Why Do I Blog? Possible Pity Party-Be Aware

There has been a teeny tiny little nagging voice in my head lately. It might explain my lack of posts lately.

Why in the world do I blog?

Sharing everything from my internal innards to my beautiful babies to my mindless ramblings. It is a personal and vulnerable experience.

So why do I do it?

I originally set out to blog because "all my friends were doing it...". Well, sort of. I was introduced to blogging by Lia. She made it seem so appealing. Her blog is well layed out-with great graphics. She has a fantastic following with people who interact with comments. She has even branched out into various blogger groups. There are fun conferences with goodies and perks.

I loved blog stalking. I felt like I was being invited to peek in on her world. I started to read other people's blogs as well. It really gets to be quite time consuming to check in daily with all the blogs on my favorites list.

I always maintained that I was intriqued about blogging but surely I couldn't keep up with the commitment of regular posting. Afterall, I was having trouble staying on top of my various online groups. One more thing was a bit over the top especially with the ever increasing demands of my daughters, household, and husband.

Then, my friend Lizzie started hers. Damn! I decided to jump into the mix. Fishy Tales was born.

I found that there were many parts that I did enjoy. The 1st was the challenge of setting up my blog and learning the ins and outs of this type of technology. I thrive on this. It is how I have learned everything computers/laptops (I seperate these 2 items), internet, and software programming.

I also found that I enjoyed the mental exercise of writing. It helped to imagine the readers and their reaction, taking it from basic journaling to a more exacting article. After years (4 now) of not working, and feeling like my brain is getting mushier and mushier, this is refreshing.

I hoped that my family and more distanced friends would utilize my blog to keep up (regularly) on the happenings in my life.

Finally, I did enjoy the anticipation of the readers. I not so secretly hoped for a following-like Lia and some of the popular bloggers.

Lately I find myself re-evaluating the reason for my blog. I haven't had my friends (real-life) and family reading unless I send the link. There is a small group of people that have been reading (THANK YOU!) on a regular basis. So, where does this leave me? I do still enjoy learning about the technology, and I do still find it nice to collect my thoughts through writing.

But do I need to do it publicly? Therein lies my biggest predicament. Would I continue if I were writing into a traditional journal? Would I do it if it were a word doc? Probably not. I know myself...there seems to be something about peer motivation that keeps me moving.

For now, I have decided to continue-but do share your feelings-especially if you blog.

Also, consider yourself warned that I may indeed close up shop some day, if I can't silence the voice....