Bloggers are useful people, aren’t they? They post things on
the internet for you and I to read, things that can be helpful, funny,
inspiring, enlightening, informational, and even things that make you sad
(mostly in a good way).
It can be a hassle, sometimes, to actually do anything about
their posts. Right? I mean, you can read it and enjoy it, sure, but it takes
too much effort to comment or follow their blog or anything like that. I know
the feeling, and I’m right with you.
And I’m a blogger… whoops.
Motivation is a powerful thing. If we feel motivated to do
something, we’re far more likely to do it than not. Especially when it comes to
food. But I digress.
What can possibly motivate you to read a blog? And what
about commenting? Following? Starting your own?
The Power of a Post
A few weeks ago, I was feeling rather down. I had little motivation to write, to read,
to really do anything. I was just going to work every day, putting in my
hours, coming home and surfing the internet. I felt… useless.
Then I stumbled across an email from a blog I’d been
following for about a year, an email that contained a link to a blog post.
I read the post begrudgingly; more because I’d followed than
because I actually wanted to read a post. What good was the post going to do
me, if my life wasn’t going anywhere?
Turns out, the post
gave me a swift kick in the shin. It woke me up to what I was doing, and
why my life wasn’t really going… anywhere. Why I felt sluggish and didn’t
really get anything done. That simple
little blog post inspired me. It didn’t change my life, necessarily (I
mean, a week of feeling down happens to all of us, on occasion), but it
certainly got me out of my slump.
That’s what blog posts are good for.
Stuck with your writing? Blogs about writing often provide thoughts and tips on the thing your
having problems (and if they don’t have a specific post, most bloggers are
waiting for a comment containing a question so they can communicate with you).
Unmotivated or uninspired? Feeling down? There are dozens and dozens of
inspirational and motivational blogs out there, all of which are doing their
best to make sure you know that you can
do this.
Blogs are much like books: they’re tools for the reader to
engage with, to use, to be inspired by.
The Simple Box at the End
So. Now you’re reading a blog. You’ve become inspired by
this post to be go and be inspired by some other post.
Great.
Now what?
You can read the post, feel the energy coursing through you
and you feel ready to get up and run or at least flop onto the nearest couch.
But if you don’t do anything… that feeling drains, eventually. Even if you do something, that energy won’t last forever.
Motivation is a fickle thing: here one moment, gone the next.
Hmmm…
Well, maybe we can read another post. That sounds like a
nice idea. Scroll through the blog, find another post that sounds interesting,
and read it.
Great, we’re inspired again!
For a little while.
Then we read another post. But instead of feeling inspired,
we feel curious. The post – whatever
kind of post it may be – has us asking questions. “What about [this]?” “How do
I do [this]?”
Wait a minute! This isn’t what we came here for. We weren’t
expecting to be asking questions, we
were looking for that rush of inspiration. Boo on you, blogger, your post
didn’t work.
Or did it?
One of the greatest things about blogs is that they aren’t
just monologues. They don’t have to
be. I – the blogger – don’t have to be the only one talking. I – the reader –
can also get to talking. After all, most blogs have one of those comment boxes
at the bottom. It’s called a comment box, but you don’t have to just put
“comments” in it. You can put in questions, thoughts, wonderings, and even opinions in them.
If a blog post makes you question something, where better to
ask the question that right there? Most bloggers are more than ready to jump on
a comment, bless the commenter up and down for commenting, and then provide a
lengthy answer to the question, a lengthy response to the opinion (and most of
them are nice), or a supportive addition to your thought.
We don’t bite.
A Simple Reminder
It’s easy to forget about blogs. We’re just tiny little
websites (and some of us look like we’re just getting started on the whole
“format the blog” deal, even after a year and a half… oops) in the great big
world wide web.
I know that for me, personally, I’d forget about every blog
I’ve ever read if I didn’t follow them. Maybe you have a better memory than
that, but those handy little emails they send out when they post something new
are a life saver.
One of the dangers, however, of following blogs, is the
possibility of being overwhelmed. If
you follow two dozen blogs, you’ll suddenly be pelted with a barrage of emails
about blog posts. No one has time to read twenty-four blog posts in a week, or
more if some of those bloggers are overachievers and post more than once a week
(you know who you are).
So… don’t.
Myself, I follow six blogs that I read on a regular basis,
and then I have a slightly longer list of blogs that I check on occasion just
to see that those humans are still alive. I approve those humans.
These are the six I follow, if you were curious:
Living Aesthetically,
by Sarah Elizabeth [Writing and Inspiration, mostly]
Shadows in the Corner,
by Vera Aisling [Writing, mostly]
Woodland Quill, by
Brandon [Writing]
Faerytales and Fantasy,
by Dee Dee Aethelwyne [it’s like… her Art blog or something, I forget what she
calls it]
This Incandescent Life,
by Emily Tjaden [Inspirational, some Writing]
These are, for the most part, blogs of friends/friends of
friends. They’re blogs I’ve found through writers forums, through other blogs, and
from other people.
I read most of
their posts, and I try to comment when I have time. I invest myself in them, in
support of them, because the golden rule is always a good rule to follow,
right?
What about you? What blogs do you follow? Do you have a blog? What’s it about? I’d love
to sit and chat.
Thank you for this post. I'm an avid blogger...as you probably guessed, and I really enjoyed reading your opinion on the matter!
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of which, I know you're very busy, and obviously this is not a must...but I tagged you with a writer tag that I thought you might enjoy doing, and this is a very long sentence. I make a short one next to make up for that long one. Hmmm...that didn't end up being as short as I thought it was going to be. *shrugs* Oh well. THERE'S a short sentence for you. :)
Here's the link to that tag I mentioned above:
http://4rmeddy.blogspot.com/2016/07/the-wisteria-writer-tag.html
Hey, well, I'll keep this in mind, I think I've got an opening in a week or two for this. ^-^
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