Perhaps it is the lingering effects of Catholic guilt that nibbled away at my mind these last few months, whispering, “Sarah, you’re neglecting your blog,” that caused me to sign up for WordPress’s “Blogging 101”. Perhaps it was curiosity. Maybe both. The fact is: I haven’t been as attentive to my blog as I once was.
Sure, it happens to everyone. Life happens, things change. People get busy doing those jobs that pay for their lifestyles and the “fun” stuff gets put on the back burner.
Those very things have happened to me and I’m trying to get back to writing for this blog. Writing period. So, between emails from Blogging 101 and daily writing prompts from Sarah Selecky, I’m at least thinking about writing more.
Today, I’m tackling the first assignment: Introduce Yourself to the World.
I got caught up in Life happening. The goats were being born. The garden needed planting and now has been ripening. Work takes up 45+ hours a week.
I’ve been at this blogging thing for four years. If course, that’s twelve years less than my marriage to Mr. Muse, 20 years less than my relationship with one of my orchids and 35 years less than I’ve been on this planet.
So, why am I still at it?
Like my favorite flannel shirt (17 years longer than this blog), I’ve grown attached and I would miss it. It’s an investment of time, effort, and frankly, myself. It’s something I can claim as my own, even if my writing gets a bit threadbare, like my flannel shirt.
Because of this blog I ventured forth to two blogging conferences and met some really wonderful people. Considering I’m fairly asocial (that’s the latest buzzword, not to be confused with “antisocial”), surrounding myself with people who love their blogs was both intimidating and comforting all at once. I met people who blog purely for the joy of writing, some who love it and make money, and still others who have used their blogs as launching points to further their careers in journalism and various forms of media, not to mention writing books (a personal aspiration).
So, to answer one question for this assignment, “Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?” Because I write in journals the same way I write here – like I’m writing to a friend. Only, a blog often gets answers to the questions I put forth to the universe. A journal, not so much.
And maybe that’s why I’m still here, still writing, even if it it’s less than before: to get answers. A response. To leave behind my mark on the world since I’ve chosen not to leave it with progeny.
I write because, like gardening and raising livestock and spending a great many hours in the kitchen cooking and baking, it makes sense to me. It makes me happy. If ever I was passionate about anything, or many things, writing is one of those things.
I blog, I write, because it’s what I do. The same as when I write myself short stories in my younger years. The same as telling stories to my cousins and listening to my mom tell them to me. Writing is always something I have done. It is who I am.
Your turn:
Do you blog? Why?
Why do you read this blog?
Musings of the Amusing Muse 
I only read your blog to figure out when you are available to work again with me. Sort of a sucky thing to do, but that is me.
Sounds like late fall at the moment…..
lol The trick is to throw dates at me and see what, if any, stick.
September 16th through the 23rd. Just a thought…. All of it of course.
I do blog . . . but not nearly as much as I once did. It’s not that I’ve chosen to blog less, I’ve just allowed other items in my life to take a higher priority. I keep having “grand plans” of making some truly large changes over at @daddyrunsalot and/or @thedarkescape, and then blogging like mad (like I did when I opened each of those), but I know better.
Why I blog is because I like to look back — to remind myself of what was, what I was thinking, what I was doing, and how my kids have progressed. In addition to that, the fellowship of “being among others” is truly great. I regret that we’ve yet to attend the same blog conference at the same location at the same year — but that’ll happen, some day — because, while I enjoy the “getting to know someone from their writing” when the “know someone from online” becomes “know someone,” it’s really fun.
I think looking back might be part of it, but I have a box of mementos under my bed and rarely look at it. I’ve always been one to look at the here-and-now and the future. Despite my love of history, I rarely look back at my own.
As for meeting people face-to-face from the online world, I think it’s fun. Being able to put the actual person to the persona. I’ve been lucky to meet a lot of great people and I know I’ll meet some others in the future.
Writing blog post is like priming the pump for writing. Of course there are so many interesting people in the blogging neighborhood.
True, particularly when combined with available time.