So, what does that make me.....yep, that's right a loser.
Questions:
1. What is it about the blogging world that attracts so many, yours included?
2. Why do I spend 20-30 minutes every few days to "update my blog?"
3. What about other people's lives makes us want to read their blogs and they in turn want us to read theirs?
Answers:
1. Why am I and others attracted to the blogging world? I enjoy writing. I don't think I can write a book or even have time to. I think others feel the same way. Some use their blog as an on-line journal (full disclosure). Others just tell about their day to day lives (mostly all positive). I try and use mine as an expression of thought....sometimes like James Joyce's "stream of consciousness" technique which makes some people furrow their brow and say, "Huh? He didn't just say that, did he?" However, blogger beware.....if you let it, the blogging world will suck your life away. Enter one blog and all of sudden, you've entered a million. Don't let it happen to you!
2. Why spend so much time on my blog? Having a blog, allows my creative side to come out...somewhat. This can be the funny side of me but also the somewhat "darker" side of me. This can be dangerous at times (as some of you have already commented on) but I also don't want to hide parts of my personality just because it's an open forum. You either accept all of me or reject all of me. I am not a buffet........I know, maybe I should be. Take the meat....leave the sauce. :)
3. Why do we read people's blogs and why do we want people to read them? Don't we all (sometimes) want to be a fly on the wall in other people's homes? Don't we wonder sometimes if other people have the same problems and frustrations that we have? I think reading people's blogs allow us that opportunity. Yea, sometimes there isn't full disclosure but doesn't that also tell you about that person's personality? And when there is too much information (TMI), then we also learn a little something about them as well. However, in the end, all us bloggers want people to read our blog, don't we? If you are a blogger, how many times have you asked people this question, "Did you read my blog today?" Dude, I used to ask that all the time and then started to realize that most people really weren't that interested. Some of you need the following shirt (see below) so you can point to it when I inevitably ask you if you've "read my blog."
Eventually, I will be done with the blogging world. At that point, I will print out all of my blog entries, put them in a binder and read them from time to time. I don't keep a daily journal so I'm hoping that this will suffice for my generations to come. Will they see me as funny, normal, or vulgar? I guess that depends on how they read each post but what I am hoping is that they will be able to hear my personal voice through my writing and get to know me for who I was.
For better or for worse.......right Loubige? Sometimes we chide one another with this phrase...."Eternity is a LOOOONG time."
You think they got blogs up there?
9 comments:
jon-you know your a loser blogger when like me you go to UTAH for a yearly blogging PARTY!! I KNOW!! what on earth!??!?! there are no guys that come-maybe you could be the 1st!!
this will be our 3rd year we've done it..(its the same time as womens conference-so since so many of us are up there thats why we do it)
i started my blog because it was a journal thing & my friends from out of state could "keep up on me"..then after jons accident it was the perfect place for EVERYONE who wanted to "know about jon" could find out instead of me repeating the story 1300 times..
i have 3 blogs actually-i KNOW SERIOUS loser huh!! hear me out though..i have my original which updates about jons injury, i have a family one which all of jons family write one & then i have my own personal private one that i only let select few have access too--meaning its a private blog and i have to invite them to see it..sometimes with jons accident i just need to let the ugliness out and it ends up on the blog-which isnt the best place for family to read..cuz family NEVER forgets ANYTHING you say or "write" friends are different..they let you vent, give you advice and move on--REFRESHING!
on my private blog i have only 15 friends that i check up on regularily..i only stick to those 15--i use to update every day-then went to once a week..i was spending TONS of time "blogging" instead of being a "mom"..now im more like you and update every few days...its a good balance..
i'll have to say my best blog entry was my "good mail" entry-im sure lou's already told you about that!!!
okay so now that im done with my NOVEL response here--i LOVE THE EDIT feature which i will use HEAVILY on my personal private blog...then there is this GREAT downloadable software called www.blurp.com that i can donwload all my entries/photos too and it compilies it all neatly for me--so that is the reason i "KEEP on blogging"..
CRAP that was LONG!!! sorry!!!
Ah....to blog or not to blog, that is MY question! I am a closet blogger, I want to have one, in fact I DO have one but it is private and NO ONE has been invited to see it besides "Dro"...and of course there is only one entry on it that I made in February. Nice. One day I will get enough guts to invite others to it, that will probably be when blogging is out of style.
P.S. Christina, what do you mean? I would NEVER tell Jon about that good mail entry! :-)
As I finish up "The Ricky" Book I too decided to show all of me. Take it or leave it, worts and all. Who wants to write a lie and hidding some of the truth falls in that catagory to me. Again My Hero Jon. Even through the kidding you get from me.
Christina....3 blogs?!?! Now that would be time consuming. Not sure I want to join the "ladies of the blogging world" up in Utah as the only male.....people might start to wonder. That is...if they don't already. :)
Loubige.....come on over to the dark side. May the blog be with you!!!!!
Nana.....thanks for the props! Can hardly wait to read your book.....and you got it all wrong. YOU are my hero and not vice versa!
In reality there are probably as many idiosyncratic reasons for blogging as there are bloggers. Having said that there are probably several broad blogospheric categories that most bloggers fall into. Some of these are as follows:
1. Pervs: Yep, sorry to start with this one, but there are so many stories about this category that this all I'm going to say.
2. Informational: These folks find it convenient to provide group, family, and related information out to specific groups wihout having to talk or email each of them.
3. English Teachers/Frustrated Novelists: To see your own writing in print is a thrill and to think that others consider you a genius or at least clever is even better. Now you don't even have to find a publisher - the net appears to be enough to satsify this need for literary exposure.
4. Bored and Confused: Unable to properly converse with a real person and fearing interpersonal rejection some find it easier to communicate in a faceless and nameless environment. If things go bad, you can change your name or go elsewhere.
5. Hobbyists: These folks are just looking for other like-minded people to discuss hobbies that range from the sublime to the ridiculous.
This is just a start, but Jon's need to blog probably falls into categories 3 and 5. The fear is, of course, that after thousands of blogs one could slip into 1 and 4 quite easily. Be careful!
For some, having a blog is like having a good friend who listens, and lets you say what you really mean to say.
And unlike a bartender, girlfriend, or psychiatrist, your blog never gets tired of listening.
Found an interesting article about it at: http://www.livescience.com/health/070629_naming_emotions.html
The article doesn't deal directly with blogging. Instead it talks about how assigning verbiage to situations and emotions makes you better able to deal with them.
Dro, I'm guessing you've 'yes dear'ed your wife more than once while watching a game. Most of the time it doesn't matter, because she's talking for her own benefit. She doesn't really need you to absorb the information, she just needs to verbalize it. (Tuning out has gotten me in serious trouble when my wife is trying to inform me of upcoming events, PTA meetings, etc. and I think she's just talking.)
I say this having never met your wife, but given that she's female I'll play the odds.
That's my theory anyway.
Dang. The website of the article got truncated.
Dro, there are blogs in heaven. I promise you. It is scripture... or at least President Kimball said it, "What is recorded on Earth is recorded in Heaven" You better watch that dark side cuz our maker is reading it too. :) The good part about it is that now folks are actually keeping journals, which we are supposed to be doing anyway. No one said the journals had to be in a book. Here's to blogging!
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