Why Do You Blog? …Again

Chel Owens

I’m certain I’ve asked this before, but it bears repeating: why do you blog?

Specifically, why oh why did you open a WordPress account and start spilling your guts? Are you:

  1. An aspiring writer, out to publish the next bestseller?
  2. A poet sharing his/her/its wares to the wandering world?
  3. An influencer grasping for attention and money?
  4. A robot? (If so, please select all the traffic lights, bicycles, and busses you see pictured.)

Of course, maybe you’re just Option 5: Bored. Or, Option 6: Lonely.

I’ve been reflecting on my reason for blogging of late. Life’s overfull for me. I’ve got to simplify, simplify, simplify. And sleep. So, I’ve looked over where I spend my time and if that time’s worth spending. Up till now, blogging’s made the cut since it’s waaaaay behind Dishes and Laundry in importance.

The main problem with it is that blogging has become my Unfinished Business.

Unlike the Dishes and Laundry, I blogged because I had an end in mind: publishing. Naïve Chelsea Owens, bolstered by published authors and by friends’ encouraging compliments, thought to publish a book.

I was writing on motherhood and I was going to have it all done within a year.

Then, I actually tried writing.

Then, I actually read about the steps to writing books.

Then, I worked on my book and burned out on the massive word count.

Then then then then then …people don’t read. Women don’t want to make babies. Everyone knows motherhood sucks and I missed lampooning that boat by a decade or so.

Not to mention my crippling procrastination, perfectionism, and anxiety. *sigh*

But; slowly, slowly I kept improving as I kept blogging. I met and meet wonderful people. I read fascinating posts. I engage in pun battles the likes of which I never had before… So, it’s been more than worth my time and well-being. As always, thank you.

Still; The Blog may be one to go if I don’t actually deliver on my goal to publish. How about you? Again, why do you blog? What got you started? Will you keep going?

Photo by Liza Summer on Pexels.com

—–

It’s been a whole two days of posts so far! Here’s what I wrote:
Monday, May 1: Our usual Mormon Monday took a turn toward atheism.

Tuesday, May 2: Responded to Carrot Ranch’s prompt.

Wednesday, May 3: This post.

©2023 Chel Owens

82 thoughts on “Why Do You Blog? …Again”

  1. I started blogging as a creative outlet to have my art be seen/words read/ music heard on an intetnational level. I have enjoyed the ride in the 10 plus years of blogging, but I am also creatively burned out. It has gotten to a point where i would rather just create for the sake of it rather than for an audience. Might venture off into more avenues on a local level again.

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    2. I hear you on that. I’m very happy to hear you have local venues to do art in. I’ve only had the blogging; it’s been a great way to meet people and find so many friends of similar interests!

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  3. I blog because I like to write short poems and stories and and take photos. A blog gives me a place to publish them without getting someone’s permission first. It is also an author platform as Pam Webb mentioned.

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  4. I started for same one most of us did… number 1. I had a book and was trying to shop it. the first piece of advice I received is you have to have a blog with x number of followers before an agent will even think of looking at your manuscript. So I got x followers, sent queries and got zero responses… I did self-publish that book and several more, but… My reason for blogging became “to improve my writing”. Several books, almost no sales, my blogging is now 1. because of connections I have here and 2. a release of my creative side, whether it is new music, a new story, a drawing, a painting, etc. SO I create, put it to the public and move on.

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  6. I started to blog because I needed a place to vent or try my hand at poetry, or mix the two. Also at one time it was to let people follow me while living in a different country from my citizenship country. I’ve made friends here and find that I need to try out my creativity.

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  7. It’s a reasonable question. And yes the answer changes with the expectations and realizations.
    My blog came not too long after I even figured out (well sort of figured out) what a blog even was. In 2017 I barely used the internet but then searched for what I thought might exist and yep, I found it. I was hoping for something to get me writing and “get me” as a writer and I found Carrot Ranch. Then and now, writing just 99 words a week is a huge and happy accomplishment. But after a while there I figured I’d be like the big kids and have my own place to show my writing. I learned that this is not the way to fame and fortune, not the way I do things anyway. But it has been fun and I feel I have real friends in this virtual world; it is to an extent, my social life, where I don’t have to explain my writing habit. I kind of look at it like I joined a worldwide neighborhood where I have a front porch, a place where people can come by, have a seat, a lemonade, shoot the breeze. Or not. I try to keep it that simple because I don’t have time for much else. And sometimes I’m not on the front porch or even in the back yard, but the door is always open.

