Five Reasons Why I Blog

Filed by: Darren on March 9, 2007 at 14:42
Filed In: Life, Work

I was semi-tagged with this meme about three weeks ago by Paul Raven of the rather superb Velcro City Tourist Board. Three weeks? I know, I know. My excuse is that I've been gathering my thoughts ever since... <cough>

I realise this is now an Old Meme and there's a lot of it around, so I've made a point of not reading anyone else's answers on the topic so as to avoid picking up any of their threads. Paul's own answers can be found here and I'm sure a Technorati search (or two) on the subject will turn up dozens more (okay, about 471 in total...)

Right then, short version first, if you just want to read 'em and move on:

1) To Win Friends and Influence People - Make contact with like minded people and have conversations with them about the things we find mutually fascinating.

2) To Get Rich Quick - Well, no, but certainly to help sustain and develop my career as a freelance webguy by helping me to provide the best service I can to my existing client roster and hopefully put me in touch with potential new clients.

3) To Practice What I Preach - If I can set a decent blogging example for my author clients then more of them might be inspired to take up the blogging habit, which can only be good for them in the long run...

4) To Learn, and Go On Learning - Life's too short to ever stop learning new things, and the best way to find out about all the relevant interesting new things on offer is to let folks know what I'm interested in, then see what other people have to say about what's out there, and then help to spread the word.

5) I Just Can't Get Enough - I'm a frustrated (read: undisciplined, poorly motivated, lazy) wannabe novelist, but although I probably don't have the stones for the long haul it seems that I really, really have to be writing something and blogging gives me an outlet for the random pulses of creativity that wrack my system from time to time.

Long version, y'say? Well, I'm going to use the 'more' link on this one, because otherwise my entire homepage is going to be one huge wall of text until I find the energy to write and post something else...

So, if you're at all interested in the thought processes behind the answers, then please do read on.

Oh, wait! First I have to tag some other folks, right? Seems that 5 is the most popular number, so here goes... take it away:

Joe Gordon
Brian Ruckley - Brian's 5 here
Paul Cornell - Sorry, nothing from Paul. He's very busy and somewhat meme-averse...
John Jarrold
Iain Emsley

Right then, here's the extended, 12" remix:

1) To Win Friends and Influence People - Or, more specifically, to make contact with like-minded people and have conversations with them about the things we find mutually fascinating.

The Internet, and particularly the incredibly-loud, gazillion-faceted and quite wonderfully chaotic portion of it called the 'Blogosphere', is the perfect place to talk to complete strangers and discover that you have far more in common with far more people - some of whom could very well live on the opposite side of the world for all you know - than you ever thought possible.

People say that social interaction via the Internet is no real substitute for face-to-face contact, and in some cases that's true. Trust me, even a lengthy Skype chat conversation with the mighty Joe Gordon will barely scrape the surface of the man's boundless gregariousness; something that you need an Edinburgh pub and a couple of pints of Caledonian 80/- to fully appreciate. But then if it wasn't for the old TAO website (in itself a form of proto news-blog, before blogging was formalised) I'd never have gotten to know Joe beyond a passing acquaintance via our mutual former employer, and my social network would be a far poorer thing as a result. Joe is just one example, of course, among dozens, but it would take too long to sing everyone's praises, so I'll just pick on him for now. But the rest of you know who you are...

As for Influencing People, well, if some of my favourite authors sell a few more books or stories as a result of one of my reviews or recommendations... and if the people who boy those books enjoy them as well and then decide to read some more books or stories by those authors... and if, by doing so, those people then discover the same passion for that author's work that I already feel, and become the same sort of life-long fan that I already have... then it's pretty much a win-win-win all-round situation, as far as I'm concerned.

2) To Get Rich Quick - Well, no, not rich per se... and certainly not quick, either... I mean, I've been blogging for years, and I'm not living the life of Riley by any means (who is / was Riley by the way? Anyone know?)

But these days I am a freelance website content manager (read: webguy) by trade, and I do firmly believe that blogging is the best possible way for me to both provide the best service I can for my current clients and to make contact with potential new clients as well. And if I can land enough new clients, then that means I can go on being a freelance webguy for as long as possible, which mean working from home, no tram commute, no queueing in Starbucks every morning for a cup of coffee, no office politics, not so much frustration, not so much fury at the tedium-filled, meaningless daily grind of it all...

