Just kidding! I am not taking a blogging break. But it does seem like everywhere I turn, people are doing this. Pretty soon, I'm going to have to find a whole new group of bloggers to read.
Blogging is weird. I love it. But once you start keeping track of people coming to read your blog, a new sort of pressure ensues. The pressure to come up with something devastatingly wonderful to say each day. I, obviously, fail in this regard a lot. I like to talk about what's going on in my mind, and sometimes I think I fail to communicate it well, because I don't get many comments on those types of posts. I like to talk about the books I'm reading, again not many comments. Posts that get comments still seem very random to me.
Blogging, for me, has to be about the sheer pleasure of writing. Of attempting to communicate whatever is in my heart. And thinking that maybe somehow I'm connecting to someone out there.
That might not be the right reason to do it. But it is the best reason for me. If I look at comments or stats I shift from blogging for the joy of it, to blogging to please others. And that's just silly and something I struggle with in every other area of my life...no reason to add another to it that's not necessary.
So, anyway, there you have it.
Why do you blog?
Thursday, December 6, 2007
The Blogging Break
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Why do you blog?
I don't any more.
I asked myself the same question at some point a little while back, and couldn't find a good answer. I do enjoy writing. But my style is generally to write in long, verbose passages. For the most part, this doesn't translate well to blogging. (One notable exception would be The Rabbit Room. Those guys use language as an extension of great art. I don't mind when words are used to weave a tapestry in that way, even if they sometimes run a little longer.)
As a blog reader, it's generally my preference to read short, concise entries. This is largely because there are only so many hours in a day, and I just don't have time for lots of long, thoughtful reading online. That's what books are for.
Over the last few months, my blog reading has changed. I started using Google Reader, which I love. But I comment much less than I used to. For example, your blog is in my reader, and I still enjoy your writing very much. But as you noted, many bloggers take a lack of comments to convey a lack of interest in the subject, or a lack of interaction between writer and audience. In your case, it means I don't usually participate in your polls any more (since I don't see them). In some ways, it's weird to strip out the content from the intended formatting and page layout.
I still haven't decided where I'm going to end up with this whole blogging thing. I could ditch the reader and go back to only reading about half as many blogs, and engaging in comments and interaction more. But I'm such an information sponge, and find the blogosphere generally helpful and enjoyable -- and even quite inspirational at times.
I was sad to see you ended your blogging, but I certainly understand your reasons for doing so. I think the Rabbit Room also works quite well because there is a team of bloggers. Even that can be quite difficult as I've discovered with I2A.
I have a google reader, but I still tend to go to sites directly. I should use the reader more, but I just haven't developed that habit yet.
In any case, thanks for commenting today!
I blog because...well, come to think of it, I don't know.
I suppose I sort of feel like I have to. It's such a great outlet for me. It's very cathartic and theraputic.
I love the community aspect of it as well.
Post a Comment