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…? 🙂
This entry was posted on March 1, 2011 at 12:56 and is filed under Miscellaneous with tags blog, blogger, culture, interview, novelist, short stories, writing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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… 🙂