Thursday, April 14, 2011

Why Blog?

Why do people blog? All kinds of people blog these days - geeks, stay-at-home-moms, artists, critics, agents, writers, especially writers - and why?

Is it mostly for themselves? A way to kill time? A way to work out their emotional baggage? To put into words the ideas jumbling up their brains? To promote those ideas?

I've been thinking about this lately. I have several blogs, most of them abandoned along the way, on a variety of topics under a variety of names. I've tried different host companies: started with LiveJournal (quit them when the ads appeared), went to WordPress, which I still use for a couple, and now on Blogspot.

Why so many blogs? Why some that started strong and then faded? Why some that started out with an idea and a name but never evolved from there? Am I such a complex person? Or just too scattered? Trying to do too many things in my limited time?

Why this new writing blog? What do I hope to accomplish here? So far I've just been working out some of my questions and concerns about my own writing. Nothing important, really, to anyone else. Maybe tangentially helpful to those few who've stumbled upon me here.

Why the recent push for writers to have blogs? This article in Salon was rather depressing for someone who'd rather be home in sweatpants, reading, than going on the road, or the Internet, to self promote. But it's the way of the New World of Publishing.

I try to keep up with blogs I like, but it's time consuming. Amanda Hocking wrote how "... the hours spent in self-promotion are hours spent not writing." On the flip side of that, the hours spent reading other people's self-promotion are hours spent not writing, too. 


I'm sorry if I'm not the best at following all the blogs on my "to read" list and making comments and playing along with blogging games. Sometimes I read blog postings I like but just have nothing to add, so I don't comment. Do I wish people would comment on mine? Well, yeah, so I have to make the effort too. 


Do I feel as if I'm just talking to myself here? Most of the time. Do page views matter? I'm not sure. Do page views, the stats that show how many people have clicked on my blog,  translate into anything useful or important? Perhaps it will when I have books or stories I want people to buy. When I have something to promote. 


For now, I'm just writing out my thoughts. And that's ok with me. 

5 comments:

  1. Personally, I think there needs to be a revolution in blogging. Every blogger should make this solemn vow:

    I will not post more than three times a week
    I will not make posts that are more than 1,000 words long.

    Sure, sometimes you have a very good reason to break those rules, but the truth is, most people are way too into seeing their own words online, or else they just haven't learned how to edit themselves. All these writers are complaining about how much of their time is taken up by social networking, but it never occurs to them that if everyone blogged less frequently they'd save time both in blogging and in reading and commenting. It's a no brainer.

    Just my two cents. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh, are writers complaining about social networking? Aside from Chrysalis members, I don't try to stay in contact with other writers. Instead, I'm focusing on bloggers in my interest area--nature and natural history. Happily for me, there are a ton of these sites on the Internet, and I have discovered some bloggers whose work I LOVE and am so glad that I stumbled across them. I think these are the people who are most likely to be interested in my blog (shameless plug: www.patriciaklichen.com) and book (second shameless plug: "Kidnapping the Lorax"). When you have a mystery to promote,
    Kat, you'll probably want to make the rounds of mystery-loving bloggers.

    ReplyDelete
  3. It's always good to hear what others are feeling about their writing and what they are doing about it. One new blog a week is more than I can handle, or think of.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I enjoy blogging and reading blogs, but I learned early on to skim google reader. Now I only comment on the blog posts that really stand out and (unless I'm purposefully wasting time) can usually get through my blogging for the day in an hour or so.

    p.s. I'm thinking of doing a collaborative short story post next week as a final crusaders hurrah. Shoot me an email at sgardn@gmail.com if you are interested in participating!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks for your helpful thoughts on a growingly important subject. My own blog varies between the extremes of posting regularly and saying nothing for long periods of time. I'll be following yours to see if it helps you,okay?

    ReplyDelete