I Did An Interview
Okay, it was nothing particularly startling – a short email interview apparently for a journalism student, but her questions were good and thoughtful, so I replied (which I’m usually pretty wary about doing) and I tried to curb some of my usual flippancy, being… well, a bit serious – sort of (you know me).
However, it did force me to think about a few things – most specifically, why I do this at all. Not an easy thing to figure out in my case. I did say in my replies that I really write anything mainly just because I like doing it – heck, I love writing. I don’t know why, I just do. I’m fully aware that I’m not the next Will Shakespeare, but I think I’d still want to do it somehow even if I was completely illiterate. Huh? I know, not an easy concept to get one’s head around that. Still I expect you understand the point and the emotions I’m trying to convey.
But why write a blog, of all things? Apart from my love of writing per se, the truth is that I began by looking for a better way to present my short stories – which I also create largely for fun, but which I don’t quite see the point of doing unless someone reads them since I’m really a novelist at heart – and a blogging platform turned out to suit my needs for that particular purpose. There are all sorts of tales and anecdotes – many are romantic and often somewhat spicy too, some rather more on the erotic side of things, quite a few are in the sci-fi category and… well, all sorts really. So, if you’re interested, please take a few minutes to browse around my “Short Story Blog“
Nevertheless, it was creating that facility somehow that got me started on this more conventional weblog and I do thank those who bother to read the drivel I write, because, without you – well it’d be a rather sad and lonely practice, wouldn’t it? It’d be like… er… no, that’s not exactly an appropriate metaphor… but you get the point, I’m sure.
However, I can see the reasoning behind commercial blogs, political ones, religious ones and even angry ones, but most are “personal” blogs of one sort another – so the question applies to all of us writing that sort of material: Why? Why do we do it?
Well…? 🙂
March 2, 2011 at 06:17
Crap. Talk about taking a second look at something… I am, now, rethinking my reasoning for blogging in the first place. It used to come so easy and there was so much to say and it was fun. I enjoyed it and therefore, so did others. Now? I stress over what to say that others will like and no longer try to do it for myself.
You have made me see that I need to go back to doing it for myself… that’s what it all started out to be anyway. 😉
Thanks Adam!
March 2, 2011 at 08:37
My pleasure and thank you for replying. I do agree that it needs to be fun, or cathartic, or something like that. Glad I triggered a thought or two…
See? I have some uses after all 😆
March 2, 2011 at 11:32
For me, it was an outlet to prevent possible boredom. My last one was off to university and since I don’t have any other hobbies to speak of, I was concerned that I would have too much time on my hands (which is a joke because I’m always busy doing something). I had always wanted to write, but didn’t have the discipline to write regularly. The blog was the perfect fit. It was not only an opportunity to write, but because I gave myself an arbitrary deadline of posting weekly, I now had to live up to it.
The trick was writing using a theme.
I really never thought others would read the drivel (funny, I use that word to describe my writing as well). It is quite a revelation to see that others feel or notice the same things we do.
March 2, 2011 at 11:45
Thanks for replying. Interesting. Yes I think there are similarities and, for people like us at least, there has to be a fun element of one description or another – and to relieve a perceived fear of boredom does I think fit (loosely) into that category.
It’s also interesting that you picked on blogging because your desire to write was perhaps somewhat sporadic and then you promptly set yourself a deadline… hmm… 🙂