blog

Why do we blog?

Do we write to entertain our readers, chronicle our lives, inform the masses, connect with a community, make money, or get published? I believe there are many reasons we blog, but there is one defining commonality among us all:

We blog because we love it.

Good writing is essential, but just one aspect of successful blogging. There is SEO work, social media networking, web design, HTML code, photography, editing and more.

After we have kept to our writing schedule and managed all the other aspects of blogging, we then have the pleasure of instant feedback on our writing. Comments can be positive and feel uplifting at times when we are struggling the most. Some comments are just fun rants where readers are adding to a humorous post.

Receiving hostile comments and hateful emails are also part of being a blogger. Sometimes they are fun because they are so over-the-top crazy that it is of no importance.

Here’s one example of a crazy comment:

Last summer I  received a long-winded rant about me from a man who was convinced I hated men because I wrote Free to Be You and Me. His response was well thought out and had references to research studies “showing” the downfall of school sports teams with the requirement for women to have programs. I chose not to allow that comment to publish to my blog because I felt it would take the conversation in the comment section in a negative direction. Instead I chose to read it to a friend. We laughed and then I hit “delete.”

With some of the angry and hateful comments, I do have to stop and wonder why some people behave the way they do. I have decided, as I move forward with blogging, that I will respond to these people by referring them to a piece I wrote about Audrey Hepburn’s beauty secrets. Maybe it won’t make a difference, but it is the best response I can offer up to someone so unhappy with his or her own life.

Here’s one example of a hateful email:

“It is not too often that I read something that I can say has been written brilliantly. Attached please find such a piece. Funny, Very Edgy, Willing to take a stand against the commoners, well-written sentences without typos or other errors, and, most importantly, SMART! This man took stabs at technology, the aging, women (who don’t always shut their mouths), who we are, and then, he went on, to enlighten us with a few “wows!” and then he left us looking at ourselves. Ask yourself, does my blog do that? Do I write to leave my readers with questions?? Do I send over a direct hit and let the reader be reminded of a different time or place that may have been better or different? And, most importantly, did I make a point? Now, let’s not forget…the attached piece came out of Smithsonian Magazine and was not written for the 6-grade mentality of blog-followers…oops, I did not mean to say that, but instead, the “masses” or commoners that rarely, if ever, think beyond themselves because they take little to no time to read anything of substance like Smithsonian Magazine (in print, old-school paper form). Oh, and I forgot to mention the author of the attached piece, is professor and chair of the journalism department at a College. Now, his blog, I’d love to follow! Great stuff!

Regards,
*Obnoxious Reader

P.s. The section of your last blog post that reads…2. ‘Last month I mentioned my readership increasing and how I am so appreciative to “meet” my readers online. I enjoy having a conversation with them through comments and Twitter. It adds a lot to the blogging experience for me. I also wrote that I was thankful for my readers except for one crazy. Part of writing for the public is also collecting an interesting group of fans. I am pleased to announce this group of readers has grown from one to three. Fame is bittersweet people. Just remember that.’
seems to mention “one crazy” — might that be me or am I having delusions of grandeur!?!? Also, I urge you to ask yourself “Am I really writting for a particular group…or am I writting great works, like THIS author, that others will clamor over to read? Which is Kelly — one is a typist, the other a writer — I leave it in your able and capable hands for your to figure out!!!!”

My response to this reader was simple:

“You do have delusions a grandeur; I was not referring to you when I wrote that in my post.”

After receiving something like this, I pause and ask myself why I continue to write in this medium.

But then I remember.

I blog because I love it.

*Name changed.