Skip to main content

to blog or not to blog: Take 2

Image
By
I dabble with blog-writing.
I contemplate getting more serious about it.
I read lots of blogs - the good, the bad, and the ugly.
I take note of things that I would like to emulate.
I think and re-think my purpose for blogging.
I ask myself lots of questions about the direction of my blog.

One place where I keep getting stuck is the question of promoting my blog - not so much the "how to" as whether to. I've discovered that I am not sure that I WANT to promote it widely. I don't know if I'm ready to go public. That's a rather important question to settle before starting a promotional campaign.

So once again I ask myself the question "What is my purpose for blogging?" Is it to develop a readership? To become known? Or is it for "smaller" reasons, purposes?

Even if I choose not to go public on any grand scale, there seem to be many possible usages for a blog. It makes a good place where I can let my friends sample my writing. It provides a place where I can post things that I think will be of help to selected people. It can also simply be a place for me to practice writing - to build my writing habit, to experiment with different ideas, or to find my voice.

The question for me is not whether to blog or not, but how public I want to be and how much or how soon I want to recruit readers. I'm not sure I'm ready for the risks and the rough & tumble of life in the big bad blogosphere, so perhaps no recruiting for me yet.

To go public or not to go public; that is the question.

...

And you...
Are you wanting to start blogging or to get more serious about it?
What is your question?
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

All in different places

By
We "gather" in this spot because of our common interest in writing. It is very possible that we will have little else in common - and that's okay. But even within the realm of writing, we are likely to be quite different from each other. One of the obvious differences will be that of genre - starting with fiction or non-fiction. I hope and believe that we can learn from each other across that divide. Personally, I can't envision being able to write fiction and I certainly admire you who can. We probably also have varying levels of intensity and desire about this writing thing. Some are dabbling while others may be quite serious. For that matter, maybe some of us haven't even thought about whether to dabble or to be serious about it. Then there's the matter of how far we are on this writing journey. Have you established some kind of writing habit yet? Have I set any writing goals? Do we want to? So, since we are all in different places and headed in various dir...
3 comments
Read more

There is life to live

By
Sometimes life gets in the way - or so it seems. What a silly statement. What could be more important than life? I guess I was thinking of the fact that sometimes life gets in the way of writing, but then I guess that's better than writing getting in the way of life.  Hmmm... I have lived through some examples of life getting in the way of the writing I want to do and the subsequent re-evaluation of my goals.  Isn't that just the way life is?  We all have to find our own answers to the work/life balance questions. My writing instructor Jeff Goins writes about having a life worth writing about . I've written on this topic myself.  On my other blog I've told about how travel days can mess with travel writing  and on this one about how busy days can set me back and discourage me. Yep, yep; there is  life to live .  I want to live it and I want to write about it - and so I am.
Post a Comment
Read more

Morning Pages

By
I had been lamenting the fact that I haven't been able to focus on writing regularly in the past weeks and probably won't be able to for another several weeks. I have expressed sadness about that, but want to be patient with myself during this intense transition time. However, just as I was accepting that reality, I came across (yet again!) the concept of keeping morning pages. Once again, I was inspired and wanted to do it - but this time there was a different twist. Whereas before I had tended to think of morning pages as an exercise, a discipline, something that I should do, this time I caught a glimpse of the benefits - immediate benefits, in fact. I had been saying that I didn't have the focus necessary to write. Interestingly, this blogger told how morning pages gave her focus for her day. Hmmm... Is it possible that this could actually HELP me during these weeks - rather than being one more chore on my list? Worth considering. And worth trying again. This...
2 comments
Read more