During my New York visit, I’m meeting with two people who’s online writing I’ve been inhaling through my eyeballs for years. Many years.

I can’t remember when I started reading Sarah B, but I know that it was long enough ago that at one point I bought her a Blogger Pro account as a gift, and for bloggers crusty enough to remember Blogger Pro, that puts it somewhere in the five to six year range. Sarah’s and my digital paths have crossed many times, from me trying to help her find publishing work in NYC before she left Oklahoma, to her letting me blatantly rip off Cringe and start the Salon of Shame. And finally this week I will get to mash my boobs against her’s when I give her one of those hippie-hugs we Seattleites are so (in)famous for.

And then there’s Mr. Dash, who’s diamond rant inspired a whole chapter in my book, who I’ve been trying to find ways to work with since I was in Los Angeles toiling away for a web hosting company. I’m going to pick Anil’s brain about all web brand evangelism, because really: is there any blogger who knows more about the subject?

It’s exciting meeting people who I’ve not-known for so long, but also sort of confusing and I never quite have the words to explain it. Despite how mainstream blogging has become and how common these sorts of non-relationships must be, I still just don’t feel like we have the nomenclature to describe the roles these people play in our lives. Writers I admire? Brains I’ve met only digitally? People I’ve conversed with but never smelled? What is that?

Bloggers-you’ve-read are different than other online friends, where you get to know each other simultaneously via a digital medium. I subscribe to Anil’s RSS feed, but make no pretense of knowing if he reads mine.

It’s not quite “friend,” although certainly it can become that. Blogs foster a sense of intimacy and friendship with the writer, but it’s not quite the same thing. Blogger-you’ve-read relationships are lopsided and intriguing. When I got to know Heather Corinna, we dove right in as if we’d known each other for years, but then had to sort of backtrack when we realized we actually were new friends who had whole hidden histories neither of us knew about. One of us would casually mention some character in our past, and the other would give an open mouthed “Buh?” and there would have to be some explaining and realization that oh, I never blogged about that or oh, you missed that post?, etc.

I have no answers, only this: meeting fellow bloggers is weird, but I like it. Sort of like facon.

Next up: Alison and Maude, who’ll be swinging through our basement guest room at some point, and then hopefully someday Brittney, because I can’t wait to witness firsthand the curls of Nashville’s most hated progressive.