Why Do I Blog Anyway?

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Mike of 10,000 Birds answered a meme on this topic. He didn’t tag anyone in particular but suggested that anyone who didn’t participate in his Why Do You Blog About Birds IATB of last July should do so.

I will take that challenge.

Why Do I Blog?

I love to write.  I have always written for school and work.  I have written letters.  I have written poetry.  I see myself as a writer but when I sit down to write a story, I get logjammed in the process.  I can’t get anywhere.  So, I am taking the advice of “Just Do It!”  Just write.  I used to keep a journal but since it was never going to be seen by anyone, my journals tended to be self-absorbed and too focused on petty details of life.  One giant edition of one of my “Pass the Whine” posts.  Not pretty!  Not something I wanted to go back and read.  Not something I even wanted anyone to find and read after I was dead.  A brain dump, nothing more.

So, blogging seemed a good answer.  The chance that someone MIGHT read my words kept me from simply focusing on the weather and my own moods while the vastness of the internet kept me from being paralyzed with fear that someone might actual read what I wrote.  And, so I blogged.  At first, only my sister read my blog (Hi Sis!).  At first, it was mostly about my life.  I was busy — mother, wife, student, teacher.  It was kind of insane.

I think that watching birds was just about the most perfect escape when I was going to school.  I could set up a feeder and start watching the birds.  I could take a walk and see new birds.  I could get a good field guide and figure out which birds I was seeing. Once I discovered that I could take pictures of the birds, I was hooked.  (Plus a few static images greatly increased my chances of actually identifying the birds I was seeing!)

Writing about birds and my discovery of them seemed natural.  I have always longed to be a naturalist who could sketch amazing likenesses of the nature around her.  I longed to be able to write compelling stories about dolphins and birds and bugs.  Unfortunately, I am not an artist with pencil and paper.   But, I can snap a picture and I can improve that skill and get better and better at it.  I can also buy better cameras while pencil technology is kind of topped out! 

So, I blog to share what I am learning.  I blog to share my opinions.  I blog to share what interests me.  I blog to write, to improve my writing, to share my writing.  I blog to grow.

Thanks, Mike for offering up an introspective challenge.  Reflection is good for the soul.

And, my Friday Question this week is . . . what about you?  Why do you blog?   

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Filed under blogosphere, me. me. me., this is for the birds