Why I Enjoy Blogging

It hasn’t been a year since I started this blog, but it’s getting close. This has been a successful project for me so far and I think it’s worth continuing to put time into. I may not have a cult following or a book deal (quite far from either!), but maintaining this blog has been good to me.

I like to write, and I always have. Just because I’m going through a long fiction-writing dry spell, doesn’t mean I need to let my writing skills go completely un-honed. This is good practice, and I’m really enjoying it as a hobby. While I’ve kept more private online journals for many years now, I’ve been putting a lot more thought and effort into writing these posts, and it’s been a much more valuable exercise.

It’s also a nice way to maintain connections with people I know. A few of my friends read this, and at the very least we interact in the comments. My posts have also been the starting points for several great conversations with my mother and my boyfriend. Written word is honestly my preferred mode of communication (I think this is why I took so quickly and strongly to the internet), and a lot of the time there are things that I would like to say that I have trouble saying, but little problem writing. So my blog has been a good conversation starter. A way for me to get my thoughts out there and give people I know a good segue (random fact: I learned the word segue when I was 14 in chemistry class) into  a proper conversation. I’m a quiet person, but if you get me in the right mood and get me on the right subject, I can actually talk quite a bit. Someone I knew growing up used to call me “Radio,” which I’m sure comes as a surprise to many who know me. (Another old nickname, “Little Library,” is probably much less of a surprise).

Blogging can be a way to create connections with people I don’t know, though (as far as I know) I don’t have any regular readers I didn’t know before I started this blog. However, I have had a few random passers by, and it’s always nice to get a positive comment from a stranger.

So I’m willing to call this a personal success. 🙂