Hello everybody. I have taken much thought and consideration into getting into blogging. Although the majority of my stories I write are fantasy and science fiction; I find that writing about my thoughts, my experiences and living would be a outlet for me to write freely. Of course it would be great practice if I write on a daily or practically a weekly basis. I sometimes feel constrained to writing in a specific genre. I do need some freedom without restraints. Writing about issues that I understand other women do have would be a way for me to practice expressing myself and allowing me to put my thoughts into words (which I really do have trouble with). Do you think it would be a good idea to create a blog to act like a public journal? Do you think this should be private? What are your thoughts about blogging? What do you blog about?
I think like anything online, your thoughts can be just as private as they are public depending if you go with your real name or not. Please don' turn this into a spy thread I too am interested in starting a blog and would like recommendations from bloggers here...
The problem with blogging, from a promotional standpoint, is the same as when self publishing. There are literally millions competing for the reader's attention. How many new ones have you read in the past year where you weren't personally steered there by the one writing it? Your best chance to have many people read it is those who find a given entry so interesting that they repost. When someone does, it's not unusual to see a spike in the number of hits the next day. So I guess my advice would be to write a really great blog entry, every time.
I've had a blog for roughly four years now. I write about: - Perfume - Gardening - Books, TV, movies - Writing - Blogging - Lately, "fashion", in the sense that I'm writing about the experience of myself, in my forties, paying attention to my clothing and appearance for the first time in my life. - Movies - Random angsty'ness, including complaints about my late mother. - Whatever else I'm in the mood to write about. I enjoy blogging. I recommend it, as a writing and self-expression and creativity exercise. As long as you don't count on having more than a few readers, I can't see a down side.
I've only been blogging since I joined the site. I just do it when the urge takes me. I don't have a lot to say for myself really, I just tend to 'go off on one.' Sometimes I sit down to write, and blank, with regard to the task at hand, but the urge is still there. So whatever is currently eating at me and preventing me, I let spill out. It's a bit embarrassing really, there's no rhyme nor reason to it. It just comes out. Also, until recently, I felt very uncomfortable sharing my writing with others... I'm a musician who suffers from performance anxiety, and the same is true when it comes to my writing. I used to find it hard to express myself publicly, even in threads such as this. Participating in this forum, and writing in my blog is helping me get over that. I really think the only person who can answer this question is you. Only you know how comfortable you are exposing yourself in this manner. But as @erebh quite rightly points out, you can always use a pseud to get round that aspect. A blog is a tool at your disposal, to be used as you see fit. I blog without caring who reads it. The important thing, to me, is that I clear my mind of all the guff, and use it as a tool for growth. I know there are those who wish to use their blog to have their say and reach a wider audience, but for me that's not really an issue. As long as it serves my purpose, that's the main thing.
I've had a blog for almost two years now, and I like it a lot. I started off as a blog about writing, books and all things related, and when I thought that maybe I should expand and write about other things as well, I found that not as many people were interested in reading that. So for the time being I keep on blogging about writing-related stuff and enjoy connecting with my few but loyal readers. They have been really supportive. I also think that how much you should reveal about yourself and your inner thoughts and experiences is something very individual and it depends on how you feel about that kind of exposure.
Absolutely blog. However, I would warn you to watch what you blog. As JayG mentioned - writing a blog is like being a tear in an ocean. Nobody will notice it unless you promote it. And trust me, promoting a blog is about as easy as nailing Jell-O to a wall. So don't start a blog if you expect it to be a gateway to your wonderful writing career. You will spend more time on presentation, trying to get people to link to it, getting it on blog rolls, etc., than you will actually writing. If your purpose is to just let off some steam, write in other genres, write a paragraph or two about how difficult getting that one sentence right was, then you should do it. I will be starting up my "writing" blog in about two weeks (I have other blogs for other purposes). Now, back to my warning... Whatever you put on your blog will be found. Trust me on this one. Let's say you write your opinions on gay marriage, atheism, or the best barbecue sauce to use on fried dog. Years go by and BAM! you write the next Hugo Winning novel and they want to make a series of movies out of it. Someone somewhere will find you that you are a gay marriage supporting anti-atheist who likes to eat fried dog meat. Your glorious career will end overnight. Ender's Game almost didn't become a movie because of what Orson Scott Card wrote in a Morman journal in the 1990's. And now, since it is a movie, it got many negative reviews solely because it was Orson Scott Card, the anti-gay marriage Mormon, who wrote it. So if you're a fiction writer, write fiction on the blog. You can be controversial if you want - in fiction. Don't slap the world with your opinions - the world will slap back. When you get published and recognized, people will find your blog. Then they will connect with your fiction on a deeper level.
Hey there, I actually started a blogging website recently. It's called Humble Smug. You should be able to find it on google (I don't think links are allowed on the forum...?). Anyway, it's got two sections, article based and short story based. As a writing student, I got a few stories published and didn't really know what to do with them beyond that. I received a lot of good feedback, so I figured I'd add them to the site. The other section's article based and critiques society--it's called "Weep For Humanity" and it's really versatile. I take submissions from people, by the way, if you're ever interested in writing anything. Do you have any ideas regarding what exactly you hope to gain from starting a blog? I have the habit of looking at the world in an over-the-top optimistic way sometimes. By that I mean, when I graduated from University, I was all about using my skills to start some kind of website. I want to use my skills as a writer rather than enslave myself to a full time, dull office job in a field I know nothing about (fat chance, right?). It's a lot like dreaming for that big novel publication. Anyway, I had hoped to start a big blog, something comparable to other sites, like Onion, Salon, etc. I wanted sections, all the the focus on shedding light on the unknown art on the world. I find that most popular music and movies suck, so I wanted to encourage people to dig deep and find new art that the media doesn't really promote. My main plan failed. I didn't have the man power. But I found myself having all these articles and short stories and nothing to do with them. So I just put myself out there. I still want to upgrade the site. I work part time and don't have a lot of money (I'm still kind of young, 22, trying to get my life on track) and I don't know any HTML coding and what not so I'd have to pay a programmer. But eventually, I want to add some sections, maybe like a writer's lounge for writers to communicate over, maybe an anonymous section for rants, and then still have the two sections I mentioned above. So, hopefully my life story about my blog helps you a little bit. Secondly, about private versus public. I used to be really scared of putting myself out there. "What will people think?" I'm not saying you're "afraid" of perception, but I'll argue that there's no harm in making your writing open to the public. If you have opinions, share them. Anyone who disagrees can comment on your article. If you receive harsh criticism, ignore it. If you feel a little uneasy about putting yourself out there, just know that you'll get used to it. It's really not a big deal. The people that liked you already will still like you. The people that didn't like you before will either still not like you, or hey, maybe they'll get to know you more through your work and will start to like you. Just remember, it doesn't matter what people think. Some people will always hate you by virtue of what you do. If you just want a blog as a hobby, wordpress should work, right? Anyway, I wrote this quickly and I am tired. Probably a few spelling mistakes. Hope I helped in some way and if you have more questions, give me a reply. Best of luck.
If you want to blog as a platform to build on, i.e. establish an audience before you self-publish, it becomes very time consuming because you have to build relationships with people who are more established in the scene... and most likely write posts for other blogs to build some momentum. If you just want to start one to keep yourself writing, go ahead. I started a blog in an effort to get some accountability for getting some progress going in my life, and in a sense, it has worked... blogging can be pretty cool, it just depends on what you want to accomplish with it and how you approach it.
