A million years ago – some hairy bastard daubed a horse on the wall of his cave, he saw it, he drew it – well done! Flash forward: ‘Hello, welcome to my vlog. Today I bought a plum.
— Patrick Marber
Blogging is to writing what extreme sports are to athletics – more free-form, more accident-prone, less formal, more alive. It is, in many ways, writing out loud.
— Andrew Sullivan
Sometimes I think of blogging as finger exercises for a violinist; sometimes I think of it as mulching a garden. It is incredibly useful and helpful to my “real” writing.
— Kate Christensen
As I was sitting here trying to think of something to blog about, I wondered, why do people blog? All kinds of reasons apparently. But first, a history lesson.
The first blog was created by a college student named Justin Hall, who was looking for a way to publish some of his thoughts and writing online. This was back in 1994. In 1997, others thought this was a great idea and followed suit, creating their own online diaries or personal pages. In 1997, Jorn Barger came up with the name of weblogs to describe these sites, and in 1999 this term was shortened to blog.
So, that’s how it all started. But why have a blog?
One reason people blog is to share knowledge. You’ve painstakingly acquired all this information about something and don’t want it to go to waste, so you share it online in hopes others may find it useful.
Blogs can be used for self-promotion. You can share information that will showcase your skills for prospective employers to see. It legitimizes your expertise and promotes your credibility. You can expand your online presence and platform on a blog
Maybe you have a hobby that you enjoy and want to share that joy with others. You’re proud of what you’ve done and a blog provides a platform where you can post pictures and tips or instructions so that others can do it too.
A lot of people like to write, and they write mostly for themselves. This is pretty much why blogging started in the first place. These people don’t care so much about traffic numbers or the number of comments, they just love to write. A blog is a perfect place to share these writings.
Perhaps you are going through a difficult time like a break-up, parenting problems, medical issues . . . It can be difficult to talk about these things to another person, but blogging about them can be therapeutic. And it may even help someone else.
A blog can satisfy your creative side. Sometimes your mind is just filled with ideas. Blogging about them can be a great creative outlet. And it can create a record for the future.
Blogging helps you connect with like-minded people. You post your thoughts or feelings and it can bring in others who also think or feel that way. Ideas are shared and your thoughts can move forward.
Perhaps you have an issue that is near and dear to your heart. A blog is a good way to try and sway people to your way of thinking. Maybe you’ve seen an injustice and want to raise people’s awareness of it. A blog is a great way to do that.
Some people blog as a way to network. A blog can help spread ideas and make connections all over the world. It allows them to connect with like-minded people and share information about similar issues.
There are also those who are looking to make money with their blog. You can do this by monetizing your blog and promoting affiliate links. You’ll need to find an interest to blog about, figure out who your target audience is, and figure out which topics are profitable. And you’ll need to keep your blog content fresh, updating frequently. Then you need to build a reputation and promote yourself to grow.
As for me, for the last year or so I feel that if I hadn’t been blogging, I’d have done no writing at all. The blog keeps my creative juices going. Even the poetry – if I didn’t do a post each week I wouldn’t need to do a poem to go with it and I without the form to follow I probably wouldn’t be writing as many, if any, poems at all.
So why do I blog? To share ideas and keep me writing. How about you?
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *
WORDAGE REPORT
THE WEEK IN REVIEW
The word for last week . . . confusion.
It was a shortened week as far as babysitting went, the son-in-law’s schedule changed yet again and as well as only needing me for an hour on Monday, they didn’t need me at all until Thursday. So it was like having another free week, only this time I didn’t have to worry about picking the granddaughter up. But she and I had plans for Monday, so I asked to have her for the day. :-)
The weather was sunny and not too hot, but my ambition was no where to be found, so everything was a struggle. I hate when that mood strikes me, but there’s not much to be done about it. Just wait it out.
And as usual, I did find that I got more work done in my office than in the living room. I used the bright light streaming through the big office window as my excuse for not working so much in there. Granted, when the light hits at just the right angle it is a bit of a pain, but I can always wear a hat with a brim.
NEW WORDS:
2,468+806+356+892=4,522
UP 138 – words
I was a little inconsistent with the blog posts last week. A couple of them I was up early in the morning to finish them, and one I was up late finishing. This feels like a big step backwards for me. But they were all up on time (except I can tell you right now this one won’t be) so I guess that’s something.
I was up pretty late writing Friday’s post. It took me a while to figure out where it was going, but once I did it went pretty quickly, I just didn’t budget my time properly. The good news there is that I’ve set myself up nicely for this week’s installment.
However, being up so late Thursday night meant I was super tired Friday night, and I kind of dozed my way through my writing time. I really wanted to get as much of this post done Friday night as I could, because I was going to be away all day Saturday (family outing), so no time to do it then (like I usually do).
So here I am, Sunday morning, typing as fast as I can.
Goals For Next Week:
Try to get the blog posts done a little earlier; find some other writing to work on.
EDITING:
Last week – 23 pages
Total pages - 40
More progress could have been made if I’d budgeted my time better.
I can see where a lot of things need to be changed, and I really, really need to get my act together as far as the prophecy goes – so much of the action depends on it.
There was a great deal of conflict created within the Illezie on how the prophecy was to be dealt with. There were two possible outcomes (apparently) and the race was divided into those who just wanted nature to take its course, and those who wanted to steer events towards a more amicable future.
