I have been reading a lot about blogging lately, the hows, whys, wheres, on and on. It is interesting to read about the psycho-babble of blogging and to see it work or fail.
The majority of all this advice centers around how to get people to read your blog. I have read many blogs, some successful, some not. I have reviewed my own blog, reading over the posts that have generated the most comments, attempting to recreate those posts. But then it occurred to me that there was a problem.
Personal blogs, like this one, are about two things: Writing and writing about your life. It's like an advanced version of Twitter. I can't sum up my day in one sentence or a Face Book paragraph, so I blog. I write about my dog or my day at work or some funny thing that happened at the grocery store. And, because I like to write and I need room to express myself, I blog.
And in the end, the number of hits I get on this site or the number of followers I have, though it is nice to know others are out there and reading what I write (so keep it up, please), should not be the main focus. Personal blogs are a place to get it all out. A diary that just happens to be available for the entire world to read. Whether they read it or not doesn't eliminate the benefit of baring your soul through words.
Then again, if you crave 'followers' and 'commentors' and 'faithfully interweb visitors' just remember this word of advice I got long ago: 'Write because you want to write, eventually people will show up to read because they want to read.'
Word.
-Nosmo
I think we all start out wanting to be "popular" like in high school. Most of us are underwhelmed with followers but discover that our faithful few are enough after all.
ReplyDeleteUse it as a rough draft for your book, using your readers for free editing and valuable insights!
ReplyDeletewell, even though your last piece of advice is true, it's hard not to want followers and readers. I try not to care, but it's hard.
ReplyDeleteXXX, Kim
Frankly (it's be cool if your name was Frank!) it just amazes me when anyone--any single person-- reads my blog. It seems surreal to me. Good post. And lucky duck to be living in Honolulu!
ReplyDelete1) I was never popular in high school, so I guess blogging is my attempt at making up for that.
ReplyDelete2)Yes. And counseling.
3) It's always hard. Wait, what are we talking about?
4) My father's name is Frank. Does that count?