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  8. I blog because it’s there. And I like the dialogue in the comments. I’ve given up on becoming a rich and famous author. Heck, I’m retired and am done making money. If you want to make money writing, better prepare to work some very long hours, for what will equate to less than minimum age, unless you get very lucky.

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  9. I started my blog because I was feeling blah about being in my early to mid 50s. I needed something to jumpstart my creativity and add a different dimension. I’ll continue to do it until it no longer matters to me, for now…it’s fun.

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  10. I’d written in actual pen & paper notebook, a long fan fiction story. A friend said why didn’t I put it on a blog. I didn’t even know what a blog was, but I found out. That was 10 years ago, and people have read my story (which I’m still posting). Then I discovered challenges, written lots more things, made lots of blogging friends, and am still having fun. 🙂

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      1. It’s not so much the blogging that drives me. The blog acts as a backup for what I write if supposing my computer died! It’s storage! I’m not really in it for the community, although I’ve met some great people – including yourself.

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          1. Over the years the online community has come and gone – some have died and some have disappeared. I would regard one of my best friends in life as having met (and since passed on) on the blog! The comments/dialogues comes and go. Once upon a time people read my blog simply for the pages of people’s comments!

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  12. I blog to entertain. Originally I wanted a platform for my books. I have seven published, and as far as I can tell, blogging has very little to do with them. Oh yes, I run a launch post, all the books are in the right column. I hardly ever mention them. I do six posts a week in addition to writing books. I get, on average, 150 views a day and somewhere around 50 or so comments. So I started a book platform, but now the blogging platform exists for itself.

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  13. I started blogging to see if I would enjoy it when I retire. I did like it. Then a couple job changes and several life changes have me sidelined until retirement, which is looking better every day. I still enjoy reading and commenting. Blogging challenges me and scratches a creative itch.

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  14. I joined WordPress because it was a free place to write. Over the years, I have been able to compile a couple thousand essays in my journal. I stopped posting daily when some comments started showing up and I enjoyed commenting enough to donate some of my writing time to reading.

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  15. I write as I have to. It serves as a release, it serves as a place to say what moves you, even if it might not move others. Even when I do walk away from blogging I’ll still witter away, just for my own need. Because writing won’t ever make me rich- cynical male-centric satire verse is never ever going to make Pam Ayres tremble in her custom-made patent leather boots- but it will rear its ugly head, because it must.
    The problems are much like yours, I suspect. At times there is not enough time to do yourself justice, which leads to frustration, which leads to self- criticism, which leads to self-doubt which leads to burn-out. Now, after six years of churning away I still do feel like writing is as necessary as breathing; the problem being that sometimes I feel like I’m treading water and the tide keeps on a’rising.
    (Ain’t I a little ray of sunshine??? And, Wow, typical guy, it’s all about me me me!) Sorry Chel, delete at your leisure.

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  16. Does there need to be a reason? Does there need to be a reason for anything, actually? You can probably see where I’m leading with that, but I tried to make a comment on your atheist post, but it wouldn’t let me.

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      1. Well ….. I merely wanted to make an observation about agnostics, actually. As you are, no doubt, aware the agnostic position, quite literally, is of ‘not knowing’, but is expressed as if the whole God/Not God thing was a 50/50 bet – which is ludicrous. But that said, the atheist, if he or she is honest, must give credence to the possibility of God, however infinitesimally small that possibility is. The believer, on the other hand, needs to concede to no such doubt, since the act of faith itself requires the surrender of logic.
        So, I tend to assume that almost all of us are atheists, but a great many of us are not willing to say so too loudly on the off chance that God might be listening.

        I have a small involvement with The Wayside Chapel …. https://www.waysidechapel.org.au/ and I said to the priest there, by way of accountability, that I was a ‘God-fearing Atheist’. He replied, “Oh, that’s fine. We love God-fearing Atheists here”.
        They love everybody there, of course.

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        1. Sorry …. I suddenly realise how terribly out of context that reply is.

