MyTurn/YourTurn: State of the Blog
I’m going to try things a little differently this week. I’m going to post YourTurn as a few questions instead of just one. You can reply to the questions on your blog and then I’ll be posting my response later this week. I’m just experimenting to see if this will increase participation.
YourTurn:
1. What motivated or inspired you to start blogging and how long have you been doing it?
2. What are your goals, purposes, or reasons for blogging?
3. In your opinion, is your blog “successful?”
4. If you pay attention to your blog statistics, rankings, number of comments, number of visitors, etc., share some of your significant numbers.
Thank you! Please leave a comment if you participate this week.
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About This Blog
In Thornton Wilder’s play Our Town, the central character dies an early death. Emily is given the chance to revisit a day of her life and is advised by those in the afterlife to pick an ordinary day, warning her that she might be overcome otherwise. Still, Emily is overwhelmed with emotion as she recognizes how wonderful the everyday details of her existence were. Her daily routine takes on new significance now that it is gone. Through her tears, she asks:
Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it– every, every minute?
With this blog, I am trying to fully “realize” my life by documenting the things that I love. I want to appreciate and examine my past and present, as well as plan actively for the future.
I hope to accentuate the positive in my life and in the world around me, with the hope that by focusing on the positive, I will draw more positive elements into my life. Or, at least, realize all of the blessings that I do have.
Bob, the author of this blog, is a 36 year old husband, father, son, teacher, Christian, and liberal.
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I only post once a week on each of my blogs, so I won’t write about these questions there. I’ve been blogging for about 6 months…I’m doing it to write regularly on subjects I care about and for in-depth conversations. Are they successful? I’m happy with what’s happening. I would like more conversations, but I know that will come in time. I spend as much time commenting on other people’s blogs as I do on mine. I don’t pay much attention to numbers, I’m interested in heart-to-heart connections.
I’ve just tagged you at Transforming Stress. It would great if you joined Peter’s meme, but if you’re not interested just regard it as link love.
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Thanks for an inspiring post. I feel it’s good to tell readers of a blog the reason(s) why you’re writing what you’re writing. This was a great way for me to get that point across on my blog.
I have now posted the answers to your questions in my latest post. I hope it serves as an explanation to my readers and I hope it gives you an idea of one blogger’s passion.
I do pay attention to my blog’s Google Analytics stats – sometimes probably a bit too much – but one of my key indicators of blogging success is comments. I’ve really been trying hard to cultivate more reader input and what little feedback I do get almost always is far more meaningful than any numerical stats. Stats don’t represent that you’ve connected to your readers, only that some visitors stopped by for a look…
I’m blogging it in from my art conference. Free wireless is SWEET! Your peer pressure to blog is what launched us you know — see the answers to your questions at Outnumbered.
Thank you so much for all of your comments. I really appreciate it.
I don’t know if you get follow up comments or not, but I just answered the comments on Keep the Pen Moving:
Simon and Barbara,
As I understand it, Simon, Cameron suggests morning pages to get feelings out of the way so the creative ideas have room to come up. Is that your experience, Barbara? It works that way for me.
Bob,
I doubt that anyone would want to read my free-association writing. It reminds me of Natalie Goldberg, when she gave a neighbor a big stack of her journals. Natalie was about to throw them away, when the neighbor asked for them. Afterwards she said if Natalie could write such drivel and still become well-known as a writer, anyone could.
I also find it hard to believe we wouldn’t edit what we write if we knew someone else might read it. And that would defeat the whole purpose. The idea of writing regularly without judgment is to build up trust so the deepest ideas feel safe to come up into the light of day.
Thank you all for commenting…I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to answer.
[...] of the Blog Well, it’s time for me to answer my own questions! Thanks to everyone who participated this week. I really appreciate [...]
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I’m a bit late, but I’ve answered on my blog.