Sometimes the way to start a story is by taking a moment to look at what came before.
“If you buy into the mythology promulgated by the people who know about blogging you must do it their way because they have tens of thousands of subscribers, they make tons of moolah and some people call them A-listers.
Man, that would be grand, to be called an A-lister and to know that the 287 people who aren’t related to me and don’t follow me online actually know my name. Come to think of it, I have more Facebook friends than that so maybe I should aim higher.
Don’t worry friends, this is not a passive-aggressive attempt to slam anyone. As I have said before when I choose to go after someone I do it in a way that makes it clear– in other words I use their name or at least their website.
But that is not what this is about.” Blogging Doesn’t Have To Have A Point
Somewhere a group of those who taught me how to write are standing around holding their heads trying to figure out why there is a disturbance in the force.
But not all of them are wincing in pain because there are the few that understood I recognized that every story had a beginning, a middle and an end and that I could I write that way.
They also understood sometimes I had to go about things a different way and that if they let me I would take the long way home but I would always find my way back.
Back then I didn’t have a real good handle on why I chose to do things differently, I just knew that when I did I was happier. Now a thousand years later I still go about this writing process in my own way but if you ask me to explain how, what, why and when I can give you a certified academic answer.
Or I can give the short remark and say the more intuitive and progressive will appreciate it: I blog in this manner because it brings me joy and if you don’t have fun you don’t last as a blogger.
Can You Entertain And Or Educate The Reader?
Sometimes people tell me they still don’t understand my method and ask me for an explanation. I tell them if you are going to write you need to find joy in the journey and if you want people to read you need to entertain and or educate the reader.
It is part of the reason why I have multiple blogs. I need a place to write traditional stories that have a beginning, a middle and an end. I need a place to use as a sort of mind dump where I empty out my thoughts and I need a place that covers some of everything.
The challenge is that when you expand to cover multiple topics it is harder to build a readership. That readership can be a nice thing. It feels good to get feedback and if you want to monetize the blog that readership is a big part of it.
Sometimes I think about focusing on stories about my kids. I can tell you about how when my daughter recited an address instead of saying Unit number XXX she said Hashtag XXX.
Why?
Because she doesn’t look at # and call it pound or number, it is a hashtag to her. There are other stories like that in here. Flip through the pages and you’ll find plenty of them.
There are more that could be written about and shared but now that my kids are older I have to be more cognizant of the boundaries of blogging. Not every story is mine to share any more and I need to be cautious about whether telling one will generate flack at school for them.
I don’t want that. They deserve to walk their own road without having it marked up by dad.
Blogging Doesn’t Need To Have A Point
Great writing is subjective and so is entertaining/educational.
Experience has taught me that sometimes people just enjoy reading whatever you put on paper and that even though you may not think it is very good they get something from it.
Maybe it is like music and they hear the beat you hear in your head while you are typing, I don’t know. I just know that sometimes you can just write for the joy of writing and people will read your words.
They’ll read them and find something in the 27th word or 187th sentence that catches their eye or ear and that will be the thing that keeps them going.
And sometimes that might be the thing that keeps you going, the knowledge the sometimes you don’t have to have a point. You just have to pour some of yourself into a post and people will read.
P.S. The posts below will play a role in some future writing. I am kind of excited about it.
- How Did You Become Who You Are?
- The Search For The Write Words
- Life Is Meant To Be Traveled Along The Field Of Dreams
Hope to see you in the comments.
I’m actually not sure what I believe. I thought about your title before ending up at your post and reading it. To me, blogging can be just about the writing, that’s it. I write to become a better writer, but it’s still a point. Maybe not to the reader, but to me, as the writer. The point is good content.
Interesting topic.
Another great point. That a post doesn’t have to have a point — of course, like Andrea points out — they really do but when we sit down to write if we don’t have that huge “this post has to have a point to be of value” clanging around in our heads, it’s much easier and fun. And blogging still is that for me. I write for money (not for as high profile pubs as I’d like — but I’m grateful) but blogging is fun. And like the latter post, my subjects have evolved. The older my children have gotten and more sensitive they are, the more I’ve focused on midlife.
@southmainmuse:disqus There are so many of us who occupy the ‘in between’ space of having written for years about our children but in search of new topics because as they age the boundaries change. Can’t write about them as we used to because ownership of the stories has changed and we have to respect that.
@alexbonge:disqus Good content is the most important thing, at least to me. Whatever topics you cover should have good content.
Ah, but you see, I think that blogging has a point. Always. But it may not always be for the reader. It is more often for the writers. At least that is what I think.
@ace1028:disqus This post is for the writer moreso than the reader.
There are a handful of people that I look forward to reading their work, no matter what it is about. Maybe it’s the cadence of the writing, maybe it’s their perspective, maybe it’s because I feel I understand where they are coming from and I find them funny, maybe I was sent to them to learn something…who knows why? I always write from the need to get it out of my system, onto the page. There are stories to tell, and maybe we forget them if we don’t commit them to the page.
@JulieAClearSign:disqus Good writers make us feel like we are sitting in the same room or at least that is what it feels like to me. Like I am part of the action.