          I don’t ‘blog’. I just write stuff down somewhere where it’s easy to find again, should I ever have need to. Thus far I have rarely felt such a need. I spend far more time responding to other people’s thoughts than expressing thoughts of my own. I’m a bit dull, if truth be known.

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            1. Ha, ha … Oh, I’m dull, all right, but I thank you for thinking otherwise. You really must pop around for dinner some time so I can prove you wrong. Besides, Mrs Richmond would enjoy more interesting company.

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        2. For me, agnosticism isn’t a 50/50 bet because (and again, this is just me), if one is unsure, they’re not going to get to the point of placing a bet. Does God exist? A) Yes. B) No. C) I can’t answer because it’s not possible to know. I agree that if a person – any person of any belief – is being honest, they have to admit to the possibility of God, or a god.

          The thing for me is not if a person believes, or disbelieves, or doubts. It’s being nice, being thoughtful, and being loving and not imposing one’s own values (regardless of where they came from) onto others.

          (I looked at the Wayside Chapel website and I love that winged heart logo. If I ever decide to get a tattoo, I’m stealing it!)

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          1. I agree in that it is certainly not a 50/50 bet, but what I mean is that people tend to express it that way …. A)Yes. B) No. C) Gee, I’m not sure, it could be either. But in reality there is a stack of evidence supporting B) and absolutely none supporting A) and so one either elects to go down the blind faith route or rules it all out as preposterous. I just don’t think there is much room to sit in the middle.
            I have no time for people who say, “oh, I’m not very religious” because I see it as a binary question. You either accept that God is the creator of all things and adjudicates on matters described in whatever religious doctrine you follow, and act accordingly, or you don’t. It’s not something that you can be wishy-washy about.
            But yes, from my perspective, one’s ethical behaviour is what counts, and if people choose to act ethically only because they fear the eternal judgement of God, then it strikes me as a bit ingenuous.

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            1. I must say I’m with you on that -same as people only following laws for fear of a policeman. Can’t we be mature?

              And I do not sit in the middle so much as not follow blindly. Faith does not need to be blind.

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              1. I was not suggesting for a moment that YOU sit in the middle. I suppose, at the end of the day, what is obvious to you is not obvious to me and what’s obvious to me is not obvious to you. Thank goodness for diversity, though, eh?

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        3. Those are very interesting points; ones I didn’t give enough time in this opening epistle. -Of course, I tend to overthink my writings and conversations for fear I’ve left something out.

          I agree with you wholly -with the exception that “the believer, on the other hand, needs to concede to no such doubt, since the act of faith itself requires the surrender of logic.” I agree that an absolute embrace of faith requires the letting-go of many things, but logic is not one of them. True, if you argue that ‘logic’ is defined as man’s interpretation of an event; not true, if you argue that ‘logic’ is a sound understanding of the natural laws of the universe.

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          1. Fair enough. But assuming, for a moment, that God exists, then God has furnished us with the equipment to analyse the likely validity of everything we read in the text(s) that he has allegedly supplied us. Now that equipment (which we might call logic) would indicate that most of what we read is preposterous, so we are also told to ignore that equipment and just have faith …. which seems something of a contradiction.
            We don’t know everything, of course, and I see God as the answer to everything we don’t know. So the more we know, the smaller God becomes, until, logically, we actually become God.

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  17. My plan runs out in June, and I’m not renewing, so I don’t think I will be blogging anymore after May. Though I do weekly blog on The Rhythm Section, so that may continue.

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  18. Writing helps solidify my thoughts. Making them public makes sure I don’t skimp on the process. I don’t have a wide following, but those who do visit regularly are treasured ones worth knowing. Some, like yourself, have gone way out of their way to be kind and supportive.

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  19. I blog primarily because I enjoy conversing with people from around the globe. Unlike many other media sources, most people are polite and well-written here, and the trolls are at a minimum, unlike other forms of social media.

    That said, I’ve reduced my blogging big-time this year. My plan has been only to write a post on the last day of every month. So far, I’ve kept my promise with that. Less engagement? Absolutely, but that was a tradeoff I’m willing to make right now. I’m spending more time story writing, and time was always an issue when I was reading way too many blog posts. Now, I pop in when I have a few extra minutes. In some ways, I miss the interaction (I like people), but there is absolutely no pressure coming up with things to write. I don’t know if I’ll continue with that pattern, but right now, it’s the place I’m supposed to be (my happy place).

