Why I Blog

Nneka of Balanced Life Center tagged me the other day with the “Why Do You Blog” meme. I’ve been letting it sit in my mind, really wanting to be honest about it. I don’t think that my answers are very original or thought provoking, but that’s OK. They are true.

I Blog…

… because I have to

Yeah, maybe it sounds all artsy and pretentious… but I truly can’t seem to live happily without blogging. I started doing this quite a few years ago when I first discovered Movable Type. My first inspiration was Gary Vurnum’s “Success… One Day at a Time” blog. I’m actually impressed that it’s still going strong. I don’t have anything from back then, because I would always hit a wall, decide my blogging was a waste of time and that I should be spending my time with more serious pursuits, and delete everything I’d done up to that point. I’m glad I haven’t done that this time… I’m getting closer and closer to having this blog for a year now.

… because I enjoy writing

The very first thing I wanted to be as a child was writer. One of the best things that my parents, specifically my mother, did for me was give me a love for the written word. I was reading novels when I was seven (I believe that my first was the original “Star Wars” novel), and when I won a cash prize for a speech I made when I was 10 (11?), I bought J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy with it.

And I wanted to do what he did… create worlds in my mind and share them with others.

… because I enjoy sharing what I find

Blogging is more than just writing. It’s about sharing, it’s about community. One of the favorite comments that I recieve on posts is “Hey, thanks for linking to that!”

… because I like tinkering with web applications

Blogging allows my wanna-be-geek brain to pretend that it’s smart when I add a line of PHP to WordPress. Truth be told, I don’t have the logic or the patience to be a true coder, but I get to play one on TV when I hack at a theme.