A writing friend (and fellow Aloha Chapter member) recently sent me an email that said, paraphrasing: I've been reading Miss Snark for the past hour and I'm hooked. Other than the brief visit I made to your blog recently, this is my first experience. I don't understand why people write blogs. Why do you do it?
You know what, I don't know precisely. I started this blog in June 2005. I forget why, I forget how I decided to do it, I forget which blogs I read before I did it. Partially, I thought of it like an online journal, just a place to type up my random thoughts (beats my handwriting any day). And, wow, other people might read my random thoughts and say things and we might have discussions! Who wouldn't like that?
::snort::
Okay, when I got over that idea, I just sort of found a groove and started having fun. I enjoy the interaction, not just the comments on my blog, but the blog surfing I do and the discussions taking place throughout the writing/publishing blogosphere. It's like being able to pal around with other writers, hang out with editors, ask agents questions, eavesdrop on cool conversations, etc. Oh, I admit it's tough to think of things to talk about sometimes, but then other times I get a gift–like the conversation with my friend in Mexico. Blogging about that was good therapy because writers understand. Not to mention it's just funny to think someone can be so obtuse about publishing. 🙂
To me, blogging is community. I enjoy being a part of it. The idea that even one person reads my post gives me a thrill.
So why do you do it? What makes you type up that post every day (or week)?
I started blogging because I wanted a soapbox. I was frustrated with the number of people unaware of social issues and wanted to issue a call to conscience.
Since then, it’s become part of my morning routine, an electronic version of morning pages. I’ve tried to cut back on the preaching, but I’m only partly successful at that. 🙂
Hey Lynn,
You know why I started blogging… But for this forum (clearing throat)
I needed a way to start writing again. I have had such a hard time writing since my illness. And it is instant publishing (snort)
I started blogging just before the summer I went off to officer training in Alabama. I had been introduced to the concept of blogging by one of the greats, AKM Adam. He was a seminary professor of mine. On the way back from a blood drive one day he asked if I’d ever heard of blogging. I hadn’t, and he explained it to me. I started following his on-and-off, and then started my own.
That summer in training it served as a way for all my friends to tune into what I’d gotten myself into. I blogged a LOT that summer, though looking back I’m not sure where the time came from. Later on in seminary I used that summer’s blog to look back at my training. I actually took a retreat at abbey solely to review that summer, via my blog entries. That worked out very nicely.
I began by using it somewhat like a diary, but also a way to let people I know and love keep in touch with what was happening in my life. There’s still some of that, but I also now blog news, the occasional sermon (very rare these days), and things I need to rant about.
I, too, enjoy the sense of community that comes from the group of us that read one another’s blogs regularly.
I’ve since landed on Word Press and my own domain, after about three blogger identities. I still have archives of all the old stuff, though. 🙂
Hi Lynn!
I started blogging because folks kept asking, “So, when are you gonna start a blog?” or, “How come you don’t blog?”
Alas, I began to blog. 🙂
Wow, thanks for all the great comments! I already directed my friend here to read my reply to her email, and now she’s seen all our different stories and no longer wonders why we blog. 🙂
Terry, I love your blog. I don’t want to be political here, because that’s not my purpose, but I’m on your wavelength. You say a lot I wish I could. 🙂
Cyn, I’m VERY glad you started blogging. You’re already writing again just by taking care of your blog every day. The rest will come. 🙂
Mark, this is one of the things I mean, how we have this community and how by blogging, we keep in touch with friends and family and share our adventures with them. Now, I fully admit I’ve not directed my family here. They don’t know I blog or that I have a website. Part of that is because I didn’t want to feel restricted in what I talked about (uh-oh, Mom’s reading). But, LOL, YOU read this and you’re a priest!
(Everyone: When I was talking about erotica recently, I wasn’t embarassed to talk about it, just told Mark not to read it if he didn’t want to see that discussion. I’m not censoring because the priest drops by. I figure he’s still talking to me, so I must be okay. Ha!)
Millenia, ha, so you were sort of dragged into it by friends! Blogging friends, I assume. 🙂 It’s fun though, right? I enjoy it, even when I sometimes obsess about not being interesting enough or generating traffic, etc. It feels to me like I’ve gotten out of the house and gone for a stroll in writerland or something. 🙂
I’ve gotten that question, too–mostly from people who don’t know the wonder of reading or writing blogs. I blog for practice; it’s wonderful practice with fairly quick feedback. I blog to network. I blog because I love to reach out to people around the world; I live in a small town, and I spend much of my time inside writing, so my interactions with people can be a bit limited. And I blog because someday I plan to be published, and my blog can be a publicity tool.
Those are all good reasons, Caryn. I like being involved in a community, and yeah, you’re right about writers and hanging indoors. I tend to do that a lot. 🙂
(Checked out your blog and remembered you are the lady with the lovely photos!!)