The thing is, I've been inspired for years by bloggers such as Hugh MacLeod; a guy who had the bright idea of taking a relatively new application (blogging), wedding it to a way of looking at life that said it doesn't have to take a multi-billion-dollar advertising budget and everyone in the world proclaiming that you're the best thing since sliced iPod to make a living doing what you love, and then set out to achieve remarkable results, which he's been doing ever since.

I'm nowhere near his league, but you never know, one day I might be. And in the meantime, if I can make a living doing what I love doing - helping authors to sell more books by making sure they're making the best use of their online presence - then I don't have to be conventionally 'rich' to be happy (I already consider myself to be incredibly wealthy in many aspects of my life, it just happens that 'financially' isn't one of them... but then luckily it's not the most important either).

3) To Practise What I Preach - I tell my author clients at every opportunity that they should be blogging. I have to recognise that they all have incredibly busy schedules - some of which are quite astoundingly busy, in fact - and so blogging isn't necessarily for all of them.

But then, I do believe, quite strongly there really is no substitute for blogging as a means of reaching out to your audience and fan-base and eliciting a direct response. Want to know which is the best of two potential new book covers the publisher is offering? Post them to a blog and ask people what they think. Want to know whether your readership is pro or anti the idea of having a map in the front of your fantasy epic? Again, post the question and invite the feedback.

Forums are fine as far as they go, but they do tend to turn into social clubs for groups of fans, which can get real cliquey real quick, and if the author in question isn't in the habit of checking them regularly, and doesn't have the time to read through a lot of chit-chat, then they're probably going to miss out on the nuggets of useful information and genuine feedback that will still crop up from time to time.

With a blog, it's much easier to control the thread of the conversation, because the initial post is under the author's control, and comments are more naturally going to stay on-topic. There's nothing to stop someone else then carrying on a chit-chat conversation via a comment-thread, but as the author posts newer items to the blog, those comment-conversations slip out of view; they don't come to dominate in the same way that they can on a forum. But that was probably a post for another topic of conversation. I'll come back to it another time.

So, yes, I blog because there are certain topics I'm interested in talking about and inviting feedback on. And I firmly believe that all the authors I currently look after should be doing the same if it's feasible for them to do so. And the longer I keep at it (and the longer I keep at them...) then the greater the chance that more of them will get the point and start using this incredibly valuable and potentially career-boosting online tool.

4) To Learn, and Go On Learning - Life really is too short to ever stop learning, and I love discovering new things, especially new music, new books, new authors, new artists, new food, new drink, new... gaah, new everything... I'm addicted to the new, I confess.

When I was a kid, it was relatively (or with the benefit of hindsight, incredibly) simple. You knew what you knew, and you learned what your friends told you, or what your parents and teachers taught you, or what you saw on the three (count 'em: three!) TV channels on offer, or what you read in books or newspapers.

Today, we live in a world of information overload. The Internet has opened up unfathomable, mind-bendingly vast areas of new experience and knowledge; far too much for any one person to ever take in, least of all me; a slightly culture-shocked 34 year old who's busily playing online catch-up as fast as he possibly can whilst secretly yearning for life in a log cabin a hundred miles form anywhere, just so long as it has a well-stocked library and plenty of single malt in the booze cabinet...

Sorry, where was I? Ah, information overload. Well, the thing about a blog is it provides a certain amount of order and structure to my online experience, as well as a statement of intent: here I am, this is what I'm publicly declaring myself to be interested in reading and learning about. Which means that, with any luck, I'll every so often be sent - by fellow bloggers and other real people, as opposed to opt-in mailing lists - information about books that I might find interesting, or movies that I might think are worth watching, or music I should try listening to, along with links to websites about beer and whisky, and funny pictures of cats. That sort of stuff. But hopefully I won't be sent stuff about shoes, and flowers, celebrities... and a million other topics in which I have little or no interest. Because, apart from spammers - who just don't give a shit, obviously - most genuine people don't want to waste their time or mine, so they won't bother me with stuff I'm clearly not interested in.

