Blog Celeb
So, here’s something weird. Lately I’ve met some new people. And several of them, the first thing they said upon meeting me was, “I feel like I know you—I read your blog.”
Hmm. I know I set myself up for that, but it feels weird. Like I’m suddenly at a disadvantage everywhere I go—people know me but I don’t know them. I guess that’s the downside of laying yourself out there on the Internet everyday. Some people actually read it.
But I’m not sure how much someone can actually know me through my blog. I mean, there are a lot of things I don’t say. Like my age. (No, wait. I’ve mentioned that.) Okay, like what I do for a living. (It’s a BIG secret.) Alright, I don’t ever write about what I had for breakfast. So there.
Don’t you think it’s a little creepy how well we “know” each other through the Internet?
Anyway, I’ve got a couple questions for you. Do you feel like you “know” me? What do you think you know about me?
And, what do you want to know that I haven’t said?
(I’m not promising I’ll answer.)
I just want to say I’m very new to blogging and definitely enjoyed this website. Almost certainly I’m going to bookmark your blog . You certainly come with very good articles and reviews. Thank you for sharing your web site.
>From what you’ve shared I DO feel like we are kindred spirits who love to hike, ski, write, read (not to mention, similar tastes in books). But most importantly, sisters in Christ who want to draw closer to the Lord as His redeemed children.
Until we meet…again…we did meet at the CWCC in 2005. My appointment was toward the end and we were BOTH frazzled…but especially ME!! You handled your exhaustion much better than I did. (My first conference, ever.)
>Coming late to the party.
I know you’re one terrific editor. Who didn’t ask my permission to become an agent.
P.S.–Amber Morn released last week. 🙂
>Hi Rachelle,
Your question is interesting. Yes, I feel like I know you . . . to an extent. Through your blogs, you’ve expressed enough about your family, your work, and your personal beliefs that you’ve succeeded in making me come back for more each week. Quite an accomplishment, considering I’m on a landline and my internet time is precious. LOL
I know that you love American Idol. I do, too! I know that you mail Christmas cards. So do I, although I receive fewer and fewer back each year. Hmmm. I hope that’s not a reflection on me, but rather a reflexion on how the world views this tradition. 🙂
For me, I like to share just enough with my readers to let them know who I am and what is important in my life. I hope I’ve succeeded in doing that.
As for you and your blogging–I am enjoying “getting to know you.” 😉 Have a lovely evening!
>Hmmm . . . I do feel like we have a general sense of who you are. You show us what’s important to you. We get a sense of your integrity and standards, a glimpse of your humor, and (especially on your other blog), you’ve even let us in on some heart stuff. The way you share on your blogs makes me trust you.
But this whole blogging world is strange. I have several good friends who were first blogging/email friends. It was weird to meet face-to-face. I didn’t know their facial expressions, the cadence of their voice, etc.
It can be hard to read the kind of emotion/moods/etc that you would be easily discerned with someone you see in person. At the same time, you often have a deeper sense of their heart than you do with even some friends you’ve been around for a long time. Email can become very personal and I think sometimes we are more quickly vulnerable (once a trusting relationship has been established) through email than face-to-face. I’m not sure if that is because we find people LIKE us through blogging/writing/etc., or if it just feels safer to share deep stuff in that venue.
In my case, those awkward early face-to-face meetings found their level and the relationships continue to grow.
What’s been even harder for me is that I have my own devotional ezine. I write it from deep places. Sometimes I meet people who are subscribers. We’ve never communicated through email or blog comments, but they read my heart stuff every week. I can’t have a personal relationship with every subscriber, but we’re somehow connected. They know a lot about me even though they don’t know me at all. At the same time, I know nothing about them.
This happened again recently at a function that was already high stress for me. I was very uncomfortable. I’m not sure why.
Sometimes I meet people who recognize my name from articles I’ve written. It’s sort-of the same feeling. A few weeks ago I was with a group of people I didn’t know. An article I wrote for that community had released that week. A woman kept trying to place my name. I’m relatively sure she’d read my article. I chose not to connect the dots for her. Sometimes it’s demanding to connect my personal life with my public life. And I’m not even well-known!
