EVER was posted by my friend Lia on January 17th (not counting a comment from Bret posted as a test). Several more followed that day, and pretty soon I started getting comments from total strangers. I was astounded and thrilled that anyone had even found my little blog, much less taken the time to comment. My?unhealthy comment fixation probably began that very day.

Chronic Listaholic was truly my training ground for blogging. During the three years that I maintained it, I learned how to include images in posts, prevent spam comments, customize the standard templates, and provide an RSS feed. Above all, I took list-making from the level of simple hobby to finely-honed art form. And I began to make friends around the blogiverse in earnest. Among them, a guy from Washington State named Dave2.

Dave2 found his way to Chronic Listaholic via a Google search, which landed him on one of my movie lists, My Ten All-Time Favorite Zombie Movies.? Although he didn’t comment that day, I guess Dave2 liked what he saw because he kept coming back. I was already a fan of his Blogography, and had even included it on a list of my ten favorite blogs (and if I made that list today, it would still be included). Dave2 was definitely Chronic Listaholic’s biggest fan, and?through him?I connected with?Kevin and Kim. Kevin’s Lost Bloggers in April of 2006 introduced me to Karl and Suze. Through Karl, I met Hilly. As is only fitting for a demi-deity, Dave2 is ultimately responsible for almost all of my online friendships, because even though back then he was only getting 10 or so comments a day (!!!),?they were the cocktail party for our little corner of the blogosphere. Sizzle, Belinda, Bec, Neil … we all found each other’s blogs via comments we made at Blogography. Bow down before the power of the Dave!

I’m honored to say that all those early fans are still with me, many blogs later. They’ve become genuine friends, and I’ve since met and socialized with several of them in person. Although I laid Chronic Listaholic to rest in February 2007 (for which I don’t think Dave2 has ever forgiven me), my blog friends had followed me to The Write Coast, and they followed me here. I know I can count on them to always have my back. Because that’s what friends are for.

Question Of The Day: What was the event which inspired to Dave2 to mount his white monkey horse and ride write valiantly?in my defense when the reputation of Chronic Listaholic was threatened? Post your guess in the comments ? the first person with the correct answer wins a prize!

UPDATE: We have a winner, folks - actually, two. Bec was the first to post the correct answer, but Kevin fleshed out the details, so both will receive prizes. The incident? Dave2 reamed The Bitches at I Talk 2 Much a new one for their harsh review of Chronic Listaholic. They absolutely shredded the (then) yellow-pad-&-felt-pen design, claiming it made them want to gouge out their eyes, and said my list concept bored them to death. I kept posting, but alas, no fatalities occurred.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 30th, 2008 at 8:12 am and is filed under Blogging, The Big 5th. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.