I can while away entire mornings reading and commenting on other people’s blogs.
And when I consider the number of bloggers out there blogging away, it baffles my mind.
Some of them post every day, a few more than once a day.
I’m tempted to think that these are people who have too much time on their hands,
but then I realized that I have absolutely NO time on my hands and yet I still blog every week.
And read blogs every day.
There are (conservatively estimating) hundreds of thousands of blogs out there. Passionate people sending their thoughts and hearts and beliefs and frustrations and questions and challenges and (occasionally) pointless dribble out there into the world every single hour of the day. In lots of languages. In lots of styles. On a huge bell curve of abilities.
I remember the first time a friend suggested I try this new thing called ‘blogging.’
I was like, uh, no, I’m not giving my writing away for free! (At the time I was pursuing a freelance writing career.)
But look at me now.
And look at all these other people!
Such generosity! Freely giving away hours of their day and great bandwidth of their brains, not to mention the wear and tear on their hearts. All for you dear reader. All for you.
And it’s good.
This online community of wordslingers is a creative and (mostly) friendly bunch. My favorite kind of people.
I have made real friends via blogs. I look forward to reading their writing each week. Checking in on their lives. I engage them in conversation, ‘like’ their posts, share their links, and follow them happily.
I feel like I know these people, can picture them (beyond their headshot or thumbnail), even imagine the sound of their voices. I bet if I invited them over for dinner I would know just what to serve and could probably guess their beer preferences (though a few of them should probably be restricted to nonalcoholic beverages).
These are my people.
I learn from them, am inspired by them, and many times I’m awed by their curious, thoughtful minds and unheralded talent. They make me think and question and want to be a better writer. They are good for my soul. They restore my hope in humanity.
Sometimes I wish this blogging world had existed when I was a lonely, angsty young adult. I would have been all over it. I think I would have done less drinking and spent less time reading Richard Bach and listening to Dan Fogelberg.
I have two blogs. The dog blog which chronicles the rescue dogs who share my world. And this blog which is a relatively young blog, still gaining momentum and picking up followers. Some weeks I don’t post to it and figure no one will notice. Because if a blog post goes out into the world and no one reads it, does it make a sound?
I’ve thought about this and decided, that yes, I believe it does.
It’s the sound of a writer unafraid (okay, maybe very afraid but doing it anyway) to share her heart or risk embarrassment or push herself to write the truth found in the deep unvarnished corners of a life.
And that is a very loud sound.
Even if no one hears it.
And bottom line, folks, no matter what you’re writing about, even if it’s only a reflection of your visit to the post office or the tantrum your child had at Walmart last night or a poem you scrawled out over breakfast, it seems like a much better use of time than staring at Youtube videos or playing candy farm.
Bloggers are engaged in life; players unafraid to get in this game. Here to be heard.
So my friends, blog on.
Hey, thanks for reading. I know you’ve got lots of options, so thanks for sharing a few of your minutes with me.
Honored,
Cara
If you’d like to know more about me, my books, and where you might run into me, check out my website, CaraWrites.com.
If you’d like to subscribe to my (sometimes) monthly e-newsletter, click here.
If you’re a dog lover, check out my other blog, Another Good Dog.
I’d love to connect with you on Facebook, twitter, or Instagram, and I’m thrilled to get email from readers (and writers), you can reach me at carasueachterberg@gmail.com.
COMING AUGUST 2018 FROM Pegasus Books (available for preorder now:
My Life in Paragraphs 
This made me laugh, “I think I would have done less drinking and spent less time reading Richard Bach and listening to Dan Fogelberg.” I “blogged” long before blogging existed and I have 20+ journals of (occasionally) brilliant and (more often) self-indulgent and embarrasing prose in books to prove it.
I started writing a blog when I threw out the Evil X and that blog, on Blogger, was personal. I started my WP blog as a stragedy for marketing books. I honestly thought it was stupid. I’m still not serious about it, and probably never will be. I’m a person who’d rather write than talk and wow, there are a lot of us, and I didn’t even know. And I certainly never expected that writing a blog was something someone could do well.
And, as much as I love my town, it’s nice to have a window (doorway?) to a much larger world. ❤
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I bet there’s gold on that Blogger blog you could mine for a hell of a memoir. There really are a lot of us out there, aren’t there? Hope the hip is healing up!
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I’ve reposted some stuff from that Blogger blog here on WP. The hip is doing well. I’m going out to see my dogs this afternoon and I can’t wait. ❤ ❤ At the same time, I'm glad I'm not trying to heal this hip and deal with two giant dogs at the same time, especially the giant white dog who has to guard me by leaning against me and climbing on my lap when I'm sitting down.
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I think for a writer, words are like a spring contained in our soul. If we don’t find ways to write it explodes out of us so we have to find some place to put it all down. Unable to release to this outlet we now call blogging, I found myself mired in the horrors of fan fiction as an angsty young adult. Though I can assure you it did little to assuage my drinking, it may have slowed down the Dan Fogelberg (though Richard Bach was a necessary evil). And I don’t think my past fanfic sins would make a good memoir, or material for my own blog, but maybe I could dress it up and dabble in the world of romance novels…
I also completely agree that in the process of writing the critical step is to stand apart and publish. Putting yourself out there for examination is the key – not whether you have readers. Every blog posted into the ether impacts our collectiveness, regardless of the number of likes. Keep on writing and I will keep on reading!
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