I've been giving a lot of thought to the problem of what purpose I want this blog, this particular one right here, to serve. I haven't been posting a lot. That doesn't mean I'm not blogging, because I post twice a week to Finding Wonderland, rain or shine, and as the Cybils blog editor again this year, I put up between 3 and 5 posts per week there. And then there's my paid blogging/article writing gig at A Place for Mom, which has been upped from 2 posts a week to 3. At about 500 words apiece, it's no small potatoes. I blog a LOT.
Just…very little of it is what I'd call my personal thoughts. I tend to save those for short bursts on Twitter and Facebook. I am also constantly battling questions like Who really cares? What purpose does it serve? Are my thoughts really that interesting? Does anyone even "read" blogs anymore or do they just go surfing for specific topics? I mean, I haven't been doing much blog reading lately myself. I hate to admit that, especially as someone very much enmeshed in the children's literature blogging community. I've gained a lot of treasured friends and writing connections by reading their blogs. But my blog reading is no longer regulated by Google Reader; I read a handful of random posts in any given week, clicking through from e-mails or tweets or Facebook. I haven't been commenting. Everyone else has plenty to say; they don't need to hear my two cents.
So then what? That's the question I've been asking myself, over and over. What do I have to say, here, that hasn't been said a million times and far more eloquently? What do I have to offer that's unique, and that I haven't posted elsewhere? And do I have enough of it to offer on a thrice-weekly basis or whatever? Am I helping, or at least entertaining, anyone by doing it? Myself, at the very least? Do I have to have a special "thing" that my blog is known for? How can I create something sufficiently individual, or is BEING an individual and posting about it enough?
I've wondered over and over if I should say goodbye to this blog; if I should stop blogging, period. I haven't gotten to that point yet. But I'm definitely doing some thinking about the why of it all.
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
I write. I create. I put some of that here. Read at your own risk. If there were an ampersand code for a little skull-and-crossbones, I'd totally be using it right now.
The term "aqua fortis" was the alchemical nomenclature for nitric acid, a necessary component in etching onto zinc plates for intaglio printmaking. I now use copper plates and ferric chloride almost exclusively, as they are much less toxic, but I still like the sound of "aqua fortis."
aqua fortis
I write. I create. I put some of that here. Read at your own risk. If there were an ampersand code for a little skull-and-crossbones, I'd totally be using it right now.
The term "aqua fortis" was the alchemical nomenclature for nitric acid, a necessary component in etching onto zinc plates for intaglio printmaking. I now use copper plates and ferric chloride almost exclusively, as they are much less toxic, but I still like the sound of "aqua fortis."
want to know more?
sarah jamila stevenson
the deckled edge
castell tywod
finding wonderland
about me
4 comments:
omg! i've been running through similar thoughts of late, and (in)articulated some of what i've been thinking in a post slated to go up in MINUTES!
i'd wonder if there was something in the water, but given our geographical distance i'm going to defer to it being something in the air.
weird!
I also suspect it's a question that nags thoughtful bloggers in general, or at least those of us who tend to overthink everything (read: me).
For me it's also an extension of the whole What the heck am I even doing as a writer? question, but I probably need to take that up with a therapist. :D
Why aren't you on Reader anymore, though?
For me, reading the words of others is vital to participation in their community; if I'm only speaking/blogging, it's not a conversations, it's a monologue; those never go well.
I read widely so that I have lots to think about and lots to comment upon. That being said, I blog a lot less than you do at various outlets. I have no problem blogging once or twice a week only at my own site, and once or twice a week at our shared one, but that's definitely a lot less than you're doing just now...!
I find Reader completely overwhelming these days. There are so many blogs I want to read, or feel like I have to read, that it feels like a herculean task.
Plus there's the fact that I really, really need to sit down and reorganize my Reader....maybe that's what I'm trying to avoid.
Post a Comment