And if I want to learn about something completely new (I'm still determined to learn to play the guitar, dammit) then I can search for information, and then blog about what I find and learn, and then maybe a passing reader will help me out with a useful link or a few words of advice, and my learning experience will be enriched as a result.

5) I Just Can't Get Enough - (Admit it, you've got the Depeche Mode song stuck in your head now, haven't you? And good grief, how tight was the record company when it came to the budget for that video..?)

Anyhow... I am actually addicted to blogging, I freely admit. Actually, you can tell by the fact that I've just spent my entire self-appointed lunch hour writing this mammoth entry when I could have been reading other people's blogs, talking to them, learning things, maybe even doing some extra work...

The thing is, I am at heart one of those sad, wannabe novelists who never made it much past 'Chapter One (version 37.0)'. I used to spend far too much time talking to everyone I knew about all the ideas I had, how I was going to sit down and write it any time now and how it was going to be the best thing since sliced Tolkien.

Then I realised that not only was I boring everyone else to tears, but that if I was going to be honest, I probably lacked either the available time or the self-imposed discipline to actually sit down and write anything much longer than a few thousand words. So I stopped talking about it. The ideas are still coming, but until I actually do sit down and do something about it, I'm keeping them to myself. There. That's all I'm going to say on that one.

In the meantime though, I do have a very strong urge to write... something. And blogging offers that outlet; somewhere to jot down vaguely creative ideas, thoughts, review, essays even. I'm probably still boring people to tears, but at least there's that safety-valve. And I don't have to stick with one idea to the bitter end of a 120,000 word marathon; I can chop and change as much as I like, explore new areas and spend as much, or as little, time as I like on a particular theme or topic. Addicted to new things, remember?

But hey, I can give up any time I like.

Like now. I'm off to put the kettle on. Thanks for reading this far, if you've been mad enough. Leave a comment just to prove that you have, why don't you? I might decide to issue medals or something...

Filed on: March 9, 2007
Filed under: Life, Work
Tagged with: Five-(5)-Reasons-Why-I-Blog |

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10 Responses to 'Five Reasons Why I Blog'

Ed on March 9th, 2007 9:43 pm

Okay, read it all. What do I get?
Lizzy on March 10th, 2007 5:29 pm

Me too, what's the 'or something'?
Ed on March 10th, 2007 10:41 pm

A nice bottle of single malt perhaps?
Ariel on March 11th, 2007 9:20 am

Well, if you're not going to offer constructive and /or interesting commentary of your own by way of feedback, then I'm afraid all you'll get is a headache / a warm, glowy feeling of achievement and satisfaction [delete as applicable]

;)
Joe on March 15th, 2007 11:08 pm

Oh goody, a meme! I will add it into my blogging schedule and aim to do my reply to your tag - target date January 2008 the way things are :-) Unless I simplify it by simply stating "I blog because I am an opiononated bugger" Does that count or do I still have to come up with actual grown-up reasons :-)?
Ariel on March 16th, 2007 6:53 am

I suppose if you said that five times over it might count... :)
Joe on March 21st, 2007 10:20 pm

If I say it five times over in front of a mirror while holding a candle the supposedly mythological Opiononated Buggerman will appear and before you know it Dimension will be funding an increasingly turgid series of movies based on the idea.
Ariel on March 22nd, 2007 9:12 am

:)
Brian Ruckley on March 27th, 2007 12:02 pm

Just to report that I have obediently come up with the five required reasons. Not in quite as much detail as you did, mind you, but then, my addiction is not quite as far advanced. In fact, I could go a whole month without making a blog post. Really, I could. If I wanted to.
Ariel on March 27th, 2007 12:15 pm

Good answers there Brian (and seeing as you're too modest to toot your own trumpet with a link, I'll do it for you: http://www.brianruckley.com) ;)

I think you're right about email still being the preferred mode of correspondence for most fans. I'd imagine that a lot of folks would be more comfortable passing on words of praise by email, rather than leaving those in a public forum. Or maybe if they had a question to ask but suspected that it might have a rather obvious answer and didn't want to look daft, something like that, perhaps.

Hmmm. Think I'll nip over and cross-post that in your blog comments as well...