Saturday, March 22, 2008

To Blog or Not...



A little over a year ago, I began my blog. In the general scheme of things that isn't very long. I think it was a line in a movie titled Remo Williams that went something like "A year for a flea is eternity, but for a planet it's less than a blink of an eye." My year as a blogger has been somewhere in the middle. Some days were eternity, some days an eye blink.


It has been a year of discovery and chaos. I am not alone in that. Personally my life has leaped from one crisis to the next with barely a breath in between. I have found that life is generally like that. Eddies of peace are rare and treasured. This is not the most tumultuous time of my life but it's less peaceful than I had hoped it would be.


Professionally, it's been a busy year filled with new experiences, friendships, and responsibilities. Growing gracefully in my profession has been a start and stop process. Writing can be a lonely business, yet I find there are many demands that steal my writing time. The business aspects of writing and promotion have changed in the last few years so that the writer is responsible for nearly all of their promotion and publicity. For those of us with no experience in that area, it is a harrowing journey.


In the Internet world, one of the possible tools is the blog. Blogs defy definition. For some they are a personal journal where the writer shares incredibly personal or private information, sometimes to the point of embarrassment or even compromising their family's safety. For others it is a bulletin board with a simple informational list with products, contests, or services.


A few blogs are primarily controversial tell-all columns and in a world murky with hidden agendas, there is a useful place for such blogs. Popular or not, they shine a light on the underbelly of that dark world and they ask the hard questions, demand the truth, seek the answers that the rest of us can't find for ourselves.


There are blogs for every possible subject or agenda from raising a child to raising the Titanic. If you have an interest, then there is most likely a blog out there for you. Blogs range from the religious right to the pagan and agnostic. I found a curious blog that is devoted to mustaches of the nineteenth century. When I need some down time, I go there and read the comments and look at the pictures.


In my author group, there has been considerable discussion about blogging. Some declare there is not time. Certainly I agree that it is a commitment not to be take lightly. Others have banded together to blog as a group. The advantage to that is the shared responsibility. The downside is that difficulty of working with a varied group. And of course, readers might have a difficult time settling into the varied rotation. If the group doesn't have a shared agenda and vision, it can be confusing and disorganized. I visit one such group blog occasionally, but never know what I will find with I arrive. I may read a treatise on child abuse, or be presented with a recipe, or even find a book excerpt waiting for me. There is no rhyme or reason to the presentation.


As I evaluate how I want my blog to evolve, one of the things I must consider it my audience. Frankly, I don't know who you are or why you read my blog. I don't think I'm amusing enough to draw an audience so I'm puzzled about what the draw is.


Easter is traditionally the threshold of spring, a time of renewal and new growth. In the coming weeks I will be thinking about how to make this renewal my own. If you--my readers--have any suggestions about what you would like to read, please feel free to add a comment on the blog or drop me a line at annycook67@yahoo.com I will be very interested in anything you might have to say.


Anny
Don't forget to drop by Kelly's Blog at www.kkirch.blogspot.com where she's coloring Easter eggs and Amarinda's Place at www.amarindajones.blogspot.com where she's entertaining the Easter bunny. Blessings on your day.

7 comments:

  1. Wow, you have given a lot of thought to blogging. To me a blog is a useful tool for imparting info - nothing more, nothing less

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  2. I have to admit I'd never considered blogging until I started to read your and Amarinda Jones' blogs. Now I may not blog every day, but it seems like a great tool for so many personal and professional reasons.

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  3. We-ell, I've got a blog, but I don't often remember to update it... I use it mainly as a writing diary and somewhere to show off my covers, but even then it's spasmodic to say the least.

    Yet I enjoy reading other people's blogs, and I have thoroughly enjoyed being a guest blogger on occasion when I have something burning my tongue that I simply have to get off my chest.

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  4. Anny, another thoughtful blog. Your blogs always give me a lot to ponder. Amarinda's blogs put a smile on my lips and in my heart every morning. Kelly has interesting surprises. Sandra shows me lovely pictures of kitten and dogs. I miss my cat Wendy.

    Many blogs tell us about the life and family of the author. While a reader likes to find out a bit about the author of a book they love, it becomes boring to read an endless chronicle of their writing and their life.

    I started a blog almost a month ago. Now I'm wondering if it’s worth maintaining my own blog. As a reader I would like to know what prompted you to write a particular book?

    I think a blog should be like a chat between the author of the blog and the readers. An open communication to announce the most recent news, a review, a new contract, finishing a book to make the readers aware of interesting facts about a particular book or an author.

    If I do that, keep my blog specifically for announcement and promo, I wouldn’t have enough subjects to fill a daily blog. And frankly, most of the writing subjects have been rehashed so often on different blogs, it's like reading the same ideas written in different styles.

    I didn't mean to write so much, but I am sick again a flu that keeps coming on and off for almost three months and is exhausting me) Why am I writing this bit? I just said the reader doesn't care about personal information. Anyway, because I'm so tired, I'm seriously thinking about posting once a week on my blog or whenever I have interesting news. Make my blog a sort of newsletter. Going back to rest and praying the nasty flu go away once and for all.

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  5. An open chat, as Mona says, is kind of how I feel about mine. Whatever is on my brain or provides me more than a passing thought, I tend to put up on my blog. Like today's blog on UFOs. I like things that make me question the status quo or challenge what I thought to be true. I also like variety but I don't want to be a collection of excerpts. Readers get enough of them in loops.

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  6. You don't think you're amusing enough to draw an audience? Wow Anny, you sure are. You've had an interesting life and are very insightful. To you, you're just you. To me, you're a wise, witty woman who I've enjoyed getting to know through your blog the last year.

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  7. Congratulations on celebrating one year as a blogger.

    I envy the bloggers who seem to be naturals, always having something interesting, funny, or thought-provoking to say.

    Blogging is not always easy, but you've always managed to make it enjoyable and interesting. May this next year be even more successful for you. :-)

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