Michele asks, “Why do you blog?”
In all honesty, there are some days when I look at the WRITE screen in WordPress and think, “You should be working on stuff to submit somewhere, not playing at journalism,” but the thing is, despite my love of the written word, and despite all the best intentions and a small fortune invested in spiffy looking blank books over the years, I'm really bad at keeping a personal diary. I blog, at least in part, because having an audience, no matter how small, makes me accountable to some external force.
Then, too, there's my Productivity Rule: I must do ONE PRODUCTIVE THING every day. Writing in a paper journal doesn't count, but a blog entry does. I'm not sure why. I guess it's the accountability issue again.
So part of why I blog is that I'm not disciplined enough to keep a normal diary.
But the other part is that these unedited glimpses into my daily life are a form of connection to other people. I've had so many interesting conversations, as a result of writing here, or following a thread elsewhere, and it's helping me to be less shy.
And I really am basically shy.
Truly.
And then there's the “writing practice” reason. Even if I'm not working on something specific, throwing some words on this virtual page helps me improve my writing skills, helps spark ideas for things that I CAN submit to actual literary journals, helps me find new directions, and new ways of saying things.
Mostly, though, I do it because it's fun.