Quote of the day...er...week...umm...hey, look, a quote!!

"...besides love, independence of thought is the greatest gift an adult can give a child." - Bryce Courtenay, The Power of One

For old quotes, look here.

Monday, May 19, 2008

Why blog?

This post is in answer to Foolery's post about blogging. I like Foolery - she's neat. Go have a look, I'll keep.
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I started blogging as a way to release some built up anger, resentment, frustration, and creative bursts, and it turned into a daily record of the things my family gets up to. I like having one place to put memories and photographs, too.

I started with MySpace, because I was reading a blog there that tickled me. I now double post on both MySpace and Blogger, although sometimes MySpace gets left behind a little. Lazy and forgetful, me.

I have found blogging to be a way to connect with folks I would otherwise never have met. I've found so many blogs to read that it can take an entire morning to get through them all. Sometimes I just can't, and then I feel guilty...like I'm letting them down. I try to comment, but only when I actually feel I can add to the conversation or have a salient point - I'm not into commenting to generate traffic. I also don't like to just jump in - I prefer to read a little about someone, get a feel for them, before inserting my big fat opinion into their comment page. Sometimes I'm silent because I'm intimidated - there are some wickedly smart people out there, and I'm not sure I can keep up with them...better not to draw their attention (or snark) to little ol' me.

As a side bonus, some of my farther flung family have been reading my bits and pieces, and have been contributing to my memory-store of family anecdotes. It's neat to get e-mails from people I haven't seen in over a decade, catching me up on their goings-on and filling in blank spots of family history to boot.

Foolery gets about 150 hits a day, give or take. Probably three or four of them are me, nosing about for something new to read. 150 a day?? Holy cow! I was delighted to have a dozen or so...and I still am! Every time a new reader comments, I am in a tizzy. I even point to the screen and call people over to look. Heh...such a geek, me. When someone comments here, I try to go visit them and have a read - never know what I'm going to find, and that's half the fun. I read my readers, although sometimes only in weekly chunks when time gets away from me.

While I will post pictures of The Evil Genius, I don't put any up of other folks' kids, nor of grown-ups, and I use nicknames or first initials unless specifically told I don't need to. Heck, I don't even use my own real name, although Kyddryn is my pseudonym for my every online endeavor. I even thought about changing my name to Kyddryn, but was too lazy to do the paper work. I'll freely link to other folks' pages until they tell me not to - I figure, it's the least I can do for being entertained on a regular basis, hook them up with one or two more readers.

Ultimately, I find blogging to be cathartic. I'm so easily riled, of late, that having a place to write out my ire instead of taking it out on my family is a very good thing. I make my Mum laugh, too, which is a nice little extra. I'm saving all of my blogs, because Mum thinks that some day, someone will want to read them. Maybe...but maybe I'm also saving them because I am a pack rat...in real life and electronically. At least a computer is harder to fill up than a house...

So this turned into as much a "how" as a "why" post, but y'all know I tend to blather. Why do you blog?

6 comments:

foolery said...

I KNEW you'd come through, and you can write circles around me and just about everybody, Kyddryn-not-Kyddryn.

And the 150/day has been a hard-scrabble uphill climb, because I've been at this for almost 2 1/2 years. At this time last year I was flying high with maybe 40 hits/day on a good day. It's a lot of work generating new readers, and that's the focus of tonight's or tomorrow night's post.

Thanks for the thoughtful answer!

Laurie @ Foolery

p.s. You make more than just your Mum laugh, you know. :)

Mrs. G. said...

First, it was to try to motivate myself to write daily and now it is because I have met so many cool women. I love your blog name.

Anonymous said...

You know for so long I didn't have any idea what blogging was until I read an article on a magazine 5 months ago and the rest was history.

cactus petunia said...

Just wanted to say: Lovely blog, and shade and sweetwater to you, too!

Kit said...

I blog primarily to keep myself writing on a regular basis. I'm much more consistent when there is an audience (of sorts) for my musings. (Which tells you how very INconsistent I am with paper and pen journals!) When I write on a regular basis, it feels like opening the windows in my head to let some fresh air blow through- and sometimes the muses sweep in on the breeze.

My once-in-a-blue-moon comments from folks reading my blog are an addictive incentive, too. :)

Kyddryn said...

Heh, Laurie, you know I will always take the bait. At least my crazy is predictable!

Mrs.G, I very much enjoy your blog! Thanks - I've ben using "Shade and Sweetwater" to sign letters for years; "Sincerely" didn't float my boat and "Love and other indoor sports" just seems a trifle informal.

Chris, I didn't know what a blog was until a friend told me about them a couple of years ago, and I didn't start one until I needed to vent my spleen (either that or commit homicide). I've somewhat evolved since then, but not much. :-)

Cactus, welcome, and thanks!

Kit, I know just how you feel!