>I’ve met about 10 of my blog friends IRL now, and I’m happy to report that all of them were just like I imagined them to be after getting to know them in blogland.
It definitely helps to have a common bond in Christ.
I’m curious, too, how you balance work and home life. But this probably isn’t the place to share that sort of stuff.
>Rachelle,
Since we’ve actually met–even though you had to cut our meeting in the soda fountain at MH short because you were running behind–I think I’ve come to know more about you via your blog than someone without that prior connection. I’d say that you care about God, your family, your work, and the world. You have a sense of humor and a temper. And I know your taste in music, but I like you anyway.
>Hi Rachelle,
I don’t feel as though I really know you; I think women around our age are multi-faceted and complex. You’re probably one way at work, a different way with your hubby, and different yet with your girls.
What I like about your blog is that you and I are in similar circumstances, in some ways. Our children are the same ages, we both embarked on a new venture at about the same time (you an agent; me a trying-to-be-serious writer), and I believe us both to be “real-world” Christians.
So here’s the sad conundrum in this business in my opinion. I would enjoy approaching you at a conference to say “hello” and thanks for your blog. Unfortunately, the circumstances are that you’re an agent and I’m a writer, so it looks like the “hello” is of the (“hey, take my proposal”) variety.
So what I would like to know is this: can agents enjoy meeting writers at conferences without feeling like proposals might be stuck under their noses at any moment? If I approached you to say “hello”, would you take it as a greeting?
God bless you today.
>The other night I started to tell a story to a friend and she interrupted with, “I know this already. You put it on your blog.” I didn’t even know she reads it! Crazy. Not sure why it feels odd when someone reads what we write, because obviously, we write for others to read…but somehow it’s still strange.
Regarding what I want to know about you…I just wish you were free to share all those funny queries and Mel Gibson stories. It makes me feel superior. 🙂
>I thought about this recently. I do feel like I know you, in a way. On the blog, my comments to you can be chatty and even a little flippant. But I have to shift gears when I communicate with you on a professional basis. The chatty tone just isn’t right for a query or cover letter.
>Impressions: you like people to see your strong, confident side but occasionally will allow them a peek at your vulnerability and your sensitive heart.
You prefer to stick to the rules, satisfied that they have become the rules for valid reasons. Too far outside the box makes you uncomfortable.
You strive to maintain yourself, want to “feel” attractive but are for the most part comfortable in your own skin. You don’t like others to rock your world.
You are learning that you have become somewhat set in your ways but satisfy that conclusion with the assumption that your ways are basically good.
You are professional but touchable, and something has to really shake you to bring down that professional mantle.
You are adventurous within reason in your personal life and love “home”. More strict in your parameters regarding your work.
Opinionated but considerate.
>Wow, Rachelle, you’re feeling brave today!
I have an impression of you, but how can I know it is accurate without spending any time with you? My impressions of people I know IRL are sometimes off, so I’m not sure I feel confident enough to say I “know” you.
I know some things ABOUT you–you are passionate about your girls, you are adventurous, smart, funny, driven, like to think deeply and keep it real.
This may seem kind of silly, but one thing I’ve always wondered about you is how you pronounce your first name. Is it Ra-shell or Ray-chul?
Though I know so little, I know enough about you to like you and think it would be fun to actually meet you sometime.
>After reading your blog, I wouldn’t say I know you, but I’m familiar with who you are.
Oddly enough, I have had similar encounters because I write for a mid-size daily newspaper. People who see my byline or read an occasional column I write think they know me, and it is a weird feeling.
What I’m curious to know about you is — and this is more personal than professional — what brought you to Christ?
>I could tell you how much I know about you but then you’d have to take out a restraining order on me. 🙂 Just kidding. I wouldn’t mind hearing how you balance work and family life every once in a while.
>Anytime we become active in a public forum, we set ourselves up for this type of situation. You can go to a meeting, spend two minutes on stage doing something and a thousand people instantly know you, but if you can sit among the crowd and no one pays attention. People who read a book feel they know the author.
I enjoy the experience of having people I don’t know feel they know me. What I don’t like is that I can’t get to know these people as well as they feel they know me. How can we express, I appreciate you so much and I am pleased that you see me as a friend when we can’t call them by name? It is very frustrating.
