Should I Start Blogging Again?
Hey, should I start blogging again?
Yes. Yes, you should.
What do I write about if I haven’t written on my blog in a long time?
Write about anything you want. It’s your blog.
What if I want to write about a topic I haven’t written about before? Can I change the focus of my blog?
Yes, you can change the focus of your blog. It’s your blog. Do whatever the hell you want with your blog.
When you were a child and wrote a diary did you ever stop to think, “Would my readers respond to this topic?” Fuck no. You hoped to God that you didn’t have any readers and you liked it that way.
So I shouldn’t write for an audience?
Don’t ask me. Ask Maria Popova:
“Write for yourself. If you want to create something meaningful and fulfilling, something that lasts and speaks to people, the counter-intuitive but really, really necessary thing is that you must not write for people.”
“The second you begin to write for or to a so called ‘audience’, and this applies equally to podcasting and filmmaking and photography and dance and any field of creative endeavor, the second you start doing it for an audience, you’ve lost the long game because creating something that is rewarding and sustainable over the long run, requires most of all, keeping yourself excited about it, which in turn of course requires only doing things that you yourself are interested in, that enthuse you.
“I think the key to being interesting is being interested and enthusiastic about those interests; that’s contagious. That’s what makes people read you and come back, which by the way should and can only ever be a byproduct of your own willingness to keep coming back to your work, to your creation because if you do it for other people, trying to predict what they’ll be interested in and kind of pretzeling yourself to fit those expectations, you soon begin to begrudge it and become embittered and it begins to show in the work. It always, always shows in the work when you resent it. And there’s really nothing less pleasurable to read than embittered writing.”
(Thank you to Abe for the transcript of this podcast.)
Can I curse on my blog?
Do whatever the fuck you want. It’s your blog.
But my mom reads this blog.
So does mine. Sorry, mom. :-/
Wouldn’t my posts be better suited on Facebook or Twitter or, >>insert preferred social network here<<?
I mean, sure, you could go that route. I know I have done that for a while now and I will continue to do so. And while I love social for connections and conversations, sometimes you just need a quiet room of your own.
Besides, the Internet is killing you. Shut out the noise for a while and just write.
But isn’t blogging dead?
Blogging is dead. Viva blogging!
Ok. I’m convinced. Thanks for answering my questions.
You’re welcome, brain. Just relax, have fun, and don’t worry about where your blog has been or where it is going. Just write. Or post a video or a quote or a review of something that you are digging these days. NBD. Just do it.
