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. 

Location, Location, Location

New blog location! I've moved to a different area of the blogspot universe with a "new and improved" url.

Thanks to a friendly online writer who explained how to do it without losing any of the content or followers, so I think things are ok here now.

Oh Dear, How Embarrassing!

Today I accidentally stumbled upon another blog with a similar URL to this one [the previous url, which has now been changed] - except it's on Wordpress, not Blogspot. And it contains book reviews, which is close enough in subject to make me uncomfortable. And it was established several months before mine, and is active.

Ooops.

So now, what to do? I don't want to crowd the other blogger's space, or cause confusion. Yes, I know, all's fair in love and blogging, but that's not my style.

So, I think I'm going to have to change the URL of this blog and hope, hope, hope that my followers will follow me over there. Not sure how to accomplish that. How to let them all know about the change, I mean.

Especially since many of them came from the Crusade and may not notice the change anytime soon.

Well, I've got a new blogger URL and will be transferring the pages from here to there. Hope to see you there. And I've reserved the same name at wordpress and livejournal, so maybe I won't have this happen again.

So sorry. What a cyber mess I've made. Grrrr.

Commitment ...

I'm debating on whether to become a Crusader.

Oh, I'm several centuries too late, you say? And of the wrong religious persuasion? Different Crusade. This one found here: Writers' Platform-Building Crusade 

I'd like to be connected to others writing about their writing. Musing about their Muses. Facing their Furies.

But - I'm a commitment-phobe. I'm afraid of letting down the rest of the pack, if I don't blog consistently. Would that keep me going? Would it keep me writing more consistently, as well, or would I blog instead of write?

I have 30 minutes to decide. Be right back.

~~~ elevator music ~~~

And ... I'm in! Sent off the form. It's official, I guess, or will be when I get accepted.