And so, dear reader, this is how we arrive at a blog post about blogging. Feel free to leave off now if this is becoming a bit too self-absorbed for you. I will completely understand. I'm feeling I've stepped into the deep-end as well.
What should a blog be? What should it do? The word blog is a blend of the term "web log." (I know I knew that at some point, but I'd completely forgotten and actually had to look it up. Strange how language can do that to you.) According to Wikipedia, the arbiter of knowledge for our generation, personal blogs have the following characteristics:
"The personal blog, an ongoing diary or commentary by an individual, is the traditional, most common blog. Personal bloggers usually take pride in their blog posts, even if their blog is never read."
To which I say, one should take pride in everything one does. Though I'm often more ashamed than proud to admit that I blog...Perhaps I'm doing something wrong. Or maybe it was that episode of Ugly Betty (where Betty starts a blog in 2008, and Marc says cuttingly, "Welcome to six years ago") getting to me a bit more than it should. Or perhaps it's this next part.
"Blogs often become more than a way to just communicate; they become a way to reflect on life, or works of art. Blogging can have a sentimental quality."
As a writer, I've never been very good at fabricating. Everything I do stems from personal experience, and to some extent, sharing personal experience makes one vulnerable. If you're like me, part of that vulnerability is in knowing how to walk the line between personality and sentimentality. Mis-stepping there makes you, the reader, feel awkward. Because, though it may be an on-going diary, you don't really want to feel like you're reading my diary. If you ever do, just remember, if you were actually reading my diary, it would probably be twice as wordy and half as interesting.**
"Few personal blogs rise to fame and the mainstream but some personal blogs quickly garner an extensive following."
By referring to you as reader, I'm assuming that a reader actually exists. I recognize that that may be a bit delusional. But, when the day comes that I refer to you as readers you'll know I've become the ruthless dictator of a populous that exists entirely in my own head. At that point, you are welcome to stage a coup. Or an intervention. Though that would probably require more than one of you. So good luck with that.
In the meantime, I leave you with this thought. Take from it what you will.
"There is no such thing as blogging. There is no such thing as a blogger." -Simon Dumenco
*If this reference eludes you, click here
**The reader unaccustomed to my sense of self-deprecating humor may find here a perfect example of the personality/sentimentality line. This sentence basically means "my life is exceptionally boring, twice as boring, in fact, as a blog about blogging." While sentimentality might lead you to feel sorry for me, understanding my personality would lead you to read it as a tongue-in-cheek apology for the dry, convoluted verbosity of this post.
