29. To blog or not to blog ...

Mood: busy

Music: Free falling - Tom Petty

It seems the topic of blogs and blogging itself has been coming up more and more. Today the talk prompt on the RWC list was blogs, and there was even a blog over on Romancing the blog a few days ago talking about blogs and the effect they have on whether or not a blog reader will buy the author's books based on the blog. Blogging is becoming more and more popular, but online journaling isn't really a new thing. They have been around for years, and I've had a journal myself on one of the online journaling sites for many years. It was a way to make a connection with others in the specific fandom I wrote in. A way for me to make friends and get to know others like myself. In the past year, my online journal on one of the journal sites has become of a drama center than anything good for me. I've met some here online that aren't really the best people to know. Yet I called them friends, and it is hard for me personally to allow friends go, even if they do cause me more grief than happiness. The people I've met through my online journaling the last year are not writers for the most part. If I go on and on for entries about my writing, I get no response at all.

I'm a writer first and foremost. I like talking about writing, learning about writing, meeting and talking with other writers. Even if it is just through comments, emails and blogs. I like to learn what works for others and what others go through on a daily basis. Blogs allow me to see that. I have a number of blogs that my RSS feeder downloads for me on a daily basis. If I find an interesting blog, I add it and read it for a few days. If after that time it catches my time I keep reading. If not it gets deleted. I like reading about a little bit of everything. I love reading craft type entries. I learn from them. I like writing about my ideas and thoughts about writing in here because maybe something I say might help someone else that also writes.

I wrote in my journal on a daily basis, so it is easy to for me to do so in here as well. Yes, there are days when I don't feel like writing in, and if I don't? Then I just don't. My friends that read my online journal know that I have a blog, and one of them has even jumped on the blog bandwagon too. Everyone has their own reasons for blogging, and personal type blogs are just one type of blog. There are so many blogs out there. Everything from news to celebrities to characters and fiction type blogs. The writing and author's type blogs are just the tip of the iceberg in the blog world.

I'm just curious myself to those that I know and read my blog what are your reasons for blogging? I know this was asked on RWC, and a few of you might have answered the questions on RWC, but I'm just curious myself. For the published authors, does it help in the way of promotion or is it more just for yourself than a selling point when it comes to your books? For those that are yet to be published, does keeping a blog help you and in which ways?

I'll answer myself. I blog because I love to write. Yes, even in here. I think it does help me because I do get to put things out there that I wouldn't normally write about in my online journal. I wouldn't write a whole entry about character creation in my journal for example. My blog keeps me writing, and since I started keeping this blog and interacting with other writers, I have started writing more. I have more ideas come to me, and the desire to get them out and down onto the screen is stronger. So yes I do believe my blog has helped me. What about you?