Blogging About Blogging

My friend, Jane, posted about dogs & blogs yesterday on her new blog.  I got the sense that she is going through the exact thing I did when I first started blogging back in September 2010 and what I think perhaps my other friend, Kathy, went through for a short time when she started her blog.  What do I blog about?  So, this morning, I was thinking about where the word "blog" came from. Looked it up on the internet and it derived from the the expression "weblog".  A personal journal of sorts.

Here is the official definition I found:

Definition of BLOG

: a Web site that contains an online personal journal with reflections, comments, and often hyperlinks provided by the writer; also : the contents of such a site.

I still don't know if I could box myself into writing about just one thing, a "niche".  Some sites I've researched on blogging say that if you're going to write a blog for money, you have to find a niche.  My goal is not to make money writing a blog.  So, then I got to thinking, "what is my goal?"  Stay with me here ... 

I've always loved to write. That's not to say I'm a good writer but it makes me feel good to put the pen to paper.  Since I was a kid, I always had pen pals and tried to keep writing letters to anyone who would write back.  After high school, I kept in contact with a few friends who liked to write.  Currently, I have one friend I left behind in Yuma who doesn't have a computer, and although she has a phone, we have kept our friendship by writing letters back and forth.

When I opened up this blog, my first post was about a banana cream pie. You see, I really had no idea what I was going to write about but there was a point to my first little post and it was a start.  From there, I just let the ideas bubble up and I don't dismiss anything as something I can't write about.

I have posted a blog every single day since that first post and I finally discovered a common thread and have been able to go back into my blog and link certain posts into my current posts.  For me, the most interesting thing to blog about is my observation of everyday life and people.  I also like that I can add photos from my library of pics or  insert new ones to add dimension to what I'm writing.   The photo I included in this blog was taken the first year we moved here.  The walls in my office are now filling up with photos I've framed and finally decided to hang.  I could write a whole post about that process ... it was extremely difficult for me to hang the photos.  (Note to self: write about that.) 

I'm amazed at how writing has brought back memories that I didn't realize were still residing in my mind, and it has also helped me stay keenly aware of what's going on in my world today.  My goal today with this whole blogging thing is to connect my photos with some kind of narrative that I can leave for anyone who is interested but mostly for myself. I'm forgetful and if I'm writing every day and connecting it with a photo, I can go back and recall the experiences. I'm afraid that will slip away some day .... (there's a whole 'nother topic to blog about it).


The last thing I'm going to say about my blogging is that I try NOT to use the spell checker. I have this theory that if I check and re-check my post for spelling errors, I might actually write a better post.  I've found over the years that I've let my brain get a little lazy when it comes to spelling and I'm not sure that the computer spell checker has been a good thing overall.  Just a theory .....

I love reading my friends' blogs and I encourage anyone who will listen to keep writing and it gets easier.


love, Susan