>This is very interesting on a psychological level. I think that when the only communication we have with someone is through the written word, it’s easy to make of it what you will. We can believe we know somebody when we really don’t. I have a blog and I read a ton of them. I never thought of it as ‘creepy’ but I’m sure my husband did. When I attended my first conference and got to meet a lot of my online writing friends for the first time, he just stared and asked, “How do you know all these people?”
The only people I do feel I ‘know’ are the ones I already have a connection with on another level. I’ve either met them in person or we have some other correspondence going on. At last year’s ACFW conference, I got to meet members of a critique group I was part of at the time. After corresponding with these folks for over a year, opening myself to them in letting them read my work and vice versa, yes, I felt I knew them. We spent an evening together and by the end of it I knew even more about them! In a good way of course. I have friends that I ‘met’ online and then met in person at conference, whom I know will remain my friends for years to come. I’m not easy to get rid of…ha, just kidding.
I think we can do a similar thing with celebrities – they’re ‘in our face’ constantly – we read about them, we watch them on tv or the movies – we think we know them. Well, I got to meet one in person a couple months ago, and I was a little surprised. She wasn’t how I had perceived her to be at all – she was much smaller and spoke in this weird accent…lol. I’m sure if I got to know her as a person, I’d be even more surprised.
I read both your blogs and I don’t think you give away too much info. I think your agent blog is just what writers need, and your personal blog is always encouraging for moms and anybody really. I do sometimes think we need to be more careful about what we’re writing online, but in your case I think you’re doing okay with what you post. It’s nice to know that you struggle with things just like the rest of us, but I don’t need to know what you had for breakfast :0) I wouldn’t mind hearing more about your dog though.
>Yes, I’ll admit it, it can feel a bit “creepy” and I wonder if at times I’m getting too much info! 🙂 I’m learning a lot of great stuff about the publishing process and I sincerely thank you for that. Through your blogs I can better appreciate and understand your current “logjam”. A side benefit of knowing about the many “irons you have in the fire” is that the Lord has led me to pray from time to time that you won’t explode!! 🙂
God Bless!
JSM
>I love it. Yes, for some reason I feel like I know you. I hadn’t really thought about it but, yes. I definitely feel like I know you on a professional basis and somewhat on a personal basis. I feel like I know things about your personality, as much as I can through your written words. I feel that I would definitely like you but also there is a little mystery as well. I like your work ethics, sense of humor, your caring spirit and your professionalism.
This also made me think about me commenting as anonymous. That must be somewhat of a mystery to you. Well, honestly I just haven’t taken the time to do what I need to do to set up an account (shame on me). Let me introduce my self. I am Rhonda Dent and live in VA and soon and very soon I will do what I need to do to set up an account w/ photo. Thanks for such a thought provoking post.
Sincerely,
Rkh (author id)
>You’re witty, patient. At risk of cliche, you’re not afraid to be “real,” you let us know what frustrates you and admit to getting frustrated. In today’s world, that says a lot. You don’t feel compelled to present a perfect, polished image. You’re honest. You have a teacher’s heart and intelligence. You love to help writers because you, yourself, are a strong writer. You’re tolerance for people who do stupid things vary.
As for getting to “know” people on the Web, it’s worrisome. We, or at least I, tend to share more when we don’t see the people we communicate with on a daily basis. I once wrote a column on the quest for the perfect hair removal system. A few days later, a woman kept staring at at a store. It all felt a bit creepy, and didn’t get much better when she blurted: “I know who you are. You’re the hairy leg lady.”
Ah, yes, that’s the way I want to be known.
All that to say, I think we have to remind ourselves that we may one day encounter the people who read our words. Will we be pleased, or will we want to run and hide?
>I’d say you are dedicated (it takes that to post to a blog most every day); you love your job; you have the ability to laugh at yourself; and you know that God has given you a gift you need to share with others.
As far as what I’d like to know about you? Anything you are comfortable sharing with us.
>I feel like we learn something about your personality – even if only in snippets. You obviously have a sense of humor, that’s good. And, you like to mentor other people, another positive.
It would be fun to hear a little bit about your personal life too, maybe even what you had for breakfast – once in a while 🙂 Not asking for TMI