Jeez, where do I come up with these things? LOL
Anyway, the lesson learned here is, if you’re going to use a prophecy as one of the driving forces propelling your story forward, it’s a good idea to come up with the prophecy first, then start writing your story.
Goal For Next Week:
Work on the prophecy, continue editing.
POETRY:
This week’s form was not an easy one. In fact, this was one of the posts I got up early to finish doing. I got the information about the form done the night before, but after several aborted attempts at doing an example, I decided I’d be better off getting a fresh start in the morning, so I did.
The form, the Kerf, had an odd syllable count and it also rhymed. Either one was enough to throw me off. The example I came up with wasn’t spectacular, but I’m not unhappy with it.
No other poetry news for the week – no gatherings, no discussions, no other poems writing. Kind of a slow week for poetry, I guess.
Goal For Next Week:
Get a new form ready to share, update my big book ‘o poems.
CRAFTING:
I wasn’t supposed to get the granddaughter on Monday, but I asked for her so we could do our tie-dyeing. The liquid dye was much easier to use, but it was also really quick. We did one set of aprons in “hot” colours (yellow and red) and one set in “cool” colours (blue and pink).
I didn’t see her again until Thursday, and we decided the yellow and red aprons needed a little extra, so we took them outside, laid them on the grass, and squirted some green dye on them. They looked much better when we were done.
Wanting to be prepared, I asked her on Monday what craft she wanted to do on Thursday, and she wanted to work with the modeling clay again. So I picked up some better modeling clay in a variety of colours and . . . we never got around to it. *sigh* I guess I have something to do with her the next time she’s over.
Did not make any progress saving my stitch guide to an electronic device. It’s a long story, and it involves me having problems saving them as PDF files. There’s something a little off when I try to convert them from a Word file and I have to figure out what it is before I proceed.
You’d think after spending an entire day together at Lang last weekend we’d have had enough of each other, but no, my stitchery group (at least some of us) met up at our local park for a stitch in to celebrate World Embroidery Day (which was actually in July). It was a fun time, as it always is with these ladies. And we’ll be meeting again this week on Tuesday at the library.
I did not organize my jewelry supplies, nor have I figured out what’s next on my zentangle sampler.
Goal For Next Week:
Organize my jewelry stuff, figure out what’s next on the zentangle.
WHAT I’M READING:
In tree books, I started reading Trashlands by Alison Stine, which is set in what could possibly be our future if we don’t watch out.
On the Kindle, I finished Prowling Their Mate, and the next one in the series, Stalking Their Mate, by Tamsin Baker. I fell off the exercise wagon last week, and I just didn’t have time to read anything else.
Goal For Next Week:
Find a new book on the Kindle, keep up a steady reading pace.
THE WEEK AHEAD:
It’s the Labour Day weekend, which as far as I’m concerned marks the end of the summer. The kids will be back in school on Tuesday, so no more babysitting of the granddaughter. Hopefully she’ll still come over once in a while for swimming and crafts though.
But this means I have no more excuses for getting myself back on track. And starting this week I need to try and work ahead on Winter’s Child, and maybe my poetry posts as well. At the end of the month I have Writersfest in Kingston – four days and three nights of writing workshops.
After struggling to figure out where to start last week’s installment of Winter’s Child, the rest of the scene went fairly quickly. And the best part was that I’ve set things up for this week’s installment. I’m actually looking forward to writing it.
The other thing I’m enjoying is how much James has become a presence in this story. The original story didn’t really have a main character. Or maybe it had too many of them – Joseph, James, Joey, the creature … Even though this week’s installment probably won’t have him in it, it’s still very much James’s story.
I’ve made some progress on my editing, but I think I can do better. I’m going to up my editing goal to 50 pages for the week, and I need to at least start figuring out the prophecy. It’s been building up in my mind (like things you keep putting off tend to do) until I’m starting to feel like it’s going be like writing a whole new book. I need to nip that in the bud before it becomes overwhelming.
I really need to at least update my big book o’ poems, I’ve got folders from the last five years (at least) filled with poems that haven’t been printed for my big black binder. The problem with organizing this stuff is that if you don’t keep it up, it just becomes a big mess again. I’ve been putting this off because I feel like the best way to do it is to take a day and spend it updating. Which is probably why I’ve been putting it off so long. Maybe I need to break this down a little more logically. Take a day to print the poems, then spend an hour a day putting them where they need to be in the book while at the same time cross-checking with my master files.
I’d still like to go through and prioritize my crafting, keeping in mind that Christmas is coming. There are a couple of things I have in mind for Christmas presents, and I really should spend some time figuring them out. And this includes getting my jewelry supplies organized, because some of these gifts are jewelry related.
Feast or famine with me on reading, I tell you what. Last week I was between tree books, this time I’m between Kindle books. But it’s back on the exercise wagon for me this week, so I’ll be picking something new from amongst my vast Kindle library. I’m only one book away from fulfilling my Goodreads reading pledge for the year, let’s see what book puts me over the top.
I have the stitch-in at the library on Tuesday, and a check up with my surgeon on Friday, but aside from that, the week is my own. And, the weather is supposed to be sunny and super hot – good reason to stay inside, don’t you think?
Time to get organized.
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