Why Do You Blog?

This question was posed to me several weeks ago by a new friend, who shall be referred to as The Chef.

No one had ever asked me that before, and I was taken aback by his question. The blog started out when I wanted to memorialize what I thought was going to be an ongoing haiku communication with some unknown person online. When that quickly fizzled out, I just kept writing about the goings-on in my life, particularly with Mr. Match.

As I go back and read those early entries about Mr. Match and his behavior, his need of "hot-and-cold running women", I realize I should have recognized what was happening and broken it off about two months earlier than I did. But I was having so much fun, and he was so attentive — when he was actually attending to me — and I had so much hope that I might actually be able to have some happiness in my life again.

Lesson learned.

As the weeks passed and readership built up to 30 or 40 people per day who were patterning their days around my posting, I found that I really enjoyed the regularity of blogging.

Of course, not everyone who blogs writes a post on a regular basis. (Just check any of the links to the left of the screen. I check Jaci's blog daily to see if she's posted some new scrapbook layout for my viewing pleasure, but she's too busy with school being out for the summer and two babes to care for.)

In the beginning, I had ideas popping into my head, begging to be laid down in pixels. I couldn't wait to write the post each day, and frequently had two or three days-worth of topics in development. As I became more and more accustomed to the discipline of writing every day, I enjoyed it more and more. I found a voice of humor that I didn't know I had. I enjoyed taking the mini-disasters of my life and turning them into comedy. And I fell more and more in love with examining the grammar and parsing the sentences and trying to figure out the best way to express any given thought.

And I found that putting my thoughts and emotions into words worked as therapy-without-the-therapist for me. I was learning more about myself with each day, and learning more about my craft of writing.

So why do I blog? To express myself, to deal with feelings and emotions, and because I just love doing it.

Thanks for asking!