My question was, "How has blogging changed your life?" And I promised to answer today.
Well, I am, and that is one way that blogging has changed things for me. I came home this afternoon, tired out, to find a rush job waiting for me. Deadline, tomorrow noon. And I will get it done. But first, I have a promise to keep, so here I am.
Writing on my own, no matter what the final goal, I am far too prone to procrastination. (I still am, but I waste only hours, not days and weeks.) But I am aware that dilatoriness is death to a blog; it goes against its whole purpose. After all, it is a "log", which usually denotes a marker of time and space travelled or work done, updated regularly.
So I blog almost every day.
I have been for some time in a state of "writers' block", with a story that I really want to finish, really must finish, frozen half-way through. I seems now that the act of sitting down every day and writing, even if it be captions for a few photos, is reviving my confidence; I'm beginning to feel that I can soon thaw it out and go on.
All to the good. And better still, I am meeting online all these wonderful people, people who share our interests and our values. Laurie and I have been living in a kind of wasteland, a counter-culture composed of two quiet seniors who would rather go birding than rent a video, bring home a new mushroom (to us) than a new outfit, who rip up pieces of lawn to plant "weeds" and feed birds even if it does attract squirrels. And who are seriously concerned about climate change and the insanity of our "leaders". (Can they be really said to lead if, in reality, they are dragging us, protesting, to where we don't want to go?)
And here, online, reachable, almost touchable, are those who "know Joseph"*. We are not alone, after all! There is hope, there is strength! Maybe ... just maybe ... there is still a future for our kids and grandkids.
That is a major change for me. A good one.
One other, minor thing: I have noticed that my writing style has changed in the past year. I write more the way I speak now; more fluidly, less grammatically, less formally. I don't plan ahead. I just write. I think I like that.
So, thank you, all you out there, those whose blogs I read, and those who also read mine and sometimes comment. Thank you: you have given us hope.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*"know Joseph" From the "Anne" books. A kindred spirit.
And now, back to the grindstone. :)
I'm so glad I visited you today. I've been wondering lately why I blog. This is my fourth month of blogging nearly every day. I get tired, and when my mind draws a blank, there is something that makes my fingers flow across the keyboard. Whether or not someone reads what it on my mind doesn't matter. It's an artisitc release for me. To those to comment, I'm just glad I was able to trigger a thought or put a smile on someone's face...that's the bonus. I still worry about my writing style as I've been introduced to incredibly talented writers and artists. But what I have noticed lately is that I don't preview my comments anymore in hopes of finding typos or grammatical errors... LOL! I like your style.
ReplyDeleteI've been blogging for just over a year now. As mentioned in comments to your previous post, I built my first website about 13 years ago - but creating a blog has provided a very different experience. First, it's so dead easy to do -- the blogging software makes it so easy to write down something (anything), that I'm a lot more inclined to write than I used to be when it was just the website. Of course, the more important difference is the community aspect of blogging. Visiting other blogs, commenting, reading comments left by visitors, discussing the things that interest me - nature, environmental issues, politics. Through the blog, I've met many interesting people. For the most part, I'm a very solitary person, but the net has enlarged my circle of friends. Several years ago, I began making friends who I later met during journeys. All in all, it's been a good and positive experience, and blogging has just carried things a little further in the direction of feeling a sense of community.
ReplyDelete