I had a less-than-cool response to being Freshly Pressed.
I may have over-reacted. I may have caused a scene.
For those of you who don’t know, for those of you who are just now tuning in, I blog from Haiti, where not a lot of positive things have been happening lately, what with the January 12th earthquake, Hurricane Tomas, cholera, and now the close-to-coup political uncertainty.
To distract myself from this atmosphere of never knowing what’s next, I began blogging again after a year away from posts and comments—from Search Engine Optimization and RSS feeds.
I poured indecent amounts of energy into my renewed foray into the blogosphere. I was a down-right bloggerly drudge when it came to reading and commenting on the blogs of others.
I wrote and posted—
Wrote and posted—
Commenting maniacally in between.
For three whole weeks—
Until Tuesday—
When I did my daily duty of checking Freshly Pressed, posted most mornings by 11 Eastern Standard Time.
I had developed a near religious devotion to this posting of posts, ten blogs featured each weekday on WordPress.com. I knew my duties as a devotee, arriving with the requisite ritual beverages (coffee and Coke Zero, of course). I knelt at the altar of blogging greatness— and clicked.
Strangely—the list of featured posts included one that had not only stolen the name of my blog, but the name of my post, as well.
This was a desecration.
A cardinal sin against the goodness that is Freshly Pressed!
Until it hit me.
Oh, may the gods of blogging forever bless the shrine of Freshly Pressed—for, in the name of blog, indeed,
Heavenly choirs were singing as I twirled my Port-au-Prince kitchen dizzy—
Shrieking—
OMG—OMG
Twirling and shrieking—
Shrieking and twirling—a dervish of posting devotion.
And in this blogging frenzy, I did what any blogging diva worth her salt would do in such a moment.
I called my mother—
(Called my mother with the zeal of a six-year-old, just home from kindergarten, ready to show off her printing practice sheet, S’s marching capital and lower case across the page.)
“Mom, this is costing gobs of money, so I can only talk a minute, but I’ve been Freshly Pressed.”
“You’ve been what, Dear?”
“My blog. My blog has . . . “
(How should I explain it?)
“My blog has won a prize.”
“Well, that’s lovely, Dear.”
“What kind of prize?”
(I dare not mention “Freshly Pressed.” She’ll confuse that with French press or launch into a discussion of ironing!)
“It doesn’t matter, Mom, just a really cool prize. You should hurry and check your email. I sent you the link.”
“You sent me what, Dear?”
“The link. The blue LINK!”
“Oh, the BLUE ink, yes, I know, Dear.”
“But wait, let me write that down. I don’t want to forget—BLUE ink?”
(To better appreciate my mother’s memory issues see a post called “Airing Family Secrets via Haute Couture.”)
“Just go check your email, Mom.”
You know how the story ends—
Not with my mother delightfully 72, trying to figure out this world that was once Smith Corona and is now Google, Facebook, Twitter.
Rather with me—dizzy in my kitchen—reeling with the down-right, unabashed, writing-posting-commenting joy of it all—
The joy of FRESHLY PRESSED!
Yippee!
Kathryn M. McCullough 
LOL If your mother is anything like my mother, you could win the Pulitzer and still get the “That’s lovely Dear” response!
Although I realize you may have other things on your mind over there, I hope that you continue posting a lot. Got to have my morning fix!
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Yes, parents are a great source of amusement! I’m so glad you enjoy my blog–as I do yours. I’ll blog away as long as my internet connection holds. It’s actually a great outlet for stress.
Take care, Lisa. Hope you’re feeling better soon!
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Congratulations!
It’s a blast, isn’t it? One of my blog posts was Freshly Pressed last spring. I didn’t know anything about Freshly Pressed at that time and went into a near panic over all the hits I was getting. lol! Then the excitement kicked in and I spent WAY too much time watching my blog stats.
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I know! I’m constantly checking stats now. I was intesnse about it before, but now I’m even worse. Thanks for reading–hope you are dong well!
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Funny, Kathy! I’ve been Freshly Pressed twice…it never gets old! The problem comes after your brief notoriety is over. Here are my post-Freshly Pressed posts (written with tongue firmly in cheek!):
http://writerwoman61.wordpress.com/2010/07/06/my-fifteen-minutes-of-fame-lasted-only-fourteen-and-a-half/
http://writerwoman61.wordpress.com/2010/10/21/stale-and-wrinkled/
Wendy
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Thanks for the links! I’m actually looking forward to reading those posts. Do you have any pointers on now to maximize the exposure? Now I know I’m paying way to much attention to numbers–but I have simply fallen in love with blogging. Hope you are well! And thanks for reading–thanks so much. I love having an audience!
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Hey Kathryn – the joys! Congratulations – it’s quite a ride.
My parents are in their 80s and this whole blogging thing is quite a mystery to them, although – bless them – they do think I’m doing a great job! I occasionally send them my posts via email (which they get through their retirement village office, printed and put in their mailbox – they are totally technophobic!), and they just love that.
Warm hugs and continued prayers to you from this side of the world
Sunshine xx
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That’s so sweet that the retirement village prints the posts for your parents! You know, when you really stop to think about it– the world has changed so drastically in the course of our parents’ generation, it has to be dizzying for them. Poor souls!
Hope things are well with you in London, and THANKS for the prayers!
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Oh…this was so much fun to read…I do think the “That’s lovely Dear” response! is part of every mother’s standard response kit. 🙂
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Thank you so much. It means a lot for someone to have fun reading.
Yes, it is a common Mom thing to say–but still it cracks me up!
Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!
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That was GREAT!! LOL!! I think on the “cool” scale our reactions to getting pressed were pretty similar (we registered probably around a 2, maybe a 3.) 🙂
Congrats again!
Teri
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Oh, yeah, it’s great and no one who isn’t a blogger can quite get it. Congrats …
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Thanks so much for reading! For me the only bad part has been once the excitement wears off and the number of readers levels off. Everyday I check, still subconsciously, I think, expecting the hits to be high. I appreciate your taking the time to comment. Have a great day!
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Your mom sounds like my mom. “The blue ink!” Women of a certain age and technological savviness (or lack thereof), I suppose!
Saw your comment on Jane’s blog and just wanted to read about your jubilation.
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Thanks for stopping by and commenting. My mother is a hoot! “Women of a certain age”—absolutely! So glad you appreciate the humor in it all!
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Pingback: A Frenzy of Freshly Pressed (via reinventing the event horizon) « Reactions of the Freshly Pressed
Thanks for steering me toward this post! I know exactly how you felt! On the day I was freshly pressed, I looked around me at all my coworkers who don’t know that I blog; who probably would never understand the allure of blogging. I shared the news with my immediate family and they were all very, “Hey. That’s nice. Nice.” And I realized, the only ones capable of sharing my excitement were my blog friends! Oh well. At least WE get each other!
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Glad you enjoyed this, Terri. My enthusiastic squealing would have been funny to watch, but my mom’s response truly cracked me up. You’re so right about parents and technology!
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You are totally TOO cute!! HAhahaha! ‘Strangely—the list of featured posts included one that had not only stolen the name of my blog, but the name of my post, as well.’ TOO funny!!
But seriously, how cool is Freshly Pressed???
And territerri is so right when she says the only people that GET blogging are bloggers!
*Sigh*…I love my blogging community ❤
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It’s true. I was just so confused. My blog was so young. You know how weird ones mind can be at times. It was kind of funny! Glad you got a kick out of this one——————-
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