Write.
I don't write much anymore. I'm not sure why. Writing used to be a pretty big deal for me. I started my first journal 19 years ago, when I was 7. I filled notebook after notebook by the time I was 18. For most of elementary school, my dream was to become a published author. In middle school I wrote for the school newspaper. And then at 15 I decided rather than sit around and write books and hope someone would publish them one day, I would become a graphic designer.
Writing kind of sat on the back burner during college. It's hard to keep writing for yourself when you're writing so much for others.
I started my first blog 8 years ago, on MSN spaces, then moved to LiveJournal, to Xanga, and to Blogger. Now I don't blog. And I don't write for me. And I don't know why. I think part of it is what blogging has become. At first I loved blogging because I was such an advocate of keeping journals and now other people were doing it too! But now blogs aren't journals. Words like SEO and monetizing came in and made blogs into business. If blogging is just about making money, I'll stick with making money with graphic design.
Amanda,
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean about blogging and just another way to make money. It takes away, completely and repugnantly, (spell check is telling me that is not a word, but I disagree) the whole craft of writing. However, I would encourage you to not give up completely. There are still diamonds in the rough out there in bloglandia (OK that one really was not a word).
Cheers,
Leah
Thanks for the encouragement, Leah!
DeleteI just went to a blogging conference and a lady there pointed out how a blog can really be a ministry. No money involved. Just a way to encourage friends/family. If you have a dream to write, don't give up on it!
ReplyDeleteI do like that way of thinking about blogging, but then if I try to focus on being encouraging, I'm not sure what to write. Guess I'll keep trying!
DeleteI can't see my blog ever making money, because I don't want to worry about writing to please a specific set of people. I think there are great bloggers out there who write well and get paid for it, but for now, I'm content just to focus on the writing part. :-) Visiting you from Five-Minute Friday...lots of great writers there, paid and unpaid. Happy Friday!
ReplyDeleteAbbey @ Surviving Our Blessings
Thank you, Abbey. Deciding to not make a dime from my blog was very freeing, but it also put blogging very low on my priority list.
DeleteI don't care if I make money from my blog, though I do, eventually, hope to make money from my writing. But whether I do, or not, I'm going to keep writing.
DeleteI'm saddened that it's lower on your priority list now... I mean, it's not like you made money from your journaling, did you?
Sorry, I'm here from Five Minute Friday. I just thought you should know! :-)
DeleteHa, no, I'm definitely not making money from blogging, but work that I do make money from takes priority, along with taking care of my family and home. Not much time left after that! But I guess I did manage to find 5 minutes, so maybe I make it harder than it needs to be.
DeleteNot making money from journaling, I meant to say.
DeleteI totally get it! That's why I have decided not to monetize R&C. It's brutal sometimes -- the number of hours I put in for 0 (financial) return. But God didn't ever give me a vision for monetizing this one. Maybe sometime later.
ReplyDeleteI force myself to keep journaling. One page. Maybe every week or two. But there's so much I miss if I don't write it down... especially because I don't live my life online like some do. :)
Great post. Maybe you'll join next week too? Or at least on the weeks the prompt is one you want to "write" about? :)
I guess Google calendar is kind of my journal of events, but thoughts and feelings about those events and life in general are lost these days.
DeleteI both love and hate the time limit. I can definitely find 5 minutes, but I also didn't feel like what I wrote was worth publishing!
A friend of mine said that, "Ownership of cyber real estate has its privileges, among which is affording the owner the right to scrawl about that which he likes most," and back you in deciding on other monetary means! I love keeping my blog *mine* and using it to document my random thoughts.
ReplyDeleteAnd I believe that what you wrote was worth publishing --- I'm glad that you did, and hope that you'll hit "publish" instead of "save draft" a little more often in the future!
Thank you, Sarah! I just feel like I didn't convey my thoughts as well as I could have, but I suppose I could spend an hour writing more and editing and it still wouldn't be exactly what I wanted to say.
Delete