5 Reasons to Blog

Tagged by Ken at Fretful Porpentine. It's interesting because a couple weeks ago I had someone tell me how to increase my blog traffic, because that is what one wants to do with a blog. Actually, my blog is just for people I know, although I include those I "know" from various online communities. I find it amusing that people make assumptions about a new medium, especially one so wide open (read, free), that few precedents have been set for its various usages. Like usual, their suggestions tell me more about them than about me. Sure, people make money off their blogs, but probably at the same rate that they would win in Vegas.

So here goes 5 Reasons to Blog.

1. Boredom at work - I started the blog when I wasn't doing enough creatively at work (past job). Whatever writing was required tended to be tedious and style-guided to death. This kills creativity; hence, writing with no parameters about whatever one wants seemed to be a wonderful new kind of freedom.

2. Insomnia - One of the best features about this kind of posting is that you can put fictional time on it. I mean, the time is real, but perhaps not accurate. So I may be writing at 2, or 4, or the middle of the day. You just don't know. When I send out emails in the middle of the night, people don't read the content, they just go "were you really up then?" Why insomnia? See Reason No. 1.

3. New stuff - Rather than send pics out of stuff I'm working on in the studio, I like to post them, so everyone can see the comments. It's a public critique. People are almost always polite, which is disappointing. And sometimes I sell stuff this way, but that is not why I blog. :-)

4. Dial-up - Until recently, 3 of my relatives had dial-up. So yes, 4a Reason to Blog would be to keep in touch with family, most of whom are 2500 miles away, and probably 4b would be dial-up. In fact, my brother, an IT professional, had dial-up until about a year ago. Welcome to the 90s David. And 2 still do, although one seems to be caving. Well, one can't send out a ton of pics of New Stuff - see #3 - when one knows that the receiver's email will just sit and sit waiting for those images to download, and tie up the phone line to boot. I don't know how they stand it. Even typing that sentence made my stomach a bit queasy.

5. Spark conversations - I don't know about you, but I haven't had the longest, most satisfying conversations lately. People are busy, they're working more hours, they want to see films instead of going for meals. Sometimes what I post, especially if it tilts toward a rant, tends to start long, sometimes ongoing conversations with people in real life. This is good.