Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Blogs and Blogging

In response to one blog post and in preparation for another, I thought I would take a moment to hash out my thoughts regarding... blogging. Actually, I think this will about the combination of both blogs and blogging. The "places" or published thoughts as objects and the act itself.

The other day, I read this blog post on the Mild Mannered site about blogs. If you've followed me over, well, anytime since I came back from the Pacific, you will see that I have often questioned my own blogging purpose. I have sometimes wallowed in my lack of purpose, in fact (so much that I created another blog more focused on some of my interests and studies so that I would have purpose and stop perishing without a vision). But I like what the blogger says about blogging. It's a hobby, it's for fun, it can be a platform, and it is a conversation. Actually, the conversation part was part of why I chose to create the other blog. I read all sorts of blogs about history and interpretation and I wanted to be able to jump in, too.

I have also been slightly interacting with other blogs via Mandy's Book Blogger's Club over at the Well-Read Wife. Mandy commented on my blog several weeks ago, encouraging me that my blog is my own space. Do what you want with it and be free of what others think was her advice. A while back, she decided to start a book club of bloggers- a group of people who might share the same interest. That was very brave, in all actuality. And I wonder if the club is working out like she planned? It has been a good experience for me and I appreciate her efforts. Indeed, the book club has introduced me to a wide variety of blogs and bloggers. That was a freeing exercise in itself (I usually follow history blogs, blogs of those I know, and the occasional food/fitness blog).

In the same initiative-taking spirit, that blogger who wrote about blogging decided to launch his own website, Classic Fiction Magazine, because he didn't like what was already available and decided to make it work for him. I'll call that brave, too. The site is fun to cruise through, too. It isn't easy to digitally publish yourself, even in the world of blogging. I think people can be very critical with little thought to you. It is easy to be critical of a glowing screen, forgetting that somebody created the content on that glowing screen. A buddy of mine, (okay, my [awesomest] brother-in-law [ever]) told me "write like you are emailing a friend" as a form of advice. While that is freeing (I often pretend I am writing my family, and that seems to help), it can also hinder. But somebody other than an emailed friend might read this!

So what?

I am contemplating writing a post for my History and Interpretation blog about the use of blogs by historic sites. I follow some pretty good ones and want to advocate for their use. And actually, I will probably borrow some of my arguments from the foundational ideas presented in the Mild Mannered post. So between thinking about what has been written about blogs and what I want to write about blogs, let's just say I had blogging on the brain. And needed to blog about it.

Thanks for following.

1 comment:

James L. Carey said...

Thanks for the kudos! :) Keep on bloggin' in the free world.