On my blog reading rounds this morning, I came across an interesting musing here, on Mining Nuggets. Tamar (yes, there is at least one other blogging Tamar) writes, "Once again, I question why I blog." She then explores myriad possible answers, and concludes not with an answer but with a question: "... should I just ... well ... kick the habit?"In reply to her intriguing question, why blog? I simply opened a vein, and out flowed this comment, almost verbatim.
I blog to process my busy life and mind. With all that draws me to explore, challenge, change, consider, and do, I look forward to the discipline of sorting through the myriad inputs and my responses and to make sense of the mix. In identifying the parts and arranging them in a coherent order or design, I can put the experience into a usable, even more interesting shape. For me and for anyone else.
And I love the connections that happen through my blog. Meeting fellow bloggers or commenters offers me amazing company — classmates, colleagues, rich content — here, in my school without walls in a universe-ity of infinite links. I don't like walls, and schools are not buildings where someone else decides what's good for me to learn, and when.
So, why do you blog? Or, why not?
8 comments:
Thanks for the link, Tamar. Much appreciated.
hmm. interesting question, especially in light (or rather in dark) of the mean "anonymous" comments that I have been getting.
I too blog to process life, to connect with people I know and some of these posts get later crafted into essays of more substance. Sometimes they just float on the internet, perhaps proof that I am here?
oh, and I blog for business-- for work-- to have "conversations" with customers outside of our ecommerce site, and to improve search engine rankings....
I do not blog for one main reason: I’m a paranoid. I get sick when people I hardly know call me (how on earth did they get my number?!) and my Facebook profile is available for my closest friends only, but even they can see nothing but a picture, a birthday date (no year, of course) and a university degree.
I do enjoy your blog, Tamar.
As expected by anyone who read the above, I’ll stay anonymous.
S
I started blogging because I needed to write. I didn't think about other people reading my blog until I learned I wasn't alone; some of that was rather unpleasant but most of it rather nice. Being aware of being read changed what I wrote and how I presented but I think I'm all right with that. Today I write as a way to process and communicate. I learn much by reading and I make a diffence by writing.
For me, blogging is a creative outlet and a method of giving thanks for the beauty that surrounds me.
Thank you, all, for your comments, each revealing a unique perspective, experience, vision. This golden array, and from an ad hoc community — is another gift of blogging;-)
Tamarika (Tamar) — When I read your occasional posts on maybe not blogging any longer, I get cranky and nervous contemplating a blogosphere without your voice. Thanks for the blog. Much appreciated, too;-)
JeSais — Your mean anonymous commenter persists? Bad. Yet good for you not shutting down to shut out the mean commenter. Your idea of crafting posts into essays of more substance I do another way: Sometimes, I craft posts from comments that I leave on other blogs (this post is an example and it is only of more substance because of the comments generated here;-) I’ve tried maybe three times with nothing but disappointing outcomes to engage, as a customer, a commercial site. Your site would be a different experience; I am sure.
Anonymous — How do you hope to maintain your anonymity if you are on Facebook (called Hatebook, in my book)? Luckily I know you, even consider you one of my closest friends. Yet I have a question: Why didn’t you make your Facebook profile available to me?
Alecto — I resonate with your comment, “Being aware of being read changed what I wrote and how I presented…” I self-censor when I don’t know who receives my communication. Part of the reason (excuse?): I have no control over who reads what I write, and that sometimes readers take my words out of context, and to prove points I disagree with.
Littlepurplecow — You write about giving thanks, and so remind me of a rabbi, who taught that eating without blessing the food, or giving thanks, is like stealing. Your publicly giving thanks for the beauty that surrounds is not only not stealing but giving to others an idea or an attitude to ponder, perhaps to emulate.
I saw your comment on As Time Goes By and I clicked on it since you are in Israel. I shall be visiting your blog. I was comforted to find the older post on Why Do I Blog because I have been asked that, and I asked myself that also and I haven't had a good answer. Now I have a good answer. Thanks. I shall continue blogging and part of that is due to your blog. Pebble Anne of Utah
It's only taken me nearly 7 years to write a reply to your comment in blog (see: http://gailatlarge.com/blog/about#comment-58398), but here I am, finally!
I'd changed templates over the years and had shut off comments on the pages (only had them on posts) for years, then when I switched templates and turned them back on again, I started reading them and found yours again... also discovering I hadn't replied to any comments on that page.
Why am I writing this now? Because I'm in a happier place now in my life and this kind of peace and time and emotional distance allows for reading the archives and actually absorbing them. In addition, I also believe there is no statute of limitations on saying thank-you. Your comment is very much appreciated, and like wine, comments appreciate over time!
I really enjoyed reading Claude's "Blogging in Paris" and I was disappointed when she stopped writing there, even though she is still posting photos (which is what brought us together in the first place).
I'd better curtail the long-windedness of this comment, and close it by answering your question here: "Why do you blog?"
This is such a long answer for me, because the reasons have changed tremendously over the years. It's a format of writing that works for me better than writing a book -- here's a post about it: http://gailatlarge.com/blog/2013/09/02/21526
These days, I blog because I have things to say and to show, and what better place to have the freedom of being a curator of my own online exhibit than my blog.
That said, I also like to read other people's blogs, too. I can always learn more that way. Thanks for continuing to write!
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