Wednesday, November 7, 2012

to blog or not to blog, that is the question


Lately I've been wondering about this whole blogging thing. It's not that I don't enjoy it, it's just that I I have so many questions about it as of late.
What do I have to share?
 Can I share anything even of value or interest?
Who am I blogging for anyway?

I started this blog oh so many years ago for me. I wanted a place where I could share my life and memories so I could look back on it. I also wanted a way to stay in contact with friends who lived far away. I wanted to be able to still share my life with them (and vice versa)  since we didn't see each other as much anymore. Then came this whole blog take over, where I stumbled upon so many wonderful blogs. I honestly became obsessed with blogging. I felt so inspired by so many wonderful bloggers and I would spend entirely too much time in blog land.

Then something changed.

Somehow my blog became more about who else read it and how many other someones read it. It wasn't about me anymore, it was about what I could give to my readers.

Then for whatever reason, I feel like my readers began to disappear. Comments weren't being left and I stopped blogging because frankly, I just didn't have anything interesting to say. I contemplated stopping blogging or even starting fresh, starting over. But if I did start over, what would I do with the new place? What would it be about?

I wonder if this is a common thing for bloggers to face and feel. Maybe I'm not the only one that sees bloggers with thousands of readers who are just dying to leave a comment and be a part of that amazing blog.
But I don't like it on me. I don't want to compare myself. And even more, if I have a hard time hanging out here on my blog lately, why would anyone else? And didn't I start the whole blogging thing for me and no one else? What happened to that blogger?
So here I am....stuck in the abbess of what do I do from here?
To blog or not to blog, that is the question........

-kel

7 comments:

Jess Cole said...

Oh Kel, I am in the SAME spot right at this moment, my blogging has become less and less over the last few months, feeling like I have nothing to write, realising that i cared too much about how many people read my blog, and what they think about it.
when i read this post i was like that is totally what i have been thinking about over the last few days, you were just able to put it into words.
I have decided today that i am going to do a big overhaul of my blog tonight, I am going to make it simple, and about me, not about any one else.
I was thinking about taking sponsorship and putting buttons up and such, but then I decided not, it's not about how many readers I have, it's about recording my events in life, memories and feelings and photos, before memories fade. And to share it with friends that want to read it.
I am also going to get rid of my blog facebook page and potentially my twitter as i want to take away the expectation of how often i need to blog and take the stress of it all away.
good luck with your choice!
P.s... you will be missed if you stop.

...on the brink of something beautiful said...

aw thank you so much jess!! im glad im not the only one that feels this way- it makes me feel normal :)
hope you don't stop either!~!

ISRAEL CARRASCO said...

I too gave struggled with the question of why blog? It started out innocently enough: I wanted a captive audience to hear what I had to say and at the time I had a lot if time . But then I started reading blogs that made me say, who gives a shit" so induced from that that perhaps people were saying the same thing about my blog. I mean what intrinsic value us there in anything I have to say. Then I started to feel restricted to the original content of my blog which was jokes. People liked the jokes but oftentimes they bored me or I wasn't in a joking mood. So then I questioned whether people would still read it if I posted random shit. Then I got real busy and considered burying my blog but the only thing that kept my blog going was that I had "followers " and perhaps they found value in something I offered. I was also reminded that I have found insight reading other people shit . If anything there are blogs out there that are entertaining so maybe just maybe Someone finds my shit entertaining also . But the other reason u keep my blog us that it forces me to write and come up w ideas. This is important since I want to do comedy. The shirt answer to you question is that yes there are other people like myself who have struggled with the blogging dilemma: to blog or not to blog.

ISRAEL CARRASCO said...

Excuse the typos

Anonymous said...

I think we all go through that if we were to be honest. I've gone through it a couple of times...burnout, writers block..whatever you want to call it. What worked for me is just getting back to why I started to blog in the first place. I someone reads it great, if not, I have a place to record my thoughts, ideas and feelings.

Unknown said...

Having just written my first post in over three months, I can safely say I'm in the same boat. I started to want people to read my shit more than I actually wanted to write it, and that is no formula for anyone to use who wishes to write as a hobby.

And then I got an email from Google, letting me know my domain name had been renewed and that 10 bucks had been auto-deducted from my account. This was just after I had considered doing away with my blog and also starting over. Starting fresh.

And then I decided that if I were to do that, if I were to start over, that I would end up exactly where I am now. I'd write the same stuff, and eventually attract the same audience. And you know what? I love my audience. They are few, but they are quality.

The fact that I'd been alerted to the renewal of my registration breathed new life into my want/need to write. It's too much fun, and I missed it.

Write for you, first. Write like you're doing it only for yourself. If people come along and enjoy it, they'll let you know. If they don't at least at the end of the day you can look at it and enjoy it for yourself.

Miss ya, Kel!

...on the brink of something beautiful said...

thank you everyone!! and jeff- i miss you too!!!