I've got a new group of folks to show admiration-the dedicated blogger. I follow dozens of blogs covering a variety of things of interest or meaning. I admit I get disappointed when a favorite takes a hiatus, or it is weeks and months between posts. The window into their thoughts is still open a crack, but such a small sliver that I feel let down. "How hard can it be to churn out a couple paragraphs of ideas, insights, and reflection?" It turns out, pretty difficult many days. With a new frame and perspective, I realize how unrealistic I have been. I created this blog three weeks ago with every intent to post two to as many as four posts a week. This is blog post number two. It takes more creativity and energy than I imagined. I'm learning also as I explore the bogging world, the bloggers that are professional, or semi professional, are relatively few in the group I follow. They often aren't even the ones that resonate with me the most. Most bloggers I enjoy and who's site I have marked as my favorites for easy access, seem to be blogging for their own release, escape, accountability, entertainment, or just to share their life in a new way with people that might appreciate knowing them better, or learning from what they have to share. If they have no readers, or just a few, it doesn't matter. While of course they are happy to be joined with others through the shared word, it wasn't the primary objective.
So for post number two, my new frame of reference will be to think of this blog as conversations with friends. There are friends you talk with regularity, and others that it is weeks, and sometimes even months between conversations-just like blog posts. I'll still look up my favorite sites and if they have Twitter feeds, follow them there to get the fast scoop that a new post has arrived. Thank you Andrea, Viviana, Joel, Becky, Jo, Kristin and countless others. I will keep looking for your posts, and keep learning how to best participate in this incredible blogosphere.
Thursday, July 17, 2014
8 comments:
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Great post! The last few sentences of the first paragraph resonate strongly with me. My blog is mostly a journal for myself so I write very randomly about my life. I never thought a ton of people would read it so I've always wrote mostly for myself while knowing a few people might stop by. I find that when I stray a little and start writing posts "for the readers" then I don't like my blog as much. So then I get back to where I started, just writing for me.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE that people read along though and you hit the nail on the head, blogging becomes very much a conversation with friends and it's incredible how many good friends one can make by blogging. I love it!
It is interesting to look back even a year ago and see how things have changed, and how my style has changed. I too feel like I've met some great friends-sad when a few have dropped off, but then they resurface with a comment and it is so good to hear from them.
DeleteI feel the same as rivulet. My blog is basically a journal for myself and the family and now friends. My husband goes back through it at the end of the year to remind him of what we did this year and funny little things that happened during the way. Then writes his Christmas letter.
ReplyDeleteI've met so many great people over the last 6 years. My daughter reads it every day no matter where she is. The other kids don't much unless they think I might spill what they're getting for a birthday gift.
I don't think anyone reads mine, but my daughter gave me feedback early. My younger daughter is amused at my attempts to add pictures.
DeleteYou're so right - daily blogging (or even weekly blogging) can be difficult to maintain - but coming back to the 'blogosphere' can be just like picking up a conversation with an old friend. So much better than Facebook! Jx
ReplyDeleteI've gotten into a rhythm now, but know some days I'm just posting nonsense. Sorry for that. I have an old high school classmate who uses FB as a sort of blog, and she is a good writer. FB doesn't do her justice and I have encouraged her to start a blog but she doesn't feel she can put herself out into the unknown. I'm going to see if she might guest post, and see if she likes it enough to start one of her own. Hope your summer at the school is winding down on a positive note.
DeleteI wrote over 750 posts during the time I spent blogging. Like rivulet I wrote for myself, but it was nice that some people liked what I wrote, and joined in with the ' conversation'. What was less pleasant were the vile, personal comments that I received over the years, culminating in the statement in May that amongst other things I had ' many destructive issues' ; a statement that was based on a mere handful of sad or angry posts that I had written out of those 750. I found it unnerving that someone thought that they ' knew me' better than my own family members do, based only on the merest snapshot of my life. I dont know why I attracted these sort of comments over the years, though a friend I made through blogging suggested that my posts often forced people to think,that they told what it is really like to live on a low income, and that sometimes they made uncomfortable reading because of that. I do occasionally miss writing, but I don't miss wondering what on earth was waiting in the ' comments' when I logged on.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your blog and thought it was real. Your commentary to me was uplifting and showed grit and perseverance but with heart.
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