Blogging 101

Blogging.  It seems like everyone and their great aunt is writing a blog these days.  This plethora of online material can be found all over the internet, covering every topic imaginable.  Because it has become so common, it is perhaps too easy to disregard or scorn the humble blog.

But the reality is that blogging is not an enterprise to be undertaken lightly.

For one thing, you need to come up with material to write about.  This is not always as easy as it may seem.

For example, on Tuesdays I just can't seem to think of much to talk about.  I don't have any poems just waiting to be written or thoughts on life just waiting to be shared.  I sit in front of a blank screen and contemplate the fact that my Thursday posts are so much easier to write.  All I have to do is make something and take pictures of it.  I don't have to try to be deep or clever.

But then on Thursdays, things get busy, or I'm really tired, and I don't have the ingredients to try the new recipe I've been thinking about, or the baby is fussy and doesn't want to entertain himself long enough to let me finish a project to post about.  Then I contemplate the fact that Tuesday posts are so much easier to write.  I don't need to have free time and the right supplies to make something.  All I have to do is think of something to write and write about it.

And then once you have a topic, the next challenge is actually writing about it.  This generally involves either an intense multitasking situation where you are typing with one hand while trying to stop the baby's determined effort to eat your laptop, or staying up way too late after the baby is in bed and the tasks of the day are done, desperately trying to write it fast enough so that it can be posted today rather than tomorrow because 11:59pm is coming really quickly.  And of course that includes editing it three or four times, because you have to second guess the way that you worded every sentence.

And beyond the actual writing process, being a blogger has a significant impact on your daily life.  Everything is fair game for becoming the content of a post.  Your friends become familiar with the sheepish question: "Do you mind if I take pictures while we're doing this?  I might blog about it later...".  You find yourself moving piles of clutter off your table so that you can take pictures of a craft or a muffin or something, only to move the clutter piles back onto the table after the pictures are taken.  Assuming that the baby didn't destroy them in the meantime.  And you take an embarrassing number of food photos while your family is waiting to eat their dinner.

But despite the challenges, blogging can be a very meaningful method of expression and communication.  I hope you enjoy mine, and if you have one you'd like me to check out, feel free to send me a link!

P.S.  Did you get the title of the post?  It's the 101st post on my blog, and it's about blogging!  Hahaha... ha... ha....  It's never as funny when you have to explain it...