Where has blogging taken me now?

Have you noticed how sometimes there’s a topic in the blogosphere that becomes flavour of the month? You read a post about it, and then come across another one. A few days later someone else is talking about the same thing, sometimes linking back to the first post you read, but sometimes seemingly unconnected. Then maybe there’s a little flurry of discussion that might lead you to BMB or beyond. I’m guessing that if you Twitter, this happens more than if you simply blog. It’s as if ideas are birds, flying and settling, here and there. Perhaps it’s just that if something catches your interest, you’ll spot it and it won’t pass you by. Perhaps it’s your own antennae that are responsible, tuning you in to a theme that’s of relevance to your life at that moment. Or perhaps the ideas really are like flocks of noisy starlings, circling and wheeling companionably. Who knows?

The subject that I’ve caught notice of recently is that of why we blog. Ah, the hardy perennial. I’ve seen that one come round more than a few times. When blogging was newer, less established, it was aired more often. Just why, exactly, are we doing this? The idea of a virtual friendship was something that had to be justified. It wasn’t yet normal. A virtual community? How does that work? We needed to talk about that. Now, experience allows us to take it more as read (rather an apt phrase, when it comes to virtual communities). Friendships that started off in cyberspace have been cemented at blogging events, or simply when two or more bloggers decide to meet. We no longer need to tell ourselves we’re not weird for doing it this way.

I’m glad that we seem to have got going on the old chestnut again. Yes. Why indeed do we blog? Time to re-evaluate. Has blogging morphed into something different altogether? Or has it just grown up a little? How long is a piece of string, and what is the price of fish?

Here are the posts I’ve come across recently that have got me a-pondering, from across the pond.

The Potty Diaries: Blogging Changed My Life
More Than Just a Mother: 8 Ways Social Media Changed My Life

and BMB is starting a new feature: Why Do You Blog?

So there we have two bloggers who claim that blogging has changed their lives. Could I say the same for me? Yes, I could. I’ve found a voice, I’ve found I can hold an audience, I’ve found friendship and community, I’ve found confidence. I've had articles published in a local women's magazine, which I wouldn't have attempted to do before. I know I can write. Most of all, I’ve found that writing helps me make sense of life. Daily mundane trivial life, and great big gut-wrenching life. It all seems to benefit from being wrestled into words. I didn't know that before I blogged. From the outside, you wouldn't see much that looked very significant from that. I haven't written a book. I haven't become a journalist. I'm not earning any money from writing. But it is important to me. I have found something out that I am exploring. It's taking a while to find direction, but I'm not too worried about that.

Here’s the new thing I've done with it recently. I’ve started journalling – which I don’t think I’d ever have done if I hadn’t first blogged. It’s just for me, and it really wouldn’t be very interesting for anyone else to read, so it’s a different animal to a blog. I’m not choosing words that will convey my meaning to other people. I’m choosing words that convey my meaning to myself. (Did I just write that sentence? Does Private Eye still run Pseuds Corner?) Actually, it’s not really about choosing words. It’s much more about picking up the pen, and letting thoughts, feelings, random mental preoccupations flow out onto the paper. I have to do it in a notebook with a pen; it doesn’t appear to work so well at a keyboard. I don’t know why. Here’s the odd thing about journalling. It seems to create more time in the day. Somehow I make better use of time available. Maybe it’s something to do with freeing up some mind space for yourself, so that you are an emptier receptacle for whatever the day brings. Maybe it puts you more in touch with yourself, so that you are a more defined person in meeting whatever comes your way. Maybe you access parts of yourself that otherwise lie a little dormant. Maybe Pseuds Corner does still exist.

I don’t journal daily – though you’re meant to. Perhaps that will come with time. I think it will, as I now look forward to my journalling time. It’s a joy, not a chore as it was at first (though only at the very beginning – I discovered the pleasure in it quite quickly).

Does anyone else keep a journal? Did you come to it through blogging, or was it the other way round? Perhaps blogging appealed because you were already in the habit of writing. I’m interested to know.

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