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    1. Good points. When I started, I had a goal to write every day for a year. I did quotes on Sunday, but still counted that as writing. When people surprised me by showing up, I read every post they wrote.

      Now, like you said, I don’t have the time. I feel badly that I can’t keep up the original schedule I had, but I can’t. Your writing about where you’re at now helped me see that we’re all at different places in our blogging and writing.

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  20. When I first started I wanted people to appreciate my work. Now I’m just bored lol. I thought about publishing in the middle, but it’s hard. I might have a go at it again if I ever write a novel. I blog sporadically these days, and just spend time pursuing other hobbies like reading, going out, and eating good food lol.

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      1. That’s a very generous comment Chelsea. I’m humbled but I doubt I’m even close to a James Joyce or any modernist or any great author. They’re all very well read scholars who knew pretty much everything. If you read Fitzgerald or Hemingway via a critical lens, you’ll see that they tailored passages and descriptions to suit the mood or setting. Hemingway knew when to omit stuff to make the reader feel deeply. Who thinks like that? It’s crazy! I didn’t even know all this until I started doing research recently. And don’t get me started on Ezra Pound and T.S.Eliot lol.

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        1. And.. yet, you don’t seem to recognize that your above paragraph puts you way ahead of most of the world’s population, in terms of “well read scholar.”

          Seriously; they’re all just people. You’re very talented. Get an editor like they did. 😉

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  21. I blog because it keeps me sane… It’s the only part of my life that is mine and mine alone.
    After breaking my back I learned a lot about so called friends , family and life blogging helped me back to coping.
    I am better now but blogging remains my escape and safety valve.

    Keep blogging if you can Chel you have the voice 💜

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  22. I needed a place for my writings because I was tired of rejections (I started writing in the pre-internet days), so I fit under the 1 category, though I’ve given up on ever writing a best seller.

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    1. It’s a funny place, to straddle the times before and after internet. I think it’s opened many doors overall -so, maybe I should try for just publishing and not hope for selling. 🙂

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  23. Thoughts:
    “Option 5: Bored. Or, Option 6: Lonely.” = That’s a depressing thought. “crippling procrastination, perfectionism, and anxiety. *sigh*” = yes.
    As for why I blog, I used to know but I don’t anymore. There’s probably an Option 7 there some place I haven’t found yet.

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  24. I blog because I just love writing. While I don’t have a big following, I have several that tell me my blogs encourage them and/or give them a laugh. So – I just like to think that maybe my writings help a few others. I also would love to publish a book, but I don’t really blog for that reason. I also have several I follow that I just enjoy their writings.

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    1. This is the healthier way, I’m sure. I know I enjoy reading your posts; they always give me things to think about. -rather, different ways to think about things. 🙂

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  25. Never one reason and never the same reasons over time. Two things go me started. One, I met Anne Goodwin on a course, she blogged and thought I’d like it (bloody psychologist, reads minds) and on the creative writing course they generally encouraged it as a way to write regularly.
    Over time I learnt that putting any creative writing out there stops me tinkering. That goes for self publishing as well as shorts and poetry. After publishing I leave alone (until in thr case of shorts and poetry I intending pulling them into a book).
    I enjoy the interaction too.
    Keep going if you can.
    For the rest I enjoy writing about many things

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  26. “But; slowly, slowly I kept improving as I kept blogging. I met and meet wonderful people. I read fascinating posts.” I’m trying to cut back on this part but have kept at it for the same reasons you expressed here. Too much fun and too interesting.

    “Still; The Blog may be one to go if I don’t actually deliver on my goal to publish. How about you? Again, why do you blog? What got you started? Will you keep going?” I’ve never had a goal to publish and as you can probably tell that also applies to my WP blog/blogs. I got started because I knew/know I have always been a writer. I got started because a friend of mine had a WP blog. I’ve tried to use her experience as a role model in the pursuit of writing in general. I will probably keep going, at the same pace, because, like you, I have found that it makes my writing better.

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    1. Thank you.

      Yes, I think I’ll keep at it for the same reasons ultimately. I would like to honor my original reason I started; it’s good you started just to write and meet others, so you’re not disappointed like me! 🙂

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