The notorious blogger - Dooce

The blog I had to check the last few weeks was Dooce.com, the website of Heather B. Armstrong, now officially earning her living as a professional blogger.

She lives in Salt Lake City with her husband and two daughters, her life dedicated entirely to her blog now: taking and editing photos, jotting down thoughts, writing posts, and answering to readers' replies without end. In the 'About' section of her site she tells us about herself, where she was raised and how she ended up in the blogging business, emphasising big time that it's not like hanging around all day in your PJ's doing nothing. What she does is basically the same thing any office worker spends his days with, only she has the advantage (or is it rather a nightmare?) of working from home.

The blog was launched in 2001 in Los Angeles as a rather personal one. The next year saw the incident when Armstrong was fired from her job as a graphic designer because she published satirical stories about her collegues and workplace. Nevertheless, she continued blogging, and, probably partly because of her being 'dooced' - a term born out of her misfortune - she started to gain hundreds of new followers. By 2005 she had enough income from the ads on the site that her husband could quit his job and join in with her, taking responsibility for the marketing part of the business.

The blog itself mainly consists of entries about Armstrong's family and dogs, little funny anecdotes from their lives; but she regularly posts some of her favourite tweets she encounters daily, and uploads nice pictures she finds while looking around.

So.. why so many followers? Firstly, because there's always something fresh to read. She posts at least once each day, and there are also these 'Daily Photo' and 'Daily Style' sections which she usually remembers to refresh about every other day as well. Her writing style is quite unique and funny, it's very easy to read, and although you may not get every little detail if you are not a regular reader, there is always something amusing and entertaining, even touching in her stories. She also posts all kinds of advice to the readers, be it about healthy diets, depression, or the kind of lamp you should buy from Ikea.

It's always nice to read about people you know and like, and it can also be fun to share your very thoughts with the world... but I'm not sure I could do it for a living. Working from home definitely can make you go mad, and after a time you can't not post when you know that thousands of people are waiting for your next story. Well, whatever our stance in this matter, it's a fact that Armstrong does a good job entertaining her audience. The only question is when (if at all) she'll get flipping bored with it and start something real with her life.