Mar 11 2008
What Kind Of Bloggery Is This?
Is blogging just another fad?
Inspired by Mark’s post, I started thinking about my new obsession, blogging. It’s fair to say that I go through fads and phases. From an early age I gave up playing the recorder, I gave up playing the guitar, I gave up drama, I gave up singing, I gave up art, I gave up writing, I gave up fishing (yep!), I gave up cycling (incidentally, I just got a bike as a present), I gave up college, I gave up, I gave up, I gave up. It’s fair to say I don’t have much of a track record for follow through. It’s fair to say I say “It’s fair to say” too much!
So, why is this any different? For starters, I’ve always wanted an avenue back to writing (not so much for fishing). I like to put my thoughts on paper (or screen!). My brain is usually a garbled mess and writing it all down helps to sort things out and give structure to my thoughts (my PDA and Filofax are lifesavers). So, this is less a fad and more an extension of something I’ve been doing in a very solitary way for quite some time.
But this can’t just be a diary, can it? Well, yes and no! Yes, it is a form of ‘public diary‘ where people can read what you’ve been up to and what you’ve been reading about, but as it is public, there is the drive to make it more interesting, to embellish, to draw the reader in. So, no it needs to be more that just a diary, imho.
Grandad says he’s blogging to state a personal opinion, and if he influences people then he’s delighted. I like that! That sounds like the answer I’d want to give after I’ve been blogging for a while. But, Mr Grandad Man, I wonder if you’d still be writing so feverishly and frequently if you didn’t have a readership base? I wonder if just writing your opinions down is enough or does the ego need the feedback? I’ve enjoyed the feedback I’ve gotten so far. I’ve been both surprised and uplifted by it. Perhaps it’s the feedback that will give me the impetus to keep going after the fad or phase subsides. We’ll see!
But, for the moment, I’m loving it. It’s making me think more and ask questions, both of myself and the world around me.
And it helps that I have a few friends who are interested in it, Darragh in particular, and are not belittling me (as I may have expected). Indeed, the Otter Half, in support or something, has begun a blog of her own. So please get over there and lend her your love….or at the very least, a kind word.
Update: Rick O’Shea just answered the question “What is a Blog Blob?”
I started off purely to amuse myself, and still do. In the beginning, of course I got no reaction. When the comments started coming in, it did add a certain impetus, but didn’t really change my writing pattern.
The huge difference the comments make [apart from the ego boost] is the chance to interact with the reader. More often than not, the comments are much funnier than the original post.
So keep at it. You’re playing a blinder, and it’s great craic!!
Well, thank you very much for the feed back! 🙂
It really is fun though, isn’t it. I’ve been on forums mostly for the past year, but it’s more about briefer commentaries and stunted arguments than really getting your opinions out. On forums, when you write a long post, you feel like you’re annoying people, taking up their time, but with the blogs you can let your own style flow a bit more. I like it!
And I’m an avid Grandad fan now, I must say.
I have to draw a parallel at this point between the adoption post and this and fads – I’ve been the same all my life, do something, love it, generally above average at it from the start, start getting good at it, give it up – could be related. Any psychiatrists out there!!!
Mark: Actually, oddly enough, a friend of mine (who is also adopted) said something similar to that recently. Maybe it’s trying to fill a void or some such. I don’t know – I’m no psychiatrist.
Also, apparently, many adopted people grow up with an inherent need to please and a need to be liked. I’m told I have it. I know this friend of mine does. What about yourself, Mark?
(This is all very deep for half one in the morning!)
Absolutely. I think it’s a (kind of) rejection thing, not worthy or something like that so maybe ‘we’ have this inherent ability to prove ourselves initially but in many ways are afraid to follow thorough fully because ultimately we believe we will disappoint. This is getting kinda personal but I suppose the one major thing in my life is my ability to love someone (or at least think I love them) in a very short space of time – it’s all or nothing and always has been, but up to now the love was immediate and within maybe 7/8 months it went from all to nothing as fast as it had began (on my part). I’m lucky enough now to be with a girl (my fiancee since March last year) who knows me and loves me, cold feet never kicked in after the 7/8 months an the biggest difference with her was that from day one there was no proving myself – I never rose to a height and then fell again. I’m no psychiatrist either but there is definitely a ‘need to please’ factor.
Actually, thinking about it, my first boss used to say a
I had a ‘Tarzan’ factor, be completely inconsistent on a day-to-day basis but an incredible ability to ‘swing in’ and save the day when the shit hit the fan.
It could be something to with the Mr. Fairweather books or whatever they were called that they give adopted kids to read – all I remember from them is ‘YOUR SPECIAL, YOU WERE CHOSEN’, maybe we all have super hero complex.
Oooh there’s so much writing material in here you wouldn’t believe. So the devil is in the comments, eh?
(not you Mark)
Darren, could I suggest *not* using the tag on your posts? I know that when I’m busy, the fist blogs to get dropped from my feed reader are the ones where I can’t read the entire post there. I’ve heard several other people express the same sentiment previously.
Several of your posts have been chopped recently, and I’m enjoying your writing, but I don’t always have time to click through to the site to finish reading them…
Hmmm….
I may have posted about this in the past but mine started (three years ago at the end of the month) as a kind of “behind the scenes” addition to a stupid radio show I was doing at the time.
These days there are very few plugs for show stuff really, just a collection of things I like, sites I like, things I want to ramble about, pictures I’ve taken (very few these days, must change that), movie reviews… Yadda, yadda, yadda.
It’s one of the things I like most about it. That I can’t really define it.
If the devil is the comments then the meat is in the devil – does that even make sense?
Elly: not entirely sure what you mean, but I think you mean the -more- tags. I thought people would prefer to have them in. If the consensus is removal, then consider it done. Thank you for the techie advice – it’s all very welcome.
Darragh: I’m never fully sure what you mean, and this is no different.
Rick: you have a radio show as well as a blog? Well done you! Can I hear it on any radio or is it some small regional thing?
Mark: you’ve been up all night haven’t you?
LOL, I’m kinda sucky at follow through too. I get drawn into things and get super addicted, then I’m on to something else.
Blogging is a way for me to keep my family and friends up to date with our daily life/pics. OUr family is 3000 miles away and I am horrible about sending updates through email or even snail mail. But, because I am lousy with follow through, this is my second attempt at a family blog,lol. I’m doing better this time around!
Tanya, I quite like the idea of your family blog. It makes a lot of sense, particularly if the family is dispersed. I had a gander at your blog and it’s really nice. Some emotive posts and an altogether uplifting site.
Yep, I was up all night. Apologies for taking so long to reply. Here’s my ‘thing’ on life – we are all unique, therefore we all have to be different, (even identical twins have to have their differences), therefore we all have to be the best in the world at something, as in naturally best in the world at something…