Why do I blog?
Two of my girls dragged me to our discount theater last night to see A Simple Favor. It stars Anna Kendrick–they fell in love with her during her Pitch Perfect days–and my youngest daughter has seen A Simple Favor five times. They said I had to see it.
It was a strange movie, and strangely entertaining.
But among other, jazzier plot points, Kendrick’s character has a vlog that goes viral and hits its one-millionth follower.
This gave me pause. A million followers?
I have 40 followers.
I woke up this morning, thinking I should delete my blog and go do other things (which I largely do, anyway). And then I remembered a video I saw recently about cows, about (specifically) how hard it is to impress a cow. (If I could find it, I’d post a link here…but maybe someone deleted the video when they realized the cows wouldn’t care?)
In the interest of full disclosure, the cow video got me because I’ve been writing a poem about cows.
But, more to the point, I thought it was time to revisit “why I blog,” and why I will probably keep blogging. So–
- I started blogging as a kind of commonplace book, a place to post quotations and links that I wanted to be able to find again.
- I started blogging because writing has taught me so much, and I thought I would enjoy sharing what I’ve learned with my writer friends.
- A few people–a cousin and my friend Janet B., for two examples–wanted me to share poems (this, when I was writing a poem a day), and it seemed a blog would be a good way to do that.
- Once I started blogging I discovered that–for whatever reason–I don’t get all uptight and perfection-y about writing blogposts. I just type stuff and go over it a couple times for errors and post. It reminds me of showing up to teach at the college–ready or not, here it is.
- For a new reason, I recently made a commitment to blog about my journey through The Circle, and I’ve yet to carry out that commitment.
And, just for good measure, here’s a quote that I came across today that definitely applies:
You must once and for all give up being worried about successes and failures. Don’t let that concern you. It’s your duty to go on working steadily day by day, quite steadily, to be prepared for mistakes, which are inevitable, and for failures. -ANTON CHEKHOV (found on Advice to Writers)
Two days ago I watched A Simple Favor with my daughter. I have been an Anna Kendrick fan since my daughter loved her in her Pitch Perfect days, and I will admit that I watched her version of the “Cups” song many times in the weeks leading up to my daughter’s departure for college several years ago. (https://youtu.be/cmSbXsFE3l8) I loved Simple Favor, once I caught on to the joke of it. Which, I know, is not the point of this post, but maybe in a roundabout way is.
I’ve also struggled with the why blog question, and I’ve landed on keeping at it for the same reasons you have. The freedom to write imperfectly is a big one. The connection with readers is another. I love the way this kind of writing is a conversation in a way that more traditional publishing isn’t.
So, in more ways than one, this post of yours tickled me. I’m glad you wrote it and that I found it.
Rita, Oh, yes, the Cups song! Now you’ve turned it on its ear (the whole post, I mean) and made me see the movies differently